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Marie Bruvik Heinskou:
Sexuality between Risk and Chance: Oscillations in Late Modern Value Orientations

This article examines how young people can seek sexual experiences that intensify their existence to such an extent that the experience itself is not assigned any meaning. It is merely perceived as a moment having its own temporality and its own internal experience, often called chance. For example young people often take a chance and refrain from using a condom during sexual intercourse, while using the concept of risk as a means to navigate in a world characterized by contingency and ambivalence. The balance between these two value orientations, risk and chance, is crucial for determining whether or not young people use a condom. This outlook is often ignored in both campaigns concerning, for instance, sexually transmitted diseases and in studies on sexuality. The risk side of (deviant) sexualities is frequently overemphasized in these campaigns and in theories on sexuality, while chance is neglected. The article argues that there is need for a broader approach to sexualities both in sexual campaigns and in general analyses. Examining the power of risk and the power of chance as oppositional categories, as well as the traces of risk in chance and chance in risk, is one way of broadening the approach.

While the Nordic countries are listed at the top in most international rankings of gender equality and citizens' feelings of security, studies on the prevalence of sexual victimisation present a different picture, suggesting that the very countries that have invested much in establishing gender equality actually see a high prevalence of sexual violence. This book sheds light on the phenomenon and construction of rape and other forms of sexual violence within the Nordic region, exploring the ways in which rape and sexual violence are dealt with through criminal law and considering governmental policies aimed at combatting it, with a special focus on legal regulations and developments. Thematically organised, it offers new research on perpetrators, victimhood, criminal justice and prevention. Multi-disciplinary in approach, it brings together the latest work from a range of scholars to offer insights into the situation in the five Nordic countries, asking how and why rape and other forms of sexual violence occur, whilst also addressing the timely issues of online sexual cultures, BDSM and the grey areas of sexual offences. As such, it will appeal to scholars of sociology, criminology and law with interests in gender and sexual violence.