GBV Series Maureen Mansfield GBV Series Maureen Mansfield

Contesting the nexus between law, rape, and property

the legal and cultural obsession with affirmative consent evidenced in popular feminism, media, and mandatory university trainings cruelly reifies victims of sexual violence as abstract legal subjects, capable of protecting themselves through savvy risk assessment and contractual relations. Indeed, the privileging of consent as a marker of acceptable sexual relations has been thoroughly critiqued by feminist, queer, and liberal legal scholars.

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GBV Series Maureen Mansfield GBV Series Maureen Mansfield

‘It takes a village to rape a woman.’ Community, modernity, and Gisèle Pelicot

We are less likely to intervene, than to report an incident after the fact. This happens across the spectrum, from the most violent rapes, through street harassment, into universities and other institutions: at the ‘everyday’ end, complaints tend to be submitted when difficult conversations would be more effective. Faith (or hope) in authoritarian systems seems unshakeable, even given overwhelming evidence they don’t keep us safe:

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GBV Series, Resource Maureen Mansfield GBV Series, Resource Maureen Mansfield

Complexifying Carceral Feminism: Interrogating an Emotional Entanglement

As “carceral feminism” has become ever more distilled, rigidly individualised ideas around what – and who – the “carceral feminist” is have also emerged. A process which has been accelerated with the growing interest in anti-carceral perspectives following calls to defund the police in 2020 in the aftermath of the Black Lives Matter protests.

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