Mistress Ethics: On the Virtues of Sexual Kindness

Brooks, V. 2022. Mistress Ethics: On the Virtues of Sexual Kindness. Bloomsbury.

TitleMistress Ethics: On the Virtues of Sexual Kindness
AuthorsBrooks, V.
Abstract

The figure of the mistress is undoubtedly controversial. She provokes intense reactions, ranging from fear, to disgust and revulsion, to excitement and titillation, to sadness and perhaps to some, love. The mistress is conventionally depicted as a threat to moral living and someone whose sexuality is considered defective and toxic. Of course, she is a woman that you would not have as your friend, and certainly not your wife, since her ethical sense, if she even has one, is dubious at best. This book subverts these traditional judgements and offers an unflinching look at the lived experience of the mistress. Here she is recast as a potentially loving, free, intimate 'other' woman.

Drawing upon feminist philosophy, contemporary sexual ethics and the current cultural moment of #MeToo, Mistress Ethics moves beyond a narrative of infidelity, conventional judgment, the safeguarding of monogamy and conventional heterosex that permeates our society. It asks what happens when we let go of our insecurities, judgments and moralistic relationship philosophies and opt, instead, for an ethics of kindness. This kindness – underpinned by engaging with those deemed 'other' and learning from mistresses, both straight and queer – will teach us new ways of thinking about ethics and sex, and reveal how we have better sex, and how we can be better to each other.

KeywordsMistress
sexuality
feminism
relationships
extra-marital
queer
Year2022
PublisherBloomsbury
Publication dates
Published13 Jan 2022
ISBN9781350195745
9781350195738
9781350195721
9781350195752
Web address (URL)https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/mistress-ethics-9781350195745/

Related outputs

Rethinking Research Ethics in the Humanities: Principles and Recommendations
Kasstan, Jonathan R., Pearson, Geoff and Brooks, Victoria 2023. Rethinking Research Ethics in the Humanities: Principles and Recommendations. University of Westminster. https://doi.org/10.34737/w36yq

Sexual offences and to have done with the courtroom
Brooks, V. 2021. Sexual offences and to have done with the courtroom. in: Bartel, R. and Carter, J. (ed.) Handbook on Space, Place and Law Edward Elgar. pp. 61-70

A Recipe for Shocking the Urban Body
Brooks, V. 2020. A Recipe for Shocking the Urban Body . Lo Squaderno - Explorations in Space and Society . 56 (0), pp. 57-60.

Greer's 'bad sex' and the future of consent
Brooks, V. 2020. Greer's 'bad sex' and the future of consent. Sexuality and Culture. 24, pp. 903-921. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-019-09671-x

Fucking Law: the search for her sexual ethics
Brooks, V. Forthcoming. Fucking Law: the search for her sexual ethics. Zero Books.

Ethical awareness and socio-legal research in the UK
Brooks, V. 2019. Ethical awareness and socio-legal research in the UK. in: Mason, M., Creutzfeldt, N. and McConnachie, K (ed.) Routledge Handbook of Socio-Legal Theory and Methods Routledge.

Dude Looks Like a Lady: Gender Deception, Consent and Ethics
Brooks, V. and Clayton Thompson, J. 2019. Dude Looks Like a Lady: Gender Deception, Consent and Ethics. Journal of Criminal Law. 83 (4), pp. 258-271. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022018319834373

Interrupting the courtroom organism: screaming bodies, material affects and the theatre of cruelty
Brooks, V. 2019. Interrupting the courtroom organism: screaming bodies, material affects and the theatre of cruelty. Law, Culture and the Humanities. 15 (2), pp. 332-351. https://doi.org/10.1177/1743872114543767

Samantha's Suffering: why sex machines should have rights too
Brooks, V. Forthcoming. Samantha's Suffering: why sex machines should have rights too. The Conversation.

Fucking (with) Academia: Ethics, Epistemology, Method
Brooks, V. 2018. Fucking (with) Academia: Ethics, Epistemology, Method . Ways of Knowing: Epistemology and Law. University of Westminster 31 May 2018

Under the fucking skin: a whore and her hotel room door
Brooks, V. 2018. Under the fucking skin: a whore and her hotel room door. Lo Squaderno - Explorations in Space and Society . 48, pp. 59-62.

Fucking Law (A New Methodological Movement)
Brooks, V. 2018. Fucking Law (A New Methodological Movement). Journal of Organizational Ethnography. 7 (1), pp. 31-43. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOE-09-2017-0043

Let’s talk about sex: deception, ethics and consent
Clayton Thompson, J. and Brooks, V. 2018. Let’s talk about sex: deception, ethics and consent. Socio-Legal Studies Association 2018. University of Bristol, UK 27 - 29 Mar 2018

Fucking Law: A Female Autoethnographer's Sex Research
Brooks, V. 2017. Fucking Law: A Female Autoethnographer's Sex Research . 4th European Geographies of Sexualities Conference. Barcelona 13 - 15 Sep 2017

Fucking Law (A New Methodological Movement)
Brooks, V. 2017. Fucking Law (A New Methodological Movement). 12th Annual Ethnography Symposium . University of Manchester 30 Aug - 01 Sep 2017

F#cking research ethics through radical method: autoethnography and the field of environmental law
Brooks, V. 2017. F#cking research ethics through radical method: autoethnography and the field of environmental law . in: Brooks, V. and Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos, Andreas (ed.) Research Methods in Environmental Law: A Handbook Gloucester, UK; Northampton, USA Edward Elgar. pp. 534-555

Ethics beyond immanence: rupturing law’s method through sex research
Brooks, V. 2016. Ethics beyond immanence: rupturing law’s method through sex research. PhD thesis University of Westminster Law https://doi.org/10.34737/9z8wv

Transgender Freedom and the Law: A Liberal-Poststructural Discussion on McNally
Clayton Thompson, J. and Brooks, V. 2014. Transgender Freedom and the Law: A Liberal-Poststructural Discussion on McNally. Critical Legal Conference. University of Sussex 06 Sep 2014

Sun, sea, sand and sex: the coastal sexuality of materially open legal subjects
Brooks, V. 2014. Sun, sea, sand and sex: the coastal sexuality of materially open legal subjects. 4th International Emotional Geographies Conference. University of Groningen, Netherlands 03 Jul 2013

Sex, law & posthuman encounters: an examination of sexual deviance at the coast
Brooks, V. 2014. Sex, law & posthuman encounters: an examination of sexual deviance at the coast. Democracy, rights and reason(s). University of Westminster 13 Feb 2014

No room for law in the folds of the soul: entangling and unraveling law and sexuality
Brooks, V. 2014. No room for law in the folds of the soul: entangling and unraveling law and sexuality. Creative Constraints. UCL 03 Nov 2014

Confronting law affectively: encounters of a Patpong sex tourist
Brooks, V. 2014. Confronting law affectively: encounters of a Patpong sex tourist. Law and Critique. 25 (3), pp. 289-309. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10978-014-9137-5

Permalink - https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/item/vqqz9/mistress-ethics-on-the-virtues-of-sexual-kindness


Share this

Usage statistics

275 total views
0 total downloads
These values cover views and downloads from WestminsterResearch and are for the period from September 2nd 2018, when this repository was created.