The transformative potential of community-created consent culture

In the wake of the #metoo movement, ‘consent’ has become a global topic of conversation, yet discussions of consent are missing from research on events in the leisure and tourism field. This is surprising considering that ‘free choice,’ a related but incomplete concept, is one of the defining characteristics of a leisure activity. Using ethnographic participant observation and in-depth interviews, this study explores in what ways participant experiences are impacted by centering a liminal tourism event space, regional Burning Man events (Burns), around a culture of consent. A combination of community-driven educational initiatives and the community’s commitment to enforce a culture of consent have significant positive impacts on participants, particularly female participants who experience self-actualization at an unusually high rate.