Amber Chiacchieri

Consent has become the dominant paradigm for promoting ethical sexual interactions. While feminists and queer theorists have developed critiques of this discourse, it remains undertheorized from a psychoanalytic perspective. By bringing Lacanian psychoanalysis into conversation with consent culture, I argue that by denying the constitutive unconscious, consent culture promotes a narrow framework for self-knowledge, leading to unnecessary psychic pain and social harm. I address significant gaps in consent literature concerning transactional sex and psychological abuse, focusing on the role of consent frameworks in exacerbating conflict between sex workers and anti-sex trafficking advocates, and stigmatizing psychological abuse victims. I propose deviating from consent culture when necessary by engaging with key Lacanian concepts—extimacy, objet petit a, the sinthome, Other jouissance, and the sexual and political impasse. I argue that creating knowledge spaces outside of consent culture is crucial for challenging injustice and imagining alternative sexual futures.