Date Rape: Feminism, Philosophy, and the Law

From Mike Tyson to the Portland Trail Blazers to William Kennedy Smith, from Katie Roiphe's "The Morning After" to the Antioch College policy, the issue of acquaintance, or "date", rape has captured our national attention in recent years. In a major contribution to current debates over the meaning of data rape and how it should be criminally punished, this volume brings together lawyers, philosophers, and feminists to explore "communicative sexuality" as a model for the condemnation of date rape. As a crime, rape is viewed more ambiguously than most other offences. As a social issue, rape reflects deep divisions in our attitude about sexuality and gender. Nowhere are these divisions more obvious than in the controversies over date rape. While the past few decades have seen two major waves of rape law reform in the United States, these reforms have only chipped away at the basic criticism that sexual coercion, particularly by acquaintances, remains largely unpunished in contemporary American law. Lois Pineau's feminist analysis of date rape, which is the centerpiece of this book, seeks to replace myths about female provocation and male self-control with a model of communicative sexuality, in which each partner tries to understand the aims of the other and to further these ends toward what Pineau calls "good sex". Aggressive or coercive sex, Pineau argues, lacks this fundamental understanding. Thus, Pineau's reconceptualisation of sexual assault has two elements: nonconsensual sexual action and lack of communication needed to establish that the action was consensual. In recognition of the importance of this radical reconceptualisation of sexual assault, the contributors to "Date Rape" evaluate its theoretical plausibility and its practical consequences. The result is a balanced evaluation of a major new direction in our understanding of rape.

About the Author :
Leslie P. Francis is Professor of Law and Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Utah and past editor of the newsletter on philosophy and law for the American Philosophical Association.

Review :
“Date Rape is a remarkable contribution to the field of feminist thought. For anyone who wishes to better understand why date rape IS rape, this book is a necessary read. I am convinced that Date Rape will enable all of my students to better distinguish between each other's ‘maybes,’ ‘yeses,’ and ‘nos.'” —Rosemarie Tong, Author of Women, Sex, and the Law “Interesting and provocative.” —Susan Estrich, Author of Real Rape