Beyond Consent: Exploring Sexual Violence Prevention at Macalester through a Framework of Sexual Subjectivity and Sexual Ethics

This project explores the topic of sexual violence prevention at Macalester through 21 in-depth interviews with staff and students. Drawing on feminist and other scholarship on the connections between sexual subjectivity, violence, vulnerability, and ethics, I highlight the ways in which cultural ideals of subjective control and invulnerability are linked to sexual violence. In this paper, I argue that in order for prevention programs to intervene in violence at the (inter)subjective level, they must encourage the development of ethical subjectivity that embraces vulnerability and self-reflection. My analysis of interview data reflects and confirms the importance of these themes