Catharine MacKinnon and sex as domination

Abstract

The article discusses the work of feminist legal scholar Catharine MacKinnon and, in particular, her radical rejection of the liberal notion of “consent”. For the author, sexuality is an expression of male dominance; indeed, it reveals itself as “eroticization of domination”. In such society, there is no possibility of autonomous agency for women. We must undo the work of the internalization of dominant values, so that a genuine feminine consciousness can emerge. This is the backdrop of her controversial views on rape, pornography, prostitution or abortion. The article concludes that, while illuminating important aspects of domination, she simplifies in excess the discussion of autonomy in social agency.