Making Sense of Erotically Oppressive Lifeworlds: Dynamics of Testimonial Smothering and Testimonial Quieting

Giladi, Paul

Abstract

In this paper, I focus on applying Kristie Dotson's (2011) critical social epistemological framework to the topic of women's sexual arousal. My paper is divided into three parts. In Section 1, I provide a brief history of the DSM sexological discourse about sexual arousal, and conclude by proposing that there is a mutually sustaining relationship between mainstream media, androcentric pornography, and the DSM-IV vocabulary, insofar as each of these feeds myths about arousal to each other. The mutually sustaining relationship between mainstream media, androcentric pornography, and the DSM-IV vocabulary (re)produces longstanding oppressive social norms and concomitant cultures of erotic expectation in western heteropatriarchal contexts. In Section 2, I contend that the epistemic harms of these erotically oppressive lifeworlds involve testimonial smothering as well as testimonial quieting. In Section 5, I conclude the paper with two critical responses to Richard Balon and Anita Clayton's objection to DSM-5's radical changes to conceptualizing issues with women's sexual arousal.

Citation

Giladi, P. (online). Making Sense of Erotically Oppressive Lifeworlds: Dynamics of Testimonial Smothering and Testimonial Quieting. Journal of Social Philosophy, https://doi.org/10.1111/josp.12599

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 19, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Oct 30, 2024
• Deposit Date: Nov 1, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 1, 2024
• Journal: Journal of Social Philosophy
• Print ISSN: 0047-2786
• Electronic ISSN: 1467-9833
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/josp.12599
• Keywords: epistemic oppression, heteropatriarchy, sexual arousal, testimonial quieting, testmonial smothering
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/josp.12599