Another Solipsism: Rae Langton on Sexual Fantasy

Abstract

The feminist critique of pornography focuses on the evils that pornography brings about. That critique is, however, also animated by a positive ideal of sexuality. I examine this positive ideal as developed by Rae Langton, who has recently offered a sustained philosophical account of the feminist critique. Langton’s ideal is a fundamentally defective and self-defeating aspiration, likely to thwart rather than to facilitate the interpersonal communion she values. It paradoxically reproduces the solipsism it denounces. The defects of her ideal strengthen the case for other, more pornography-friendly forms of feminism.

Keywords: Feminism, Langton, Pornography, Obscenity

JEL Classification: K00, K19