Coming to Understand: Orgasm and the Epistemology of Ignorance

Nancy Tuana
2004 Hypatia  
Lay understanding and scientific accounts of female sexuality and orgasm provide a fertile site for demonstrating the importance of including epistemologies of ignorance within feminist epistemologies. Zgnorance is not a simple lack. It is often constructed, maintained, and disseminated and is linked to issues of cognitive authority, doubt, trust, silencing, and uncertainty. Studying both feminist and nonfeminist understandings of female orgasm reveals practices that suppress or erase bodies of knowledge concerning women's sexual pleasures.
doi:10.1353/hyp.2004.0018 fatcat:nufkyfesxjg5bcmvrsx3zkj5i4