Topic in Feminism & Embodiment

Question 1

What are the arguments for: Can pornography be feminist?

Answer 1

1. For Pornography
2. Against Pornography

Question 2

How do we need to define pornography for it to be feminist?

Answer 2

Any material that is sexually explicit, and primarily designed to produce sexual arousal in the viewer.

Question 3

Why is this definition feminist?

Answer 3

Because it doesn’t distinguish between:
- Violent and non-violent.
- Inegalitarian and egalitarian.

Question 4

What definition of pornography makes it not feminist?

Answer 4

Any material that is sexually explicit, and primarily designed to produce sexual arousal in the viewer and objectionable in some particular way.

Question 5

What is the core way in which porn is objectionable?

Answer 5

Because it is inegalitarian.

Question 6

Why does inegalitarian porn cause women harm?

Answer 6

Causal claim: it causes its consumers to behave in ways that are subordinating to women.

Constitutive claim: subordinating women is what porn does.

Question 7

In what way does MacKinnon claim porn cause subornation?

Answer 7

She claims that porn is a cause of sexual violence.
- Based on the idea that men tend to learn about sex. through porn.
- Porn depicts women as sexually insatiable, overpowered, still wanting sex after saying ‘no’.
- Therefore, these men are more prone to sexually assault.

Question 8

What is the issue with MacKinnon’s claim that porn causes sexual violence?

Answer 8

An issue of causation or correlation.
- Even if people that rape do watch porn, we seem to stuggle to claim that it is caused by porn.

Question 9

What is the constitutive claim against porn?

Answer 9

Porn silences women.

Question 10

How does porn silence women?

Answer 10

• If women are seen as sexually insatiable, then women’s testimony against sexual abuse seems less sincere.
• Porn creates hostile environment for testimony.

Question 11

What example of porn silencing women is there?

Answer 11

Linda Marchiano: “people remember the smile on my face”.

Question 12

What is Liberalism’s objection to porn as harming women?

Answer 12

Nothing should sacrifice free speech.
- Porn is the speech of the creators.

Question 13

What is MacKinnon’s problem with the Liberalism objection?

Answer 13

Porn silences women’s free speech.
- Therefore, porn cannot be defended on grounds of free speech.

Question 14

What are the two ways in which porn silences women according to Langton?

Answer 14

Locution: physical coercion

Perlocution: utterance is done, performance is done, no persuading.

Question 15

How does porn physically coerce women into being silent?

Answer 15

By discouraging them from speaking.

Question 16

How does porn stop women’s speech from persuading?

Answer 16

When a women says “no”, due eroticism of refusal, it fails to persuade the man to stop.

Question 17

What is your conclusion to: Can pornography be feminist?

Answer 17

If we define porn as distinct from erotica, then porn harms women.
- The causal claim is weak.
- The silencing constitutive claim is strong.
- Even if both the causal and constitutive claim is weak, porn doesn’t help women.
- To be feminist it must help women.

Question 18

What are the arguments for: Feminism embraces an essentialist idea of ‘woman’. Discuss.

Answer 18

1. Intersectionalism
2. Essentialism

Question 19

What is the issue with traditional feminist?

Answer 19

There are many layers of oppression such as race and sex.
- Traditional feminism spoke about a certain kind of female oppression (what kind?)

Question 20

What was Crenshaw’s argument against thinking of sex and race as seperate?

Answer 20

We end up leaving out much of the issues people face.
- Black women suffer differently than both white women and black men.
- As result black women’s issues get left out.

Question 21

Why is Crenshaw against an essentialist understanding of ‘women’?

Answer 21

• Because it makes black women invisible.
• Suggests a universalisation and deterministic understanding of biology.

Question 22

What does Crenshaw suggest instead of essentialism?

Answer 22

An understanding of ‘women’ and ‘black’ as social constructs.
- Thus it is absurd to refer to ‘women’ as a concrete thing.

Question 23

How does Spelman try to show the absurdity of talking about women as simply women?

Answer 23

Through the apple juice example.

Question 24

What does Gunnarsson argue in response to ‘women’ being socially constructed?

Answer 24

Even if ‘women’ is socially constructed, there are women.

Question 25

How does Gunnersson argue against Spelman?

Answer 25

By showing that her tomato juice analogy does not work as we still need the abstract notion of juice.

Question 26

What does Gunnersson claim we can do with an abstract notion of women?

Answer 26

We can have an abstract notion without assuming that it is the only thing women are.
- Concrete reality is not exhausted with ‘women’.

Question 27

Why do we need an abstract notion of women?

Answer 27

In order to understand what ‘black women’ is.
- It picks out the commonality between women.

Question 28

How should the abstract notion of ‘women’ be understood?

Answer 28

As a differentiated group, whilst being itself differentiated.

Question 29

What is Haslanger’s definition of ‘women’?

Answer 29

S fucntions as a women in context C iff:
- S is observed or imagined to have certain bodily features presumed to be female.
- These features marks S out as someone who should occupy a subordinate social position.
- This plays a role in S’s systematic subordination along some dimension.

Question 30

What is your conclusion on: Feminism embraces an essentialist idea of ‘woman’. Discuss.

Answer 30

• Crenshaw makes a good point that we need to focus on subgroups.
• This does not, however, dissolve the abstract notion of ‘women’.
• Haslanger’s definition allows us to differentiate within the notion of women.
• This accounts for intersectional issues.