Dougherty

Rights-Based Argument

Roughly: we have a particular right to control our own bodies and what happens to them.

It is a violation of someone's rights (rather than a mere instance of harm) to do something to them to which they don't consent.

The Best Explanation for the wrongness

Argument from sexual wrongs

Consider cases of "rape by deception".

In these cases, we don't think that the action is wrong because of the harm the victim has suffered. Rather, we think that they are wrong because there has been a failure of consent.

Differing Values

"Suppose that Chloe meets a hippie, Victoria, on a night out. Victoria makes it clear that she wants to have sex only with someone who shares her love of nature and peace.

Consequently, Chloe falsely claims to have spent time in a war zone as a humanitarian, when in fact she was there on military service. When Victoria asks whether she likes animals, Chloe omits the truth — “only to eat or to hunt” —and pretends to love petting them and watching them in the wild. As a result of this deception, the two spent a night together.

My claim is that Victoria did not validly consent to sex with Chloe.

I expect that most friends of the Lenient Thesis will insist that Victoria did validly consent to sex, even if they disapprove of Chloe’s deception on other grounds."

The Chihuahua Argument

I agree to have Aisha's dog at my apartment. I hate Chihuahuas and she knows it. She tells me that her dog is a Great Dane.

I come home expecting to find Aisha's Great Dane. Turns out, it's a Chihuahua. I hate them.

The Chihuahua Case

"But you agreed," Aisha says, "You said it would be fine to have the dog in your house - and it didn't seem to matter to you whether it was a Great Dane!"

Dougherty's take-away: my consent to the dog staying at my place was not morally valid. Aisha and her dog have trespassed, entering my apartment without my consent!

Autonomy vs. Rules

Here's the contrast Dougherty wants to set up:

Autonomy

vs.

Rule-Following

Sexual Moralism

Consent depends on what happens/what words are spoken

Lenient Thesis

Sexual Freedom

Consent depends on whether people were free to choose

Deceiving someone into sex is seriously wrong

What counts as sexual autonomy?

We need some way to specify when someone is being genuinely autonomous in their preferences (rather than subtly coerced). Where do we put the line between what's allowed and what isn't?

Specifics??

One might worry: Dougherty hasn't really told us what really matters for respecting someone's autonomous consent.

Substantive Account of Consent

Substantive Consent

"In consenting, we intend to allow a restricted range of possibilities, where these restrictions are both implicit and explicit. Any actual interaction with our persons or property is consensual only if this interaction falls within this restricted range of permitted possibilities."

Deal-Breakers

Dealbreakers

"Someone is deceived into sex when she forms

a false belief about a dealbreaker: the deception conceals a feature of the sexual encounter that makes a decisive difference to the victim’s decision to have sex." (731)

What counts as a dealbreaker?

We need some way to distinguish innocent and bad deception. Where do we put the line between what's allowed and what isn't?

Specifics??

One might worry: Dougherty hasn't really told us what really matters for respecting someone's autonomous consent.