THE THEORY OF CATHARINE MACKINNON 2005

The Theory of Catharine Mackinnon 2005

The Theory of Catharine Mackinnon

ABSTRACT

How can we eradicate violence against women? How, at least, can we reduce its prevalence? One possibility offered by Catharine MacKinnon is to harness international human rights norms, especially prohibitions on torture, and apply them to sexual violence with greater rigour and commitment than has hitherto been the case. This article focuses particularly on the argument that all rapes constitute torture in which states are actively complicit. It questions whether a feminist strategy to reconceptualise rape as torture should be pursued, suggesting that we retain the label 'rape' due to its gendered meaning and powerful associations.(Myhill,2002)

INTRODUCTION

There can be few topics other than rape which elicit passionate responses from all sorts of people, governments and across all forms of media (no matter how low level). As well as rape being an everyday occurrence, it is also a daily topic of media, government and academic debates. This clamour for answers (why do so many men rape so many women?) and solutions (how can we better bring perpetrators to justice?) seems relentless, yet no further towards resolution. While the topic of rape has not polarised feminists in the way that, say, pornography has (all feminists condemn rape; some feminists are pro-porn), it remains a divisive topic, dealing as it does with ideas of women's agency, autonomy, male domination, the use of law and questions of feminist strategy. (Myhill,2002) In order to continue to play a part in these broad debates regarding rape, feminist legal scholars must continue to be open to challenging and possibly controversial ideas.

RAPE AS 'TORTURE'

MacKinnon's compelling, and rhetorically powerful, book Are Women Human? And Other International Dialogues (2006), in which the 1993 essay ''On Torture'' is republished, advocates harnessing international human rights norms and applying them to violence against women with greater rigour and commitment than has hitherto been the case. One specific focus of her critique is the international prohibition on torture. In particular, she asks: ''why is tortureon the basis of sex - for example, in the form of rape, battering, and pornography - not seen as a violation of human rights?'' (MacKinnon 2006, p. 17) Her answer is deceptively simple. What fundamentally distinguishes torture, she argues, from domestic violence, rape and abuse, is that ''torture is done to men as well as to women'' (MacKinnon 2006, p. 21).

MacKinnon, therefore, urges us to reconceive many of the abuses which women face as torture. This would draw on the ''recognized profile'' (MacKinnon 2006, p. 17) of torture internationally, garnering national and international recognition of the egregious nature of all violence against women. Further, applying the sobriquet torture, the argument goes, would tap into effective legal sanctions and penalties that are accepted internationally, enforced nationally and which may, therefore, begin to act as a deterrent. The harms which MacKinnon seeks to reconceptualise as torture are many, including domestic violence, trafficking, pornography and rape.

QUESTIONS OF FEMINIST STRATEGY: RAPE AS RAPE?

Catharine MacKinnon makes a ...