Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T03:26:38.375Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sadomasochism as Make-Believe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2020

Nils-Hennes Stear
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In “Rethinking Sadomasochism,” Patrick Hopkins challenges the “radical” feminist claim that sadomasochism is incompatible with feminism. He does so by appeal to the notion of “simulation.” I argue that Hopkins's conclusions are generally right, but they cannot be inferred from his “simulation” argument. I replace Hopkins's “simulation” with Kendall Walton's more sophisticated theory of “make-believe.” I use this theory to better argue that privately conducted sadomasochism is compatible with feminism.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Hypatia , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , Spring 2009 , pp. 21 - 38
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 by Nils-Hennes Stear

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Califia, Pat. 1994. Public sex. Pittsburgh: Cleis.Google Scholar
Carroll, Noel. 1991. On Kendall Walton's Mimesis as Make‐believe. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 51 (2): 383–387.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopkins, Patrick D. 1997. Rethinking sadomasochism: Feminism, interpretation, and simulation. In The philosophy of sex, ed. Soble, A.Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 116–141.Google Scholar
Moravcsik, J.M. 1993. Review of Mimesis as Make‐believe: On the foundations of representational arts. Philosophical Review 102 (3): 440–443.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Radford, Colin. 2004. How can we be moved by the fate of Anna Karenina?. In Philosophy of literature: Contemporary and classic readings—an anthology, eds. John, Eileen and McIver Lopes, Dominic. Malden, Mass: Blackwell Publishing, pp. 170–176.Google Scholar
Vadas, Melinda. 1997. A reply to Patrick Hopkins. In The philosophy of sex, ed. Soble, A.Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 159–161.Google Scholar
Walton, Kendall. 1990. Mimesis as make‐believe: On the foundations of the representational arts. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Walton, Kendall. 2004a. Fiction and nonfiction. In Philosophy of literature: Contemporary and classic readings—an anthology, eds. John, Eileen and McIver Lopes, Dominic. Malden, Mass: Blackwell Publishing, pp. 136–143.Google Scholar
Walton, Kendall. 2004b. Fearing fictionally. In Philosophy of literature: Contemporary and classic readings—an anthology, eds. John, Eileen and McIver Lopes, Dominic. Malden, Mass: Blackwell Publishing, pp. 177–184.Google Scholar
Walton, Kendall. 2004c. Metaphor and prop oriented make‐believe. In Philosophy of literature: Contemporary and classic readings—an anthology, eds. John, Eileen and McIver Lopes, Dominic. Malden, Mass: Blackwell Publishing, pp. 239–248.Google Scholar