Rape and Persuasive Definition

If we [women] have not stopped rape, we have redefined it, we have faced it, and we have set up the structures to deal with it for ourselves. [T]he definition of rape, which has in the past always been understood to mean the use of violence or the threat of it to force sex upon an unwilling woman, i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian journal of philosophy 1995-09, Vol.25 (3), p.415-454
Main Author: BURGESS-JACKSON, KEITH
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
American literature
Contemporary Philosophy
Feminism
Feminist philosophy
Feminist theory
Friedman, Marilyn
General Interest
Language
Liberalism
Literary criticism
Men
Mitchell, Margaret (1900-1949)
Novels
Persuasion
Persuasive definitions
Philosophy
Philosophy of history. Social and political philosophy. Philosophy of law
Philosophy of law
Radical feminism
Rape
Rapists
Sexual assault
Sexual violence
Sommers, Christina Hoff
Violence against women
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Summary:If we [women] have not stopped rape, we have redefined it, we have faced it, and we have set up the structures to deal with it for ourselves. [T]he definition of rape, which has in the past always been understood to mean the use of violence or the threat of it to force sex upon an unwilling woman, is now being broadened to include a whole range of sexual relations that have never before in all of human experience been regarded as rape. In 1989 the philosopher and self-described feminist Christina Sommers published a short essay — ‘an opinion piece,’ she called it — that was eventually developed into and published as a philosophical article. In this essay Sommers criticized ‘feminist philosophers’ (her term) for being ‘oddly unsympathetic to the women whom they claim to represent.’ Specifically, Sommers accused these philosophers of ignoring the ‘values of the average woman’ and of being caught up in an ‘ideological fervor.’ To emphasize her point that the so-called feminist philosophers have lost touch with ‘the average woman,’ Sommers wrote that ‘One must nevertheless expect that many women will continue to swoon at the sight of Rhett Butler carrying Scarlett O'Hara up the stairs to a fate undreamt of in feminist philosophy.’
ISSN:0045-5091
1911-0820
DOI:10.1080/00455091.1995.10717422