The Joy of Consent

Gisèle Pelicot's story outraged the world. The sickening parade of crimes to which she was subjected and her betrayal are dark pages in our history. Feminist philosopher Manon Garcia decided to attend the trial and to analyse its resonance for our future. It became the trial that demonstrated that trials will never suffice to serve justice. If the perpetrators, for the most part, seemed so unashamed of what they had done, can we see in their sentencing anything meaningful? If their lawyers defend their clients by relieving them of responsibility for their actions, how will these men, their families, their friends see this trial as anything other than an injustice? If, even as the most explicit proof streamed before the court, the victim was stonewalled with the bland denial of facts, what can juries achieve in cases when the evidence is lacking? The threat of incarceration will never be powerful enough to stop men raping. If trusting the justice system, as those who fret about feminist overreach counsel us to do, gets us nowhere, what do we do? Above all, one question haunted Garcia: under such circumstances, can we live with men? And at what price?

A philosophical exploration of female submission, using insights from feminist thinkers-especially Simone de Beauvoir-to reveal the complexities of women's reality and lived experienceWhat role do women play in the perpetuation of patriarchy? On the one hand, popular media urges women to be independent, outspoken, and career-minded. Yet, this same media glorifies a specific, sometimes voluntary, female submissiveness as a source of satisfaction. In philosophy, even less has been said on why women submit to men and the discussion has been equally contradictory-submission has traditionally been considered a vice or pathology, but female submission has been valorized as innate to women's nature. Is there a way to explore female submission in all of its complexity-not denying its appeal in certain instances, and not buying into an antifeminist, sexist, or misogynistic perspective?We Are Not Born Submissive offers the first in-depth philosophical exploration of female submission, focusing on the thinking of Simone de Beauvoir, and more recent work in feminist philosophy, epistemology, and political theory. Manon Garcia argues that to comprehend female submission, we must invert how we examine power and see it from the woman's point of view. Historically, philosophers, psychoanalysts, and even some radical feminists have conflated femininity and submission. Garcia demonstrates that only through the lens of women's lived experiences-their economic, social, and political situations-and how women adapt their preferences to maintain their own well-being, can we understand the ways in which gender hierarchies in society shape women's experiences. Ultimately, she asserts that women do not actively choose submission. Rather, they consent to-and sometimes take pleasure in-what is prescribed to them through social norms within a patriarchy.Moving beyond the simplistic binary of natural destiny or moral vice, We Are Not Born Submissive takes a sophisticated look at how female submissiveness can be explained.