The New Logic of Sexual Violence in Enlightenment France: Rationalizing Rape

This book challenges the conventional understanding of rape as a product of the Enlightenment and argues that it was invented in the eighteenth century by cultural assumptions of gendered sexual desire. It examines a range of texts to demonstrate how women's non-consent was made a logical impossibility, and how biomedical and historical theories about the natural sex act worked to erase the concept of heterosexual rape.

Format: Hardback
Length: 194 pages
Publication date: 08 November 2023
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This book makes a compelling argument that the concept of rape as we understand it today emerged in the eighteenth century. By examining a wide range of texts, including medical treatises, socio-political essays, and popular novels, the author demonstrates how cultural assumptions about gendered sexual desire effectively erased the notion of rape by rendering a woman's non-consent a logical impossibility. The Enlightenment's promotion of human sexuality as natural and desirable necessitated a secularized narrative to explain sexual violence against women. Novel biomedical and historical theories about the natural sex act played a significant role in erasing the concept of heterosexual rape.

McAlpin's book is a multidisciplinary exploration that surveys and demonstrates how rape was rationalized across various scholarly disciplines. These include the history of medicine, the history of sexuality, the development of the modern self, the social contractarian tradition, the global eighteenth century, and the libertine tradition in the eighteenth-century novel. This intervention is of utmost importance to students and scholars in gender studies, literature, cultural studies, visual studies, and the history of sexuality.

By delving into these diverse texts and analyzing the cultural and societal factors that shaped the perception of rape, the author offers a profound insight into the historical and societal mechanisms that perpetuated this crime. The book challenges readers to reconsider their understanding of rape and to explore the ways in which gender, power, and sexuality have shaped the construction of sexual violence throughout history.

In conclusion, this book is a groundbreaking exploration of the origins and evolution of rape as a concept. It provides a wealth of evidence and analysis that challenges traditional narratives and sheds light on the complex and multifaceted factors that have contributed to the perpetuation of rape throughout history. It is a must-read for anyone interested in gender studies, literature, cultural studies, and the history of sexuality.

Weight: 453g
Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032255538