Ethical Matters: Reading Between the Lines of the Regency Novel

Ever since the novel was invented, women have used it as a platform for sharing ideas about sexual consent. Dr Zoë McGee reveals how Jane Austen, Frances Burney and their now-overlooked contemporaries used their stories to try to change society’s mind about rape culture – and to reassure survivors they were not alone.

In an era that’s clamouring for a return to the values of the past, Zoe will question what that would really mean, and whether anyone actually liked it back then anyway.

Zoë will take a timely deep-dive into a series of classic novels in this Ethical Matters talk, comparing them with both historic court records and current events to show that our arguments about consent are not a new phenomenon. Reading between the lines unveils a quiet feminist movement that still resonates today – because every novel about marriage is also a novel about consent.