Unjust Sex vs. Rape

Abstract

This article returns to a philosophical conundrum that has troubled feminist theory since the topic of sexual violence has been taken seriously, what I call the problem of the “heteronormative sexual continuum”: how sexual assault and hegemonic heterosex are conceptually and politically related. I continue my response to the work of Nicola Gavey, who has argued for the existence of a “gray area” of sexual interactions that are ethically questionable without rising to the category of sexual assault, but whose analysis did not explicitly articulate what these two categories share or what distinguishes them from each other. After summarizing Gavey's position, I summarize my previous articulation of the common ground between instances of sexual assault and examples of sexual interactions in the “gray area.” I then develop a theoretical account of how the two categories differ, arguing that the victim's agency plays different roles in the two types of interactions. Both the fact of that distinction—that we are capable of providing a philosophical account of the difference between sexual interactions that fall into the gray area and those that constitute sexual assault—and its particular content are crucial for the development of a tenable feminist sexual ethics.

#MeToo? Legal Discourse and Everyday Responses to Sexual Violence

“…Like Manne, Cahill uses novel conceptual tools to categorize and make sense of sexual interactions that fall into an interstitial chasm, similar to the one Edwards describes. In particular, Cahill (2016) acknowledges the fact that these interactions are constructed in the social imaginary as part and parcel of normalized heterosex, while at least some forms of sexual assault are constructed in the social imaginary as aberrant and worthy of social condemnation, indicates that the different phenomena may not only function differently in terms of their social and political meanings, but also may carry distinct ethical meanings to the women who experience them. (p. 752)…”

A Feminist Catholic Response to the Social Sin of Rape Culture

“…As she explains, “the victim must have an agency to be overcome in order for the act to be sexually violent. The perpetrator cannot be sexually violent, cannot have the experience of having sexually violated another person, unless the victim is, in fact, a sexual agent” (A. Cahill , 757). The issue, then, is not that women do not have agency; it is that that agency is ignored or overcome.…”

“…Recognition of the need to examine and critique the way in which sexual violence is linked politically and socially to heterosex is an area of growing consensus in feminist studies on the topic of rape. For example, see the engagement between Nicola Gavey and Ann Cahill (Gavey ; A. Cahill ). See also Phillips .…”

“…For a treatment of how to ethically analyze particular instances of unjust sex, including the blurriness of consent, and sexual assault see A. Cahill .…”

Scripted Reality: How Observers Make Sense of a Non-consensual Sexual Encounter

“…To describe "ambiguous" sexual encounters such as those we mentioned, several authors have used the term "grey area" (Cahill 2016;Gavey 2005;Sessions Step 2007). This grey area encompasses varying experiences that seem to fall somewhere between desired or consensual sex and encounters that are commonly acknowledged as clearly sexual assault or rape.…”