Donna Freitas

Donna Freitas (; born 1972) is a scholar, teacher, writer, and author of fiction and non-fiction for both adults and teenagers. Born in Rhode Island, Freitas's Catholic religion and spirituality inform much of her written work. Her writing also addresses sexuality, consent, and college campus culture.

Early life and education Freitas was a gymnast for seven years, but at age 15 she retired because of injuries. She received a B.A. in philosophy and Spanish from Georgetown University. She received her Ph.D. in religion from Catholic University of America. She has lectured at over 200 college campuses about sexual assault.

Writing Sex & the Soul: Juggling Sexuality, Spirituality, Romance, and Religion on America's College Campuses (2008) addresses the connections between sexuality and spirituality/religion at seven U.S. universities and colleges, including non-religious public, secular private, Catholic private, and evangelical private institutions. Her research included numerous interviews as well as an online survey, with more than 2,500 responses. 111 students were interviewed: 48 men and 63 women. Freitas concluded that the largest conflicts between sexuality and spirituality are between evangelical and non-evangelical institutions, rather than between religious and non-religious ones. She notes how students enrolled in Catholic institutions responded similarly to those at non-religious institutions. Overall, students did not find that their sexuality and spirituality/religion informed each other very much. On the other hand, she discovered that students in evangelical institutions made conscious efforts to reconcile their sexuality with their spirituality/religion, perhaps because they more often self-identified as religious and spiritual.

In Consent on Campus: A Manifesto (2018), Freitas explores the widespread problem of sexual assault on college campuses, which she mainly attributes to a failure of colleges and universities to adequately educate students about sex, consent, and "hookup culture". She aims to provide comprehensive training about consent, and proposes ways to have constructive conversations on the subject. She argues that consensual sex must be communicative. Despite her focus on the inability of large, tradition-bound universities to quickly respond to problems, she is optimistic "that institutions can implement policies to help their students navigate sex responsibly and safely."

In a follow-up book titled Consent: A Memoir of Unwanted Attention (2019), Freitas offers a personal background for why she became interested in the problem of consent on campuses. In the 1990s at Catholic University of America, a professor and priest ("Father L") sexually harassed Freitas. This book details how his mentorship changed into harassment and stalking, and how her university's administration did little to help her.

Works

Fiction The Possibilities of Sainthood (2008) This Gorgeous Game (2010) The Survival Kit (2011) Gold Medal Summer (2012) Gold Medal Winter (2014) The Tenderness of Thieves (2015) Unplugged (2016) The Body Market (2017) The Mind Virus (2017) The Healer (2018) The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano (2021) Her One Regret (2025)

Non-fiction Becoming a Goddess of Inner Poise: Spirituality for the Bridget Jones in All of Us (2003) Killing the Imposter God: Philip Pullman's Spiritual Imagination in His Dark Materials (2007) Sex & the Soul: Juggling Sexuality, Spirituality, Romance, and Religion on America's College Campuses (2008) The End of Sex: How Hookup Culture is Leaving a Generation Unhappy, Sexually Unfulfilled, and Confused About Intimacy (2013) Consent on Campus: A Manifesto (2018) Consent: A Memoir of Unwanted Attention (2019) The Happiness Effect: How Social Media is Driving a Generation to Appear Perfect at Any Cost (2019) Wishful Thinking: How I Lost My Faith and Why I Want to Find It (2024)