3 research outputs found
Addressing the problem of sexual violence in South Africa : a philosophical analysis of equality and sexual difference in the constitution and the new sexual offences act
No full textThesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this thesis, the South African legal system's attempt to address sexual violence is explored through the lens of the work of the French feminist philosopher, Luce Irigaray. It will be argued that the South African equality jurisprudence lays the foundation for a strongly Irigarayan approach to the transformation of sex and gender relations in so far as our right to equality can be interpreted as being underpinned by an acknowledgment of embodiment, sexual particularity and difference. Our Constitution envisions equality as a value informed by difference rather than sameness and, in accordance with Irigaray’s work, it can be said that the implication of this is that the pursuit of the transformation of sex and gender relations on the one hand, and an acknowledgment of sexual difference on the other, are not mutually exclusive, but that sex equality instead calls for a fundamental recognition of sexual difference and an authentic response to the demands thereof. However, it will be argued that our newly reformed sexual violence legislation undermines the progress made on a constitutional level by entrenching a problematic approach to sexual difference in the definition of the crime of rape. This is done through firstly, defining the crime of rape in gender-neutral terms and secondly, retaining the concept of consent as the distinguishing characteristic between sex and rape. I will argue that through these features, our sexual violence legislation reflects the most basic mistakes that Irigaray identifies with the law. It will be argued that the legislation, on the one hand, denies sexual difference in a way that is prejudicial to women through its gender-neutral language, while at the same time, through the concept of consent, (re-)introducing a hierarchical construction of masculine and feminine sexuality into the Act in terms of which femininity is construed as derivative of, and inferior to, masculinity. Furthermore, the combination of the gender neutrality of the definition and the concept of consent exacerbates the situation, in so far as the gender neutrality masks the harmful construal of sexual difference that is incorporated in the definition through the concept of consent. Accordingly, judged from an Irigarayan perspective, the South African sexual violence legislation is deeply problematic. In addition, the legislation undercuts important constitutional developments, in so far as it ignores the constitutional insights that, firstly, sexual violence is a problem of sex inequality, and that secondly, the pursuit of the transformation of sex and gender relations is served, rather than undercut by a concern with particularities. On this basis, it is argued that the South African sexual violence legislation should be amended so that the concept of consent is removed and the crime of rape is defined in sex-specific language (while still allowing for male victims and female perpetrators) that facilitates judicial understanding of the complexities of the crime of rape.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie tesis sal die Suid-Afrikaanse regsisteem se poging om seksuele geweld aan te spreek, deur die lens van die werk van Luce Irigaray, ‘n Franse feministiese filosoof, ondersoek word. Daar sal geargumenteer word dat die Suid-Afrikaanse gelykheidsjurisprudensie ‘n grondslag vir ‘n sterk Irigarayiese benadering tot die transformasie van geslagsverhoudinge lê, in soverre ons reg op gelykheid geïnterpreteer kan word om in ‘n erkenning van beliggaming, seksuele spesifiekheid en verskil (“difference”) begrond te wees. Ons Grondwet stel gelykheid as ‘n waarde wat deur verskil eerder as eenvormigheid geïnformeer is, voor oë, en in lyn met die werk van Irigaray, kan daar gesê word dat die implikasie hiervan is dat die nastrewing van die transformasie van geslagsverhoudinge aan die een kant, en die erkenning van geslagsonderskeid (“sexual difference”) aan die ander, nie wedersyds uitsluitlik is nie, maar dat geslagsgelykheid eerder juis ‘n fundamentele erkenning van geslagsonderskeid en ‘n outentieke reaksie op die eise daarvan, noop. Daar sal egter geargumenteer word dat ons nuuthervormde wetgewing oor seksuele geweld die vordering wat op ‘n grondwetlike vlak gemaak is, ondermyn deur ‘n problematiese benadering tot geslagsonderskeid in die definisie van die misdaad van verkragting te verskans. Dit word bewerkstellig deur eerstens, die misdaad van verkragting in geslagsneutrale taal te formuleer, en tweedens, om die begrip van toestemming as onderskeidende kenmerk tussen seks en verkragting, te behou. Ek sal argumenteer dat dit deur hierdie eienskappe is, wat ons wetgewing oor seksuele geweld die mees basiese probleme wat Irigaray in die reg identifiseer, weerspieël. Daar sal voorgehou word dat die wetgewing, aan die een kant, deur die geslagsneutrale taal, geslagsonderskeid ontken op ‘n manier wat vrouens benadeel, terwyl dit terselfdertyd, deur die begrip van toestemming, ‘n hiërargiese verhouding tussen die manlike en die vroulike in die wetgewing daarstel, in terme waarvan die vroulike as derivatief en minderwaardig tot die manlike verstaan word. Verder, die situasie word deur die kombinasie van die geslagsneutraliteit van die definisie en die begrip van toetsemming, vererger deurdat die geslagsneutraliteit van die taal die skadelike vertolking van geslagonderskeid wat deur die begrip van toestemming in die definisie ingesluit word, verberg. Dus, vanuit ‘n Irigarayiese perspektief is die Suid-Afrikaanse wetgewing oor seksuele geweld diep problematies. Verder, die wetgewing ondermyn belangrike grondwetlike ontwikkelinge in soverre dit die volgende grondwetlike insigte ignoreer: eerstens, dat seksuele geweld ‘n probleem van geslagsongelykheid is en tweedens, dat die strewe na transformasie van geslagsverhoudinge gedien, eerder as ondermyn word deur ‘n besorgdheid met die partikuliere. Op hierdie gronde word daar geargumenteer dat die Suid-Afrikaanse wetgewing oor seksuele geweld gewysig behoort te word, deur die begrip van toestemming te verwyder en die misdaad te definieer in geslagspesifieke taal (op ‘n manier waardeur manlike slagoffers en vroulike oortreders steeds ingesluit word) wat geregtiglike begrip van die kompleksiteite van die misdaad van verkragting bemiddel.Master
African feminism as decolonising force: a philosophical exploration of the work of Oyeronke Oyewumi
No full textGoris, W. [Promotor]Du Toit, H.I. [Promotor]Halsema, J.M. [Copromotor
Affective performativity inside-outside the campus: university feminist student activisms onlife
No full textilustraciones, fotografíasEl deseo de cambiarlo todo ha sido el (im)pulso performafectivo que ha permitido el desarrollo de esta investigación activista con perspectiva feminista y descolonial. Una investigación que se propuso, desde la política de la visceralidad, tensionar las lógicas androcéntricas que constituyen las universidades, la construcción de conocimientos y los estudios sobre activismos universitarios. Esta tesis es un textus de multisensorialidades y afectos crudos que se fueron trenzando en el comprender y propiciar la de/re/construcción de sentidos y significados políticos relacionados con las prácticas de activismo de estudiantes y colectividades feministas y universitarias en tiempos de pandemia. Una investigación que se fue haciendo entre devenires activistas y devenires de activismos estudiantiles-feministas-universitarios onlife, en compañía de la Mesa de Género de la Facultad de Ciencias Humanas de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia, sede Bogotá. Esta investigación ha develado violencias epistémicas, simbólicas y políticas basadas en género que habitan los silencios universitarios y operan bajo la permisividad de la institucionalidad universitaria como mecanismo de exclusión y expulsión de las mujeres de los contextos universitarios. Las violencias se acentúan hacía las mujeres activistas, en especial a las estudiantes-feministas al ubicarlas en un lugar de insubordinación de los órdenes patriarcales del sistema universitario. Frente a las injusticias y violencias hacía las mujeres dentro-fuera de las universidades, lxs estudiantes y colectivas feministas-universitarias disputan con fuerza los escenarios estratégicos de la universidad con prácticas de resistencia entre lo micro-macro político que transforman las estructuras universitarias y construyen múltiples formas de justicia para nosotras, ¡hasta que la universidad sea como la deseamos!(Texto tomado de la fuente).The desire to change everything has been the (im)pulse of affective performativity that has allowed the development of this activist research with a feminist and discolonial perspective. A research that aimed, from the politics of viscerality, to challenge the androcentric logics that constitute universities, knowledge construction, and studies on university activisms. This thesis is a textus of multisensorialities and raw affects that intertwined in comprehending and fostering the de/re/construction of political meanings and significances related to the activism practices of students and feminist university collectives in times of pandemic. An investigation that unfolded amid activist becomings and becomings of onlife student-feminist-university activisms, in collaboration with the Gender Committee of the Faculty of Humanities Sciences at the National University of Colombia, Bogotá campus.
This research has unveiled epistemic, symbolic, and gender-based political violences that inhabit the silences within university spaces, operating under the permissiveness of university institutional structures as mechanisms of exclusion and expulsion of women from university contexts. The violences are accentuated towards activist women, especially feminist students, placing them in a position of insubordination to the patriarchal orders of the university system. In the face of injustices and violence against women inside-outside universities, feminist university students and collectives forcefully contest the strategic spaces of the university with resistance practices spanning the micro-macro political spectrum, transforming university structures and constructing multiple forms of justice for us, until the university becomes as we desire it to be!DoctoradoDoctora en ciencias humanas y socialesGénero, desigualdades sociales e interseccionalida
