Phenomenology of Humiliation and Shame in Rape

Abstract

The experience of rape is fraught with complex moral emotions such as humiliation and shame. The article develops insights from Steinbock's Phenomenology of Moral Emotion to identify the particular type of shame and humiliation of rape. At the same time, it applies Honneth's Critical Theory of Recognition to explain two inseparable faces of this humiliating experience: the contempt for bodily integrity and the personal social value.