Abstract
This article examines the evolving landscape of sexual consent law through the lens of trauma-informed legal analysis, focusing on the underrecognized trauma response known as fawning. Existing consent frameworks fail to capture the complex behaviors of many survivors who outwardly feign consent as a survival mechanism. To assess how fawning evidence might fit into consent statutes, I categorize U.S. state law into four subtypes of consent: affirmative, hybrid, forcible compulsion, and statutory silence. Each sub-type fails to adequately account for trauma-informed behaviors. By examining each of these subtypes and its corresponding case law, I identify statutory and doctrinal gaps that risk mischaracterizing survival responses as genuine consent to sex. Legal definitions of consent must be broadened to explicitly recognize trauma responses. Robust statutory, evidentiary, and trial-level reform can facilitate this improvement. Ultimately, this work urges the American legal system to move beyond its current consent paradigms and adopt nuanced, trauma-informed standards that better reflect survivors’ lived experiences and are more likely to promote justice.
Recommended Citation
Madeline Paoli,
Yes Under Duress: The Paradox of the Fawn Trauma Response in Consent Law,
37 UC Law SF Gender & Just. L.J. 3
(2025).
Available at: https://repository.uclawsf.edu/hwlj/vol37/iss1/3