Headline violence and silenced pleasure: contested framings of consensual sex, power and rape in Delhi, India 2011-2014.

Though coercion and rape have cast a persistent shadow over prospects of sexual health and consent in contemporary India, other narratives, agency and tools are quietly emerging to transform collective claims of power and bodily dignity. In these narratives from collectives, NGOs, on social media and among friends, dialogues about consent and pleasure feature prominently. This paper analyses statements in the news made by highly visible political and public figures regarding the subject of rape in the context of themes emerging from ethnography and semi-structured interviews with middle class people in Delhi. Using the device of social frameworks, contested framings of rape and consent are examined in order to interrogate essentialist gender norms, compare putative “causes” of rape, and highlight local efforts promoting sexual consent, health and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]