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NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY Feminist Critiques of Consent A NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY Feminist Critiques of Consent A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Field of Philosophy by Chelsea K. Egbert EVANSTON, ILLINOIS December 2016 2 Abstract Consent is at the center of feminist politics and theory; the importance of this concept is evident in the recent campus activism around sexual assault. Because consent has become so critically important, it is necessary for feminists to interrogate the concept of consent. In this dissertation, I argue that consent is necessary but insufficient to create just political or ethical relations through evaluating and critiquing feminist liberalism. Within feminist liberalism, consent serves two functions: to determine wrong or injustice, and to limit the acceptable scope of state power. I argue that the structure of consent itself leads to serious problems when feminist liberals attempt to use consent in this expansive way; instead, we need to rely on substantive norms. 3 Acknowledgements Portions of this dissertation were originally published on Feminist Current as “Why Consent is Not Enough” and “BDSM FAQs.” I would like to thank Meghan Murphy, founder, creator, and editor of Feminist Current, for her permission to reuse this material and for her tireless commitment to feminist media. I would also like to thank my committee members and colleagues for many helpful discussions which allowed me to articulate the positions which are discussed in this dissertation. Finally, I would like to thank my mother for her unwavering support and courage. 4 Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................... 7 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 7 Consent, Liberalism, and Harm ................................................................................................................. 9 The Role of Consent in Liberalism ........................................................................................................ 9 Consent and Harm ................................................................................................................................ 13 Practical Consent, Hypothetical Consent, and Substantive Autonomy ............................................... 16 Practical Consent, Hypothetical Consent, and Women’s Subordination ............................................. 18 Criticizing Consent .................................................................................................................................. 21 Levels of Critique ................................................................................................................................ 21 The Reversal ........................................................................................................................................ 22 The Private Sphere ............................................................................................................................... 29 Outline of the Dissertation ....................................................................................................................... 30 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 31 Chapter 2: Feminist Liberalism and Radical Feminism ......................................................... 32 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 32 Problems with Liberal Standards of Consent .......................................................................................... 32 Inconsistency of Consent Standards .................................................................................................... 32 Confounding Preferences with Consent ............................................................................................... 35 Tensions within Feminist Liberalism ...................................................................................................... 39 Defining and Addressing Injustices in the Private Sphere ................................................................... 40 Patriarchal Leakage .............................................................................................................................. 41 Adaptive Preferences ........................................................................................................................... 42 Feminism versus Liberalism .................................................................................................................... 45 5 Pragmatic versus Principled Concerns ................................................................................................. 45 Privacy and Individual Freedom .......................................................................................................... 49 Radical Feminism .................................................................................................................................... 53 Radical Feminism as Alternative Theory ............................................................................................ 54 The Methodology of Radical Feminism .............................................................................................. 56 Consciousness-Raising as Methodology ............................................................................. 58 Prioritization of Harm ......................................................................................................... 61 Anti-Individualism .............................................................................................................. 63 Radical Feminism on Sexuality and Gender ........................................................................................ 69 Sexual Exploitation ............................................................................................................. 69 Gender as Oppression ......................................................................................................... 69 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 71 Chapter 3: Consent, Deception, Manipulation, and Coercion ............................................... 73 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 73 Deception and Manipulation ................................................................................................................... 73 Social Coercion and Moral Psychology .................................................................................................. 77 Collective Unfreedom .............................................................................................................................. 82 Social Norms and Coercion ..................................................................................................................... 85 Arbitrariness of Coercion ........................................................................................................................ 88 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 91 Chapter 4: Consent and the Conceptualization of Harm ........................................................ 92 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 92 Distorting Effect of Consent .................................................................................................................... 94 Structure of Consent ............................................................................................................................ 94 6 Erasure and Normative Evaluation ...................................................................................................... 96 Social and Epistemological Barriers to Conceptualizing Harm ............................................................ 103 Psychological Mechanisms ................................................................................................................ 104 Ideology of Autonomy ....................................................................................................................... 106 Using Consent to Determine Harm .................................................................................................... 109 Arbitrariness of Harm ............................................................................................................................ 110 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 118 Chapter 5: Consent, Autonomy, and the Self ......................................................................... 119 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 119 Presuppositions of Autonomy ..............................................................................................................
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