Care: The Highest Form of Capitalism

Intro In the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic—one that begat many a mommy thinkpiece, many a motherhood memoir, almost all of which decried and… In sex as elsewhere, consent is asked to do a lot. It is a kind of moral magic, legal theorist Heidi Hurd has suggested, that makes all kinds of unthinkable incursions permissible, from fondling and penetration to degradation and physical violence.  On the other hand, consent is notoriously fickle. Are words necessary for consent, or are glances enough? Which acts one is consenting to, what happens if consent is withdrawn in media res— such questions might suggest that consent is being asked to do too much. It may be clarifying, too, to separate out two types of consent—on the one hand is the legal fiction that Heidi Hurd suggests, which transforms fondling into flirtation, and whose absence makes sex assault or rape. On the other hand, there is a broader cluster of meanings that consent signifies, something more like welcomeness in physical and emotional interactions from the touch of a hand to a night spent together. Manon Garcia, The Joy of Consent: a Philosophy of Good Sex. Belknap Press, 2023. 272 pages. Men’s prerogatives—the view that