RIP Seminar 11 Oct 2017

Elinor Mason (University of Edinburgh) 

Rape, Harassment and Refusal

In this paper I examine and elaborate on one way in which women’s sexual refusal may be silenced. I build on Mary Kate McGowan’s suggestion, that an alternative to the Hornsby/Langton account, which involves the idea that women are silenced in that they are unable to communicate an illocutionary act, is the idea that women’s refusal is unsuccessful because they are seen to lack the relevant authority. I argue that it is possible that women do in fact lack the relevant authority, when we focus on the conventional nature of authority. I show that this is a useful way to understand harassment and date rape.