ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Dianna Taylor argues that, from a Beauvoirian perspective, counter-violence is a necessary and ethical response to sexual violence. Starting from the argument that fascism and colonialism are, like normative gender, oppressive political systems and that Beauvoir encourages the use of violence against the former, Taylor concludes that she would also approve the use of counter-violence against the sexual violence that undergirds the normative gender order. Yet, this very gender order also installs ambivalence in women regarding their capacity to violence. Taylor draws on radical feminism as well as an analysis of the 2020 film Promising Young Woman to show how women can overcome this ambivalence through ‘muscular revolt,’ which opposes their oppression and allows for their self-transformation.
