Rethinking Rape

Ann J. Cahill

ISBN 10: 0801487188 / ISBN 13: 9780801487187

Published by Cornell University Press Mär 2001, 2001

About this Item

Neuware - Rape, claims Ann J. Cahill, affects not only those women who are raped, but all women who experience their bodies as rapable and adjust their actions and self-images accordingly. Rethinking Rape counters legal and feminist definitions of rape as mere assault and decisively emphasizes the centrality of the body and sexuality in a crime which plays a crucial role in the continuing oppression of women.

Seller Inventory # 9780801487187

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Rethinking Rape
• Publisher: Cornell University Press Mär 2001
• Publication Date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0801487188
• ISBN 13: 9780801487187
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 227W x 154H x 16D millimeters 227 millimeters width by 154 millimeters height by 16 millimeters depth
• Weight: 384 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Rape, claims Ann J. Cahill, affects not only those women who are raped, but all women who experience their bodies as rapable and adjust their actions and self-images accordingly. Rethinking Rape counters legal and feminist definitions of rape as mere assault and decisively emphasizes the centrality of the body and sexuality in a crime which plays a crucial role in the continuing oppression of women.

Rethinking Rape applies current feminist theory to an urgent political and ethical issue. Cahill takes an original approach by reading the subject of rape through the work of such recent continental feminist thinkers as Luce Irigaray, Elizabeth Grosz, Rosi Braidotti, and Judith Butler, who understand the body as fluid and indeterminate, a site for the negotiation of power and resistance. Cahill interprets rape as an embodied, sexually marked experience, a violation of feminine bodily integrity, and a pervasive threat to the integrity and identity of a woman's person.

The wrongness of rape, which has always eluded legal interpretation, cannot be defined as theft, battery, or the logical extension of heterosexual sex. It is not limited to a specific event, but encompasses the myriad ways in which rape threatens the prospect of feminine agency. As an explication that fully countenances women's experiences of their own bodies, Rethinking Rape helps point the way toward reparation, resistance, and the evolution of feminine subjectivity.

About the Author

Ann J. Cahill is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Elon University in North Carolina. She is the editor of Continental Feminism Reader.