History Main / QuestionableConsent

* In the ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode "[[Recap/AdventureTimeS6E6Breezy Breezy]]", Finn has been spending the entire episode making out with different princesses, in an attempt to kick-start his deadened emotions after some depressing events.[[note]]He was dumped by his girlfriend and had a very unhappy first meeting with his deadbeat father that ended with his arm being ripped off because of his father's irresponsibility.[[/note]] When he kisses Lumpy Space Princess, she declares that she doesn't want to play in the "kiddy pool", but go to the "deep end", and says very aggressively "Don't be scared Finn, Lumpy's on lifeguard duty". Cut to the two of them in separate sleeping bags, with Finn pulling the bag up over him to cover himself and referring to the incident going in "the Vault", where he hides his more disturbing memories.

[[folder:Web Original]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode "Breezy", Finn has been spending the entire episode making out with different princesses, in an attempt to kick-start his deadened emotions after some depressing events[[note]]he was dumped by his girlfriend and had a very unhappy first meeting with his deadbeat father that ended with his arm being ripped off because of his father's irresponsibility[[/note]]. When he kisses Lumpy Space Princess, she declares that she doesn't want to play in the "kiddy pool", but go to the "deep end", and says very aggressively "Don't be scared Finn, Lumpy's on lifeguard duty". Cut to the two of them in separate sleeping bags, with Finn pulling the bag up over him to cover himself and referring to the incident going in "the Vault", where he hides his more disturbing memories.

* In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', it's eventually revealed that [[spoiler:Pink Diamond]] freed Pearl, her slave...but before she did, she gave her a perpetual order (along the lines of "Never tell anybody about [spoiler]"), that Pearl could not disobey even when she was "free". This drew ire from many sections of the show's fandom; they interpreted [[spoiler:Pink Diamond]] as only toying with the letter of freedom because she wanted to make herself look good.

* ''Literature/PieceOfMyHeart'': [[spoiler:Michelle and Daniel's relationship was questionable given that Michelle emphatically stated she would never have been with him if she'd known he was married; Daniel intentionally mislead her about this, such as never inviting her to his office (where his co-workers knew he was married with a child, and where his wife would sometimes visit him) and going along with her ideas about them getting married and having children once she'd graduated. Michelle ghosted him when she realized the truth and was consumed with guilt over it, to the point it contributed to her getting addicted to heroin. Daniel also acknowledges that he was being deceitful and let things go on too long, though he's more concerned about the potential impact on his marriage than Michelle's feelings]].

* Defied in the second HalloweenEpisode of ''Fanfic/AGameOfCatAndCat''. [[VideoGame/{{Catherine}} Vincent Brooks]] holds a Halloween party in the Netherworld, not knowing that as part of the festivities, Ose of the Literature/ArsGoetia temporarily alters the minds of the partygoers to [[BecomingTheCostume think that they're their costumes]]. One of Vincent's many attempts at damage control is banning sex for the night, since everyone who was brainwashed is unable to consent.

* In the ''Eyes of Crow'' books, Marek is turned into a SexSlave by an Illion woman. Since her culture believes [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale women cannot rape men]], she threatens to kill his son if he does not share her bed. While he thinks that he's doing so consensually and is deeply ashamed of it, his wife calls it rape and nearly [[DeaderThanDead obliterates the woman's soul]] for it.

** In some versions, including ''Literature/LeMorteDArthur,'' Sir Tor was raised by a peasant couple, but eventually learns that his real father is King Pellinore, who had sex with his mother "half by force" before her marriage, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and also stole her dog as a souvenir of the encounter]]. The focus of this description seems to be on making clear that ''she'' is all or mostly blameless, while the writer doesn't seem to have noticed that it makes Pellinore, [[DesignatedHero a supposed good guy]], sound like a rapist. It may be FairForItsDay given how often BlamingTheVictim occurred in these situations, but still hardly great.

* ''Series/{{Arrowverse}}''

* In a Season 2 episode of ''Series/{{Justified}}'', Raylan is tasked with the transportion of Jamie, a female prisoner who is eight months pregnant. She claims to be pregnant from a conjugal visit by her husband, but Raylan eventually discovers that the father is a prison guard, who in this episode attempts to arrange to have Jamie killed and the baby sold to traffickers to cover up his tracks. That said, it's never specified whether he raped her or their encounter was consensual (which would be problematic for other reasons...)

* ''Series/{{Cobra Kai}}'': In "[[Recap/CobraKaiS2E9Pulpo Pulpo]]", [[StarcrossedLovers Samantha LaRusso and Miguel Diaz]] share a poolside kiss, unambiguously cheating on Robby and Tory in the process, but the consent of the kiss is far foggier. On the one hand, Samantha is explicitly established as being quite drunk (And emotionally vulnerable from Robby's manipulation) while Miguel shows no signs of inebriation. However, Sam is explicitly pining for Miguel ''before'' any alcohol gets involved, she is the one who initiates the kiss and, after the fact, it is made clear Sam's only issue is that she cheated on Robby, showing zero regret for the kiss itself. Were Sam not inebriated, it is [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation up for debate]] whether she still would've kissed Miguel.

** In ''Literature/StormFront'', Harry makes a love potion as part of a deal with Bob the Skull, who is obsessed with lust despite being a spirit of the air. The potion is then accidentally drunk by [[spoiler:Susan Rodriguez]], and is shown to be so powerful that she tries to have sex with him even though it would likely kill them both by [[spoiler:destroying their protective pentagram and getting them ripped to pieces by a demon]]. However, it is unclear whether the potion was ever intended to be used or if just creating it was enough for Bob, and Harry did not take advantage of it. In the same book, however, it is also implied that Bob used magic to turn a frat party into an orgy.

* ''Fanfic/ImpenetrableWalls'' implies this is why Lan Wangji refuses to bed his SexSlave Wei Wuxian, being painfully aware that the other man cannot refuse to have sex with him no matter his personal feelings on the subject. Also, Wei Wuxian knows ''squat'' about sex, contributing to make the situation even more iffy.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanAndHarleyQuinn'': Early in the film, Harley captures Nightwing and ties him to a bed. The two of them end up having sex. While he's shown as being comfortable with it afterword, the fact was that he was her prisoner and could easily have believed there was a very legitimate potential threat that she'd harm him if he refused. Also falls under DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale, since it's unthinkable that a scene where a male ex-supervillain tied up a female superhero and then had sex with her would have been treated the same way.

* ''Series/TrueBlood'': Sex with vampires in general is this for a number of reasons. For one thing, it's established that vampires have the ability to glamour (i.e. MindRape), and they frequently employ this as a means of having control over humans. For another, there's the question of whether or not the humans have taken any vampire blood, which has been described as a cross between a powerful aphrodisiac and a drug that can mess with a person's mental and emotional state. One of the most controversial moments in the entire series is when it's revealed in season 3 that [[spoiler:Bill Compton intentionally let Sookie get beaten to death so he could drug her with his blood and use that to manipulate her.]] This was serious enough that it turned a lot of fans against his character and his relationship with [[spoiler:Sookie]]. It's also stated that when vampires feed on humans, sex usually goes with it, and sometimes the vampires don't care about the human's consent [[FantasticRacism since they view humans as inferior.]] There's also the revelation that vampire monarchs like Sophie Anne have humans procured for them, which by definition is when a person is obtained to be used as a prostitute for a client. Given that [[spoiler:Bill]] has been procuring humans for Sophie Anne for 35 years (way before the human population found out about vampires) and that Sophie Anne was in a position as both a vampire and a queen to demand sex from the humans regardless of whether or not they were okay with it...it makes that entire situation icky for a number of reasons. There's also vampires having certain advantages over humans (super-strength, super-speed, sharp fangs, etc) that allow them to exert force over a human in a relationship, [[spoiler:which is what Violet does with Jason in seasons 6-7]].

It can also be a discussion about whether or not a certain character is able to consent to a certain thing in the first place. The character might be [[LoliconAndShotacon too young]] or [[NaiveEverygirl inexperienced]], drunk or drugged, intellectually challenged, [[DudeShesLikeInAComa unconscious]], or similar. It might also have to do with [[UnequalPairing the nature of the relationship]]: [[SleepingWithTheBoss a boss and an employee]], [[DoctorsOrders a health care worker and a patient]], [[ParentalIncest a parent and child]] (even if said child is fully grown), [[HotForStudent a teacher and student]], [[SexyPriest a clergyperson and a member of their congregation]], [[DoubleStandardRapeDivineOnMortal a god/goddess and a human (or other non-divine entity)]], or something along those lines. [[UnproblematicProstitution More romanticized]] depictions of prostitution usually gloss over this too, ignoring issues such as poverty, addiction or threats from pimps that can keep people in the industry. Even apart from that, age, desperation or power differential can be an issue, as with [[HerosSlaveHarem sex between a master and slave]]. The trope may also apply in cases where one party is, if not immortal, at least ReallySevenHundredYearsOld, and the other is a regular human being.

* Dragon-aligned characters in ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld'' are, after a kidnapping by a mute monk and an infodump by an ex-professor, brought up to a hotel room and receive oral sex from a woman, regardless of gender and [[HeroicMime without your character saying a word]]. Not only does the orgasm lead to a {{flashback}} to someone else's memories of a Filth attack in London, which isn't terribly sexy, it's also uncomfortably rapey. Given that the Dragon's philosophy, that may even be the point.

** " Of the four routes where you can make your arrangement permanent, three invoke this trope, as he either blackmails you to become his sex slave, you force him to become your sex slave or you trick him into being the ''whole team's'' sex slave. Only one involves a whole consensual relationship.

** In some versions, including ''Literature/LeMorteDArthur,'' Sir Tor was raised by a peasant couple, but eventually learns that his real father is King Pellinore, who had sex with his mother "half by force" before her marriage, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and also stole her dog as a souvenir of the encounter]]. The focus of this description seems to be on making clear that ''she'' is all or mostly blameless, while the writer doesn't seem to have noticed that it makes Pellinore, [[DesignatedHero a supposed good guy]], sound like a rapist. It may be FairForItsDay given how often BlamingTheVitim occurred in these situations, but still hardly great.

* Not even sexual, but let's just say that the God(dess) of Stories incarnation of ComicBook/{{Loki}} is very bad at this whole consent thing. For [[Comicbook/LokiAgentOfAsgard example]], it's one thing assuming that your best friend trusts you and would be okay with you trying to save her. But if she's also willing to tell you their life story… she sure as Hel would like to have a warning before you use that story to turn her into magical jewellery to accomplish that goal.

*** First, while Jondalar teaches Ayla about the pleasure of having sex, after he made "the signal" to her that, according to the Clan's rules, commands her to immediately allow him to have his way with her. Ayla obeys because she's been conditioned a lifetime long to do as man tells her, but her thoughts are in the range of "for the first time, she would have refused", especially as it reminds her of her rape at Broud's hands. The fact that she's into it immediately as he starts makes it come across like NotIfTheyEnjoyedItRationalization. There also had been some problem with communication between the pair, further complicating matters. Jondalar had intended it as a flirtatious joke; due to not being raised in the Clan's ways, he doesn't fully understand the implications of the signal.

* ''Literature/FiftyShadesOfGrey'': Ana is told that being Christian's sub is up to her and that she can negotiate the terms of their contract if she wishes. When she sends him an e-mail, joking that she wants their deal to be off (before she even signed the contract), Grey goes to her apartment, ties her to the bed, and rapes her until she changes her mind. Whenever she tries to renegotiate anything of the contract, he tries to talk her out of it.

* On ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'', in the episode "Seduced Seven Virgins," Earl recalls how horrible he's been to women, and in particular, years ago, he and Randy would wait for the Amish-like Camdenite girls to be released into TheOutsideWorld as a rite of passage. They would pretend they were from a nearby similar settlement to get the girls to trust them, get them drunk, and have sex with them. The girls liked the experience so much that they never returned to their village...although they have no idea how to survive in the outside world. It's unknown what happened to any of them afterwards, but it likely wasn't anything ''good''.

** Lancelot got enchanted into believing Elaine really was Guinevere (whom he'd always loved but didn't act on his feelings) and slept with her in his confused state, conceinved Galahad.

** Katsumoto in Volume 3 is a straighter example. He's literally your student and you lure him by keeping him after practice for extra drills and then claim you want to check him for injuries even though he says he's fine. One route even lets you outright use the power imbalance to make him submissive. He'll be resistant up until the very end and even when he gives consent, it's only because you want to. The normal route will have him basically pretending the whole thing never happened, further showing to his seeming dislike of the whole situation.

-->'''Wulfenbach''': You agreed.
-->'''Dr. Beetle''': A pledge made under duress is ''worthless'', Wulfenbach! You threatened my city, my university -- I'd have agreed to anything. ''You'' were in control then.

* 'Franchise/{{Degrassi}}'':

*** First, while he still teaches her about the pleasures of sexuality and makes "the signal" to her that, according to the Clan's rules, commands her to immediately allow him to have his way with her. Ayla obeys because she's been conditioned a lifetime long to do as man tells her, but her thoughts are in the range of "for the first time, she would have refused", especially as it reminds her of her rape at Broud's hands. The fact that she's into it immediately as he starts makes it come across like NotIfTheyEnjoyedItRationalization. There's also been some problem with communication between the pair, further complicating matters. Jondalar had intended it as a flirtatious joke; due to not being raised in the Clan's ways, he doesn't fully understand the implications of the signal.
*** Second, in the third book when they go on a hunting trip, while Ayla is technically in a relationship with Ranec and Jondalar generally behaves like a Jerkass. Jondalar, pissed off and jealous, forces himself upon her and realizes this afterwards, and while Ayla insists that she is "always ready for him" and there's more communication breakdown here, he definitely did not ask for her consent. Jondalar is horrified by his actions, believing he's no better than Broud, although Ayla insists she wanted to have sex and doesn't think of it as rape.

* ''Literature/PieceOfMyHeart'': [[spoiler:Michelle and Daniel's relationship was questionable given that Michelle emphatically stated she would never have been with him if she'd known he was married; Daniel intentionally mislead her about this, such as never inviting her to her office (where his co-workers knew he was married with a child, and where his wife would sometimes visit him) and going along with her ideas about them getting married and having children once she'd graduated. Michelle ghosted him when she realized the truth and was consumed with guilt over it, to the point it contributed to her getting addicted to heroin. Daniel also acknowledges that he was being deceitful and let things go on too long, though he's more concerned about the potential impact on his marriage than Michelle's feelings]].

* ''Literature/November9'': In hindsight, it's doubtful if Fallon would've consented to sex with Ben if she'd known at the time [[spoiler:he is responsible for her burn scars]], something which Ben was always aware of but never told Fallon about; he finally decides he will tell Fallon ''after'' they've slept together a second time, as he knows she may not react well. Fallon finds out on her own mere hours after this and is completely repulsed by the situation.

* ''Literature/EarthsChildren'': At least twice between Jondalar and Ayla.
** First, while he still teaches her about the pleasures of sexuality and makes "the sign" to her that, according to the Clan's rules, commands her to immediatey allow him to have his way with her. Ayla obeys because she is conditioned a lifetime long to do as man tells her, but her thoughts are in the range of "for the first time, she would have refused". The fact that she's into it immediately as he starts makes it come across like NotIfTheyEnjoyedItRationalization. There's also been some problem with communication between the pair, further complicating matters.
** Second, in the third book when they go on a hunting trip, while Ayla is technically in a relationship with Ranec and Jondalar generally behaves like a Jerkass. Jondalar, pissed off and jealous, forces himself upon her and realizes this afterwards, and while Ayla insists that she is "always ready for him", and there's more communication breakdown here, he definitely did not ask for her consent.