Anderson

            When it comes to talking about the ethics of sexual pressure, many authors have found themselves in a gray area with several conflicting opinions. As of right now in the United States, pressuring someone to have sex is not considered illegal, if the pressure is not considered coercion. Coercion is defined as, “to make (someone) do something by using force or threats” (Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary). However, most universities have instituted “yes means yes” as their policy, making even pressure a violation of their codes of conduct. This raises the moral question of whether it is acceptable for someone to be pressured enough to go from not wanting to have sex, to giving in to having sex. Scott Anderson defines pressures as “limited to those of ordinary, if not laudable, social or familial interaction – e.g., wheedling, whining, emotional manipulation, mild intimidation, petty deceits, and threats to alter or end one’s relationship with someone who refuses to bend to one’s will”, and he labels its perpetrators as “jerks” (Anderson 352). Anderson in “SEX UNDER PRESSURE: JERKS, BOORISH BEHAVIOR, AND GENDER HIERARCHY”, argues that “gendered institutions which add to the pressures against women”, change the significance of a woman’s response while being pressured (Anderson 349).  

            I agree with Anderson because there are more variables behind sexual pressure for women than there are for men. He is responding to Sarah Conly’s argument, that so long as women are not being coerced, it is morally acceptable for them to be pressured and that this is considered a feminist ideal because it does not deny the validity of a women’s consent to sex. Anderson’s position demonstrates that the current established gender hierarchy empowers men as the stereotypical “seducers” and puts woman in a subordinate role as the “seduced”. Anderson draws upon the author’s account in the non-fiction book, Pledged, as she follows the lives of four sorority women and uncovers the reasons why many of them engage in intercourse (Anderson 360). Surprisingly, many of them had the desire to have sex because of external pressures like “needing” a boyfriend or wanting to improve their prestige within their organization. This power imbalance when it comes to sex supports Anderson’s view that women are placed in a lesser position in the gender hierarchy which essentially reduces the significance of their consent. To Anderson, sexual pressure is bad under feminism and because of other factors involved, consent is not the only thing that matters. Anderson concludes with, in the social context of gender hierarchy, it is ethically suspect to be a “jerk”.