Skepticism and Rape Culture

Abstract

Abstract This chapter gives a case study about testimony and rape culture, illustrating ways that the negative epistemic bias often works to preserve oppressive features of the status quo. It argues that testimonial cases often generate obligations to believe, and interrogates the tendency to treat testimony about sexual harassment and assault as less conclusive than testimony about other matters. Reflexive skepticism about many sexual harassment and assault reports enjoys an unearned presumption and a stereotype of measured reasonability, perpetuating sexist harm. It does this in part via general negative biases in epistemology, and in part via skeptical tropes specific to rape culture: the idea of a “he-said–she-said” situation, for instance. Correcting the skeptical errors here is no simple matter; an overcorrection towards reflexively accepting such reports would commit the opposite epistemic error, and also contribute to oppression (especially racism). Epistemic courage in this domain requires intersectional wisdom.