01601nam a22001457a 4500 532057 532057 251202b ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d Gavey, Nicola 58073 Deconstructing ‘rough sex’ in a new Zealand murder trial: Beyond the modern mythology of everyday kink Social and Legal Studies 34(6), Dec, 2025: p.896-917 I analyse the way ‘rough sex’, including ‘choking’, was normalised during the 2019 trial of Jesse Kempson for the murder of Grace Millane – and portrayed as a modern form of mutual and egalitarian sexual exploration, particularly for young people. While the so-called ‘rough sex defence’ has been widely critiqued for the way it operates in the criminal justice system to minimise violence against women and blame victims for their own murder or assault, I focus here on the wider social implications of such legal arguments. I identify how the trial was infused with a ‘modern mythology of everyday kink’ discourse, which I critically deconstruct through the lens of three women's stories about unwanted or unenjoyed ‘rough sex’. I show that this discourse obscures and enables concerning new patterns of hurtful, exploitative and violent acts against women and girls that are becoming normalised and legitimated in the name of (rough) sex.- Reproduced https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/09646639241292689 Violence against women, Expert evidence, Sex positivity, Sexual choking, Sexual consent, BDSM. 58074 Social and Legal Studies AR 0 0 ddc 0 0 407245 IIPA IIPA 2025-12-02 34(6), Dec, 2025: p.896-917 AR137697 2025-12-02 AR