Date of Award
2011
Document Type
Thesis
Publication Status
Version of Record
Submission Date
October 2026
Abstract
Rape play is a type of consensual, ritualistic domination and submission, developed and enacted in a sado-masochistic (S/M) sex culture, which involves the appearance of force. There are two feminist theories that can be employed in a feminist analysis of rape play: dominance/radical feminism and libertarian/"sex positive" feminism. Libertarian/"sex positive" feminism holds that S/M, including rape play, is potentially compatible with feminism because the power dynamic between a dominant/"rapist" and submissive/"victim" does not draw on either practitioners' actual social identity and the power it possesses or lacks. Dominance/radical feminism argues that gender, which is socially constructed, can best be understood as a form of sexualized domination and submission, so social identity could not be dissociated from power in S/M. My reading of guidebooks and narratives about rape play suggests that the dominance/radical feminist position is more accurate in the case of rape play, though not necessarily all of S/M culture.
Extent
v, 130 p.
Recommended Citation
Halena, Megan., "Identity, power, and ritual "rape play" in the S/M community" (2011). Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019. 303.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general_6/303
Identifier
FADT3183128
Comments
by Megan Halena.|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011.|Includes bibliography.|Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.|by Megan Halena.