Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

What Is a Sexist Ideology? Or: Why Grace Didn’t Leave

2018; Michigan Publishing; Volume: 5; Issue: 20201214 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3998/ergo.12405314.0005.034

2330-4014

Hilkje Charlotte Hänel,

Political Economy and Marxism

This paper brings forward two claims.First, sexual violence is a social practice within a broader framework of sexist ideology.And, second, such an ideology is necessarily holistic and self-operative.I spell out the first claim with the help of Sally Haslanger's current research on social structures and ideologies.However, in order to show that a recent case of sexual violence is part of a broader sexist framework, I argue that we need to draw upon further research that focuses on the holistic and self-operative character of said ideologies.Additionally, I develop two insights that follow from understanding sexual violence as a social practice within a sexist ideology.If the sexist ideology constrains our actions and the intelligibility of our actions, then (a) the concept of consent becomes problematic in light of the sexist ideology, and (b) we should think about educational strategies to counter the sexist ideology, and not imprisonment.O ne night in 2017, 'Grace' went on a date with actor Aziz Ansari.She later described the date as "the worst experience with a man I've ever had," and accused him of sexual assault (Harmon 2018;Respers France 2018;Way 2018).In a statement, he responded by saying that the sexual activity was completely consensual.While Grace felt pressured, uncomfortable, and violated, he was convinced that the sexual acts were consensual.How is it possible that a man who describes himself as an ally to the feminist cause engages in such unacceptable actions and seems incapable of understanding them for what they are, that is, acts of sexual violence? 1 And how is it possible that a woman who 1.In the following, I use the term 'sexual violence' to refer to sexual and sexualized acts that are either obtained through the means of power or for the end of power, e.g., acts such as rape, sexual assault, sexual abuse, sex obtained through psychological pressure, etc.