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

Abstract

This 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.