The limits of limit cases: Sexual ethics and graduate student–staff relationships

Abstract

AbstractThis article examines whether, and if so how, the alternative model of sexual ethics, namely, a pleasure and care‐centred ethic of embodied and relational sexual Otherness, performs when given scenarios or case studies that push up against its ethico‐political limits. I focus here on the case of intimate relationships that emerge between graduate students and their supervisors. The two case studies examined are the Avital Ronell case and a composite case constructed from the lived experience and personal stories of women who have what they deem are/were successful intimate relationships with their PhD supervisors—sometimes resulting in marriage. Following a critique of sexual consent, the article engages in a close critical analysis of each case in line with the pleasure and care‐centered ethic of embodied and relational sexual Otherness and, in doing so, engages with issues of power, ethicality, pleasure, justice, and gender norms before offering ways forward.