Authors:
- Dacia Pajé, Department of Political Science, Providence College - Personal Website, Google Scholar, ResearchGate

- Sreyashi Mukherjee, Department of Communication, University of Pittsburgh - ResearchGate

Abstracts:
- »In their chapter, Sreyashi Mukherjee and Dacia Pajé move toward the margins of the mainstream, analyzing a genre that is not often considered in discussions of sexual violence: reality television. In their original and insightful analysis, Mukherjee and Pajé argue that the “game” structure of reality television dating shows such as Temptation Island and Are You The One? problematically undermines notions of sexual consent. In such shows, consent is discursively constructed/implied via participation and contestants must play along (which often involves partaking in sexual activity) whether they want to or not. Further, as their analysis of Instagram comments reveal, this produces in viewers a sense of authority over contestants’ agency and consent, which often reaffrms problematic stereotypes around racialized and LGBTQ+ contestants’ “aggressive” and inauthentic sexuality.« (Source: Stephanie Patrick and Mythili Rajiva. »Introduction.« The Forgotten Victims of Sexual Violence in Film, Television and New Media: Turning to the Margins. Edited by Stephanie Patrick et al. Cham 2022: 17)

- »In this chapter, the authors analyze the relationship of consent with sexual and racial minorities through three frames: the Magic Circle, the (hetero)sexual script, and tokenism. The authors highlight examples from popular dating shows such as Are You the One?, Temptation Island, and Love Is Blind, which feature problematic instances of sexual consent. Following audience reception studies that recognize viewer identification and development of intimate relationships with the show participants, the authors conduct a discourse analysis of Instagram comments to observe the impact of these representations on viewership. Reality dating shows present love as a sexual conquest through specific production decisions, financial contracts, and game-like rules. The genre’s basis in the heterosexual script, where men present as “sexual agents” and women as “prizes to conquer,” makes consent difficult to define conceptually. Moreover, its application to queer individuals and participants of color may perpetuate adverse stereotypes of race and sexuality. Given this premise, the authors investigate how these shows inform and impact viewership on marginalized groups, sexual violence and consent.« (Source: SpringerLink)

Contents:

	7.1 Introduction (p. 123)
	7.2 Reality Dating Shows as Coercive Environments (p. 124)
	7.3 The Magic Circle of Reality Dating Shows (p. 127)
	7.4 (Hetero)Sexual Consent in Reality Dating Shows (p. 129)
	7.5 Tokenism in Reality Dating Shows (p. 130)
	7.6 Method (p. 131)
	7.7 Discussion of Frames: Magic circle, Consent, and Tokenism (p. 132)
	7.8 Conclusion (p. 137)
	References (p. 139)

Wikipedia: History of the Americas: History of the United States | Television: American reality television series / Are You the One?, Love Is Blind (TV series), Temptation Island (TV series) | Sex and the law: Sexual violence