A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Perceptions of Sexual Consent in Nicaragua and the United States
Open Access
- Author:
- Duiker, Lina Ruth
- Area of Honors:
- Interdisciplinary in Philosophy, Women's Studies, and Latin American Studies
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Sarah Clark Miller, Thesis Supervisor
Brady Lee Bowman, Thesis Honors Advisor
Matthew Restall, Thesis Honors Advisor
Dr. Jennifer Ann Wagner-Lawlor, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Sexual violence
Consent
Empathy
Ethics
Care Ethics
Gender violence - Abstract:
- Globally there is not a consensus on the moral acceptability of sexual violence. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how culture, gender, and empathy can impact perceptions of sexual violence and consent. The first chapter introduces some of the many complications of sexual violence. The second chapter defines sexual violence and the different types of sexual violence. Chapters three and four examine the cultural contexts of Nicaragua and the United States, with a special focus on attitudes towards sexual violence, and responses to sexual violence. Chapters five and six explore consent and empathy, and their relation to sexual violence. In chapter seven, I present a study that I conducted in Nicaragua and the United States to investigate the connections between gender, cultural influences, consent and empathy, and I offer primary results from the study. In chapter eight I consider some primary psychological conclusions, and in chapter nine, I examine philosophical conclusions based on a care ethical framework. The study results show that people from Nicaragua are more likely to have less empathy, and higher perceptions that consent was given than people in the United States. This thesis argues that the cultural context of machismo and marianismo in Nicaragua might be driving factors in this difference. This thesis also argues that Michael Slote’s care ethics finds sexual violence to be unacceptable and concludes with a call to action; societies must inculcate empathy in children, and must teach consent in order to combat the high rates of sexual violence apparent.