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NordicModelNowJanuary 18, 2024

Many experts consider rape to be more or less decriminalised in England and Wales. Last year, only about 1% of the 68,109 rapes recorded by police resulted in a conviction.

This webinar will ask whether we need to reconsider how we think about rape. Maybe the very idea of “consent” is flawed. Doesn’t it suggest that sex is something done by someone (no doubt male) to someone else (typically female)? What does that imply about the status of women versus the status of men? And is the legal definition of consent part of the problem?

How does prostitution impact on this understanding? Some economists consider that what is being bought in prostitution is not “sex” but rather the control of sex. He pays so he is in control and if she wants to be paid, she has no choice but to go along with it regardless whether it is painful, terrifying, or gross. What is the meaning of “consent” in that scenario? And how does it affect men’s understanding of sex with an (unpaid) intimate partner?

What about pornography? A recent study found that 90% of mainstream internet porn involves verbal, physical and/or sexual violence, often in violation of laws against sexism, racism, violence, and even torture. How is that impacting all of our understandings of sexual relationships?

We are thrilled that Wendy Murphy, a US professor of Sexual Violence and Law Reform, will be speaking at this webinar, along with Esther, a British survivor of prostitution with extensive knowledge of the legal system in England and Wales.

This webinar is free but you need to register in advance on Eventbrite.

VestalVirginJanuary 18, 2024(Edited January 18, 2024)

This webinar will ask whether we need to reconsider how we think about rape. Maybe the very idea of “consent” is flawed. Doesn’t it suggest that sex is something done by someone (no doubt male) to someone else (typically female)? What does that imply about the status of women versus the status of men? And is the legal definition of consent part of the problem?

I highly doubt that changing how we (meaning feminist women) think about sex will change anything about how men think about raping us. They don't really care about the thoughts in our heads.

Honestly, it might be better for women if we forced men to admit that sex (at least the PIV variety) IS something they do to women, and something harmful at that, and forced them to change the law so that a woman doesn't need to prove that she did not consent to sex, but that the man has to prove that she did consent.

People don't like to confront the fact that PIV harms women even when it's consensual, but if there's any way changing how we think about sex can help combat rape, it's admitting the truth, and forcing law-makers to take the truth into consideration.

Blood donation is very normalized in our society, but if you were randomly attacked by someone with a syringe trying to steal your blood, they'd go to prison no matter how much they tried to argue that you've donated blood a hundred times and are therefore a person who has no problem having their blood taken away.
That's because we, as society, acknowledge that donating blood harms the donor even if it is consensual.

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