Diana Meyers argues that breaking the silence of victims and attending to their stories are necessary steps towards realizing human rights. Yet using highly personal victims stories to promote human rights raises significant moral concerns, hence Meyers suggests that before victims stories can be accessed and used, it is morally imperative that requirements of informed consent and non-retraumatization are secured. This article argues that while Meyers proviso is important, and necessary, it may not be sufficient. First, one potential problem with seeking to secure "informed consent" is that one has to ask for the consent, and in the act of asking one is potentially retraumatizing the victim. Secondly, the assumption that victims have ownership right over their stories, which is a key premise in Meyerss argument, is much more problematic than may appear.
knowledge productions and the institutionalization of a progressive (namely, an anti-racist, feminist) movement are deeply shaped through our intimate ties and the politics of love. REFERENCE Code, Lorraine. 1991. What can she know? Feminist theory and the construction of knowledge. Ithaca, N.Y., and London: Cornell University Press.
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