Moral Philosophy Final Exam - Topic 5 - Pushiness and Sexual Consent

Sexual Consent

A voluntary, informed, and clear agreement to engage in specific sexual activity. It serves as a moral "gatekeeper" that transforms what would otherwise be a battery into a permissible act

Prospective Boundary Violation

An action that risks or intends to cross a person's physical or psychological boundaries before they have explicitly agreed to that crossing to further the relationship

Pushiness

Persistent pressure, persuasion, or the "wearing down" of someone's resistance until they agree to something they were initially hesitant about

Undermining Consent

Coercion - using the threat of physical force, psychological pressure, emotional manipulation. Exploitation - unjust advantage of someone’s vulnerability, intoxication, power imbalances

Libertarian View of Prospective Boundary Violations

All are morally permissible except for cases where someone uses coercion

Barnhill’s View of Prospective Boundary Violations

1. No harming the other person

2. Genuinely want the relationship

3. Magnitude - only get one step closer

4. Must be the kind of relationship the other person would plausibly want to have

Kantian’s View of Prospective Boundary Violations

Most are morally wrong, you are treating the other person merely as a means to your ends to deepen the relationship