Melanie A Beres
Biographic Data
| ID | 161716 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Melanie A Beres |
| GIVEN NAMES | Melanie A |
| FAMILY NAME | Beres |
| SIGNATURE | BERES M A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Otago |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4041-9730 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 186 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 19 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2003 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Although Her Words Said No, Her Actions Spoke Otherwise”
Sexual assault laws in several jurisdictions require jurors to consider whether a defendant "reasonably believed" in consent. Using thematic analysis, we explored how potential jurors ( N = 50) make judgments about consent communication and the behaviors that, when informed by the reasonable belief standard, are perceived to communicate (non)consent. Two themes captured the perception that consent is something that is implied, while non-consent i…
A Comparative Account of Institutional Approaches to Addressing Campus-Based Sexual Violence in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand
Sexual violence is prevalent on university campuses globally. In this article, we report a qualitative insider research study examining practices for addressing sexual violence at four universities across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. We collected, analysed, and synthesised descriptive information about the practices at each institution. We found unique institutional approaches that nonetheless share some commonalities, yieldingseveral them…
Teaching reproduction, gender and sexuality
The teaching of reproduction, gender and sexuality at tertiary level is often compartmentalised, separating biological components from the political, socio-cultural, psychological and ethical perspectives that influence how knowledge is understood and utilised. In parallel, educators often have specialised knowledge and can struggle to address the broader questions outside their area of expertise. This is particularly true in an era of changing c…
A qualitative exploration of barriers to university students’ willingness to attend sexual violence prevention workshops
Universities have implemented a range of education programmes to address the problem of sexual violence on campus. While these programmes can improve the attitudes and behaviours that contribute to rape culture, little is known about the factors influencing students’ decisions to participate in such programmes. The aim of this study was to understand university students’ decisions about attending sexual violence prevention workshops. Focus groups…
Pro‐social bystander sexual violence prevention workshops for first year university students
Bring in The Bystander is a workshop programme that was developed to tackle the problem of sexual violence on university campuses by taking a community values approach. In this paper, we present quantitative and qualitative findings from a process of piloting the programme at a university in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The study was designed as a parallel QUAN‐qual approach, utilising a survey and focus group discussions as data collecting methods. The…
From ignorance to knowledge
The problem of sexual assault has received increasing public attention over the last few years, with an increasing focus on the concept of sexual consent to solve the problem. Education efforts focus on teaching people what consent is and how to explicitly communicate about sex, constructing consent as a knowledge problem. Using the stories of queer adults, this study calls for the development of an epistemology of sexual consent. I argue that th…
Perspectives of rape-prevention educators on the role of consent in sexual violence prevention
Sexual consent education is increasingly used as an educational tool for sexual violence prevention. Yet very little research exists on the effectiveness of consent education to reduce rates of sexual violence. Prior to understanding the effectiveness of any prevention programme, it is essential to understand the mechanisms through which the approach will prevent incidents of sexual violence. For instance, some programmes address perpetrating beh…
A whole campus approach to sexual violence
Universities across the world have been increasingly focused on responding to campus sexual violence. Developing a response is complex and involves addressing policy, support for those impacted by sexual violence and prevention. This manuscript outlines the structure and development of the University of Otago’s whole campus approach to sexual violence that includes staff and students and addresses policy, support and prevention work. Development …
What does faking orgasms have to do with sexual consent
Accounting for Men’s Refusal of Heterosex
In the present study we bring together theory regarding the construction of heterosexuality and masculinities to understand the shifting and changing terrain of heterosexual sex (heterosex). We use inductive qualitative content analysis of story completion data to discover the different ways that heterosex is constructed by the male and female respondents in scenarios where women initiate sex and men, at first, refuse. The stories represented a s…
Rethinking the concept of consent for anti-sexual violence activism and education
Sexual violence prevention has shifted from centering around a message of ‘no means no’ toward a message of ‘get consent.’ This paper explores how young adults conceptualise consent in relation to how they talked about expressing a willingness to participate in sex. The analysis here argues that understandings of consent are disconnected from how young people understand communication about sex. Consent is viewed as a formal minimum requirement fo…
Points of Convergence
Navigating Ambivalence
The miscommunication hypothesis is the assumption that many incidents of acquaintance rape and coercive sex follow from miscommunication between men and women. This hypothesis is entrenched in popular, academic, and judicial understandings of sexual relationships. Recently some evidence has suggested that there is little miscommunication between sexual partners and that the hypothesis does not explain acquaintance rape or other forms of sexual vi…
Sexual Ethics and Young Women’s Accounts of Heterosexual Casual Sex
Drawing on Foucault’s work on sexuality and ethics we explore young women’s accounts of heterosexual casual sex experiences in Canada and New Zealand. We focus on what Foucault calls ‘ rapport à soi ’ (the relationship one has with one’s self) to explore reports of implied ethical (and less than ethical) practices of casual sex. To do this we conducted a theoretical thematic analysis of the women’s accounts to identify accounts of ‘ care for the …
Sexual miscommunication? Untangling assumptions about sexual communication between casual sex partners
Miscommunication theory suggests that many incidents of heterosexual sexual violence or coercion are the result of a miscommunication between men and women. Two most commonly cited forms of miscommunication include men overestimating women's interest in sex and women giving token resistance to sex. The current study is a thematic analysis of the ways that young women and men talked about their casual sex experiences with particular attention to t…
The Perils of Institutionalization in Neoliberal Times
This article reports on a national survey of Canadian rape crisis and sexual assault centres conducted in 2005. We situate our results in relation to feminist literature on the perils of institutionalization. We argue that institutionalization takes on new forms in the context of neoliberalism and we emphasize the resistance of centres to under-funding and to individualized victims' services policy frameworks. Despite significant pressures to red…
Spontaneous’ Sexual Consent
Sexual consent is an understudied and undertheorized concept despite its importance to feminist researchers and activists interested in sexual violence. Literature on consent, although sparse, has been produced from a variety of disciplines, including law, psychology, and sociology. This article is a critical review of current literature and current understandings of sexual consent. Different conceptualizations of consent are analysed including i…
Sexual Consent Behaviors in Same-Sex Relationships
Identifying Signals of Suffering by Linking Verbal and Facial Cues
Here, the authors describe microanalytically the two main behavioral states in suffering (enduring and emotional suffering) so that in subsequent research, appropriate comforting responses to ease and relieve suffering can be identified for each behavioral state. Their objectives were to describe the facial expressions of enduring and emotional suffering, and to link them with verbal narrative and thus develop a microanalytic description of each …
Spontaneous’ Sexual Consent
Sexual consent is an understudied and undertheorized concept despite its importance to feminist researchers and activists interested in sexual violence. Literature on consent, although sparse, has been produced from a variety of disciplines, including law, psychology, and sociology. This article is a critical review of current literature and current understandings of sexual consent. Different conceptualizations of consent are analysed including i…
Rethinking the concept of consent for anti-sexual violence activism and education
Sexual violence prevention has shifted from centering around a message of ‘no means no’ toward a message of ‘get consent.’ This paper explores how young adults conceptualise consent in relation to how they talked about expressing a willingness to participate in sex. The analysis here argues that understandings of consent are disconnected from how young people understand communication about sex. Consent is viewed as a formal minimum requirement fo…
Navigating Ambivalence
The miscommunication hypothesis is the assumption that many incidents of acquaintance rape and coercive sex follow from miscommunication between men and women. This hypothesis is entrenched in popular, academic, and judicial understandings of sexual relationships. Recently some evidence has suggested that there is little miscommunication between sexual partners and that the hypothesis does not explain acquaintance rape or other forms of sexual vi…
Sexual Consent Behaviors in Same-Sex Relationships
The Perils of Institutionalization in Neoliberal Times
This article reports on a national survey of Canadian rape crisis and sexual assault centres conducted in 2005. We situate our results in relation to feminist literature on the perils of institutionalization. We argue that institutionalization takes on new forms in the context of neoliberalism and we emphasize the resistance of centres to under-funding and to individualized victims' services policy frameworks. Despite significant pressures to red…
From ignorance to knowledge
The problem of sexual assault has received increasing public attention over the last few years, with an increasing focus on the concept of sexual consent to solve the problem. Education efforts focus on teaching people what consent is and how to explicitly communicate about sex, constructing consent as a knowledge problem. Using the stories of queer adults, this study calls for the development of an epistemology of sexual consent. I argue that th…
Points of Convergence
Accounting for Men’s Refusal of Heterosex
In the present study we bring together theory regarding the construction of heterosexuality and masculinities to understand the shifting and changing terrain of heterosexual sex (heterosex). We use inductive qualitative content analysis of story completion data to discover the different ways that heterosex is constructed by the male and female respondents in scenarios where women initiate sex and men, at first, refuse. The stories represented a s…
Identifying Signals of Suffering by Linking Verbal and Facial Cues
Here, the authors describe microanalytically the two main behavioral states in suffering (enduring and emotional suffering) so that in subsequent research, appropriate comforting responses to ease and relieve suffering can be identified for each behavioral state. Their objectives were to describe the facial expressions of enduring and emotional suffering, and to link them with verbal narrative and thus develop a microanalytic description of each …
A whole campus approach to sexual violence
Universities across the world have been increasingly focused on responding to campus sexual violence. Developing a response is complex and involves addressing policy, support for those impacted by sexual violence and prevention. This manuscript outlines the structure and development of the University of Otago’s whole campus approach to sexual violence that includes staff and students and addresses policy, support and prevention work. Development …
A Comparative Account of Institutional Approaches to Addressing Campus-Based Sexual Violence in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand
Sexual violence is prevalent on university campuses globally. In this article, we report a qualitative insider research study examining practices for addressing sexual violence at four universities across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. We collected, analysed, and synthesised descriptive information about the practices at each institution. We found unique institutional approaches that nonetheless share some commonalities, yieldingseveral them…
Identifying Signals of Suffering by Linking Verbal and Facial Cues
Here, the authors describe microanalytically the two main behavioral states in suffering (enduring and emotional suffering) so that in subsequent research, appropriate comforting responses to ease and relieve suffering can be identified for each behavioral state. Their objectives were to describe the facial expressions of enduring and emotional suffering, and to link them with verbal narrative and thus develop a microanalytic description of each …
Sexual Consent Behaviors in Same-Sex Relationships
Spontaneous’ Sexual Consent
Sexual consent is an understudied and undertheorized concept despite its importance to feminist researchers and activists interested in sexual violence. Literature on consent, although sparse, has been produced from a variety of disciplines, including law, psychology, and sociology. This article is a critical review of current literature and current understandings of sexual consent. Different conceptualizations of consent are analysed including i…
The Perils of Institutionalization in Neoliberal Times
This article reports on a national survey of Canadian rape crisis and sexual assault centres conducted in 2005. We situate our results in relation to feminist literature on the perils of institutionalization. We argue that institutionalization takes on new forms in the context of neoliberalism and we emphasize the resistance of centres to under-funding and to individualized victims' services policy frameworks. Despite significant pressures to red…
Sexual Ethics and Young Women’s Accounts of Heterosexual Casual Sex
Drawing on Foucault’s work on sexuality and ethics we explore young women’s accounts of heterosexual casual sex experiences in Canada and New Zealand. We focus on what Foucault calls ‘ rapport à soi ’ (the relationship one has with one’s self) to explore reports of implied ethical (and less than ethical) practices of casual sex. To do this we conducted a theoretical thematic analysis of the women’s accounts to identify accounts of ‘ care for the …
Sexual miscommunication? Untangling assumptions about sexual communication between casual sex partners
Miscommunication theory suggests that many incidents of heterosexual sexual violence or coercion are the result of a miscommunication between men and women. Two most commonly cited forms of miscommunication include men overestimating women's interest in sex and women giving token resistance to sex. The current study is a thematic analysis of the ways that young women and men talked about their casual sex experiences with particular attention to t…
Points of Convergence
Navigating Ambivalence
The miscommunication hypothesis is the assumption that many incidents of acquaintance rape and coercive sex follow from miscommunication between men and women. This hypothesis is entrenched in popular, academic, and judicial understandings of sexual relationships. Recently some evidence has suggested that there is little miscommunication between sexual partners and that the hypothesis does not explain acquaintance rape or other forms of sexual vi…
Rethinking the concept of consent for anti-sexual violence activism and education
Sexual violence prevention has shifted from centering around a message of ‘no means no’ toward a message of ‘get consent.’ This paper explores how young adults conceptualise consent in relation to how they talked about expressing a willingness to participate in sex. The analysis here argues that understandings of consent are disconnected from how young people understand communication about sex. Consent is viewed as a formal minimum requirement fo…
What does faking orgasms have to do with sexual consent
Accounting for Men’s Refusal of Heterosex
In the present study we bring together theory regarding the construction of heterosexuality and masculinities to understand the shifting and changing terrain of heterosexual sex (heterosex). We use inductive qualitative content analysis of story completion data to discover the different ways that heterosex is constructed by the male and female respondents in scenarios where women initiate sex and men, at first, refuse. The stories represented a s…
A whole campus approach to sexual violence
Universities across the world have been increasingly focused on responding to campus sexual violence. Developing a response is complex and involves addressing policy, support for those impacted by sexual violence and prevention. This manuscript outlines the structure and development of the University of Otago’s whole campus approach to sexual violence that includes staff and students and addresses policy, support and prevention work. Development …
Perspectives of rape-prevention educators on the role of consent in sexual violence prevention
Sexual consent education is increasingly used as an educational tool for sexual violence prevention. Yet very little research exists on the effectiveness of consent education to reduce rates of sexual violence. Prior to understanding the effectiveness of any prevention programme, it is essential to understand the mechanisms through which the approach will prevent incidents of sexual violence. For instance, some programmes address perpetrating beh…
A qualitative exploration of barriers to university students’ willingness to attend sexual violence prevention workshops
Universities have implemented a range of education programmes to address the problem of sexual violence on campus. While these programmes can improve the attitudes and behaviours that contribute to rape culture, little is known about the factors influencing students’ decisions to participate in such programmes. The aim of this study was to understand university students’ decisions about attending sexual violence prevention workshops. Focus groups…
Pro‐social bystander sexual violence prevention workshops for first year university students
Bring in The Bystander is a workshop programme that was developed to tackle the problem of sexual violence on university campuses by taking a community values approach. In this paper, we present quantitative and qualitative findings from a process of piloting the programme at a university in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The study was designed as a parallel QUAN‐qual approach, utilising a survey and focus group discussions as data collecting methods. The…
From ignorance to knowledge
The problem of sexual assault has received increasing public attention over the last few years, with an increasing focus on the concept of sexual consent to solve the problem. Education efforts focus on teaching people what consent is and how to explicitly communicate about sex, constructing consent as a knowledge problem. Using the stories of queer adults, this study calls for the development of an epistemology of sexual consent. I argue that th…
Teaching reproduction, gender and sexuality
The teaching of reproduction, gender and sexuality at tertiary level is often compartmentalised, separating biological components from the political, socio-cultural, psychological and ethical perspectives that influence how knowledge is understood and utilised. In parallel, educators often have specialised knowledge and can struggle to address the broader questions outside their area of expertise. This is particularly true in an era of changing c…
A Comparative Account of Institutional Approaches to Addressing Campus-Based Sexual Violence in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand
Sexual violence is prevalent on university campuses globally. In this article, we report a qualitative insider research study examining practices for addressing sexual violence at four universities across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. We collected, analysed, and synthesised descriptive information about the practices at each institution. We found unique institutional approaches that nonetheless share some commonalities, yieldingseveral them…
Although Her Words Said No, Her Actions Spoke Otherwise”
Sexual assault laws in several jurisdictions require jurors to consider whether a defendant "reasonably believed" in consent. Using thematic analysis, we explored how potential jurors ( N = 50) make judgments about consent communication and the behaviors that, when informed by the reasonable belief standard, are perceived to communicate (non)consent. Two themes captured the perception that consent is something that is implied, while non-consent i…
Psychology (17 works) · Medicine (14 works) · Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies (13 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Gender Studies (11 works) · Poison control (10 works) · Social Psychology (10 works) · Criminology (8 works) · Political science (8 works) · Sexual violence (8 works)