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Identity, power, and ritual "rape play" in the S/M community
- Date Issued:
- 2011
- Summary:
- Rape play is a type of consensual, ritualistic domination and submission, developed and enacted in a sado-masochistic (S/M) sex culture, which involves the appearance of force. There are two feminist theories that can be employed in a feminist analysis of rape play: dominance/radical feminism and libertarian/"sex positive" feminism. Libertarian/"sex positive" feminism holds that S/M, including rape play, is potentially compatible with feminism because the power dynamic between a dominant/"rapist" and submissive/"victim" does not draw on either practitioners' actual social identity and the power it possesses or lacks. Dominance/radical feminism argues that gender, which is socially constructed, can best be understood as a form of sexualized domination and submission, so social identity could not be dissociated from power in S/M. My reading of guidebooks and narratives about rape play suggests that the dominance/radical feminist position is more accurate in the case of rape play, though not necessarily all of S/M culture.
Title: | Identity, power, and ritual "rape play" in the S/M community. |
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Name(s): |
Halena, Megan. Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies |
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Type of Resource: | text | |
Genre: | Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation | |
Date Issued: | 2011 | |
Publisher: | Florida Atlantic University | |
Physical Form: | electronic | |
Extent: | v, 130 p. | |
Language(s): | English | |
Summary: | Rape play is a type of consensual, ritualistic domination and submission, developed and enacted in a sado-masochistic (S/M) sex culture, which involves the appearance of force. There are two feminist theories that can be employed in a feminist analysis of rape play: dominance/radical feminism and libertarian/"sex positive" feminism. Libertarian/"sex positive" feminism holds that S/M, including rape play, is potentially compatible with feminism because the power dynamic between a dominant/"rapist" and submissive/"victim" does not draw on either practitioners' actual social identity and the power it possesses or lacks. Dominance/radical feminism argues that gender, which is socially constructed, can best be understood as a form of sexualized domination and submission, so social identity could not be dissociated from power in S/M. My reading of guidebooks and narratives about rape play suggests that the dominance/radical feminist position is more accurate in the case of rape play, though not necessarily all of S/M culture. | |
Identifier: | 754798516 (oclc), 3183128 (digitool), FADT3183128 (IID), fau:3708 (fedora) | |
Note(s): |
by Megan Halena. Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. Includes bibliography. Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web. |
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Subject(s): |
Sadomasochism Sexual dominance and submission Sex role Dominance (Psychology) Identity (Psychology) Feminist theory |
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Persistent Link to This Record: | http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3183128 | |
Use and Reproduction: | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ | |
Host Institution: | FAU |