RT Article
T1 Buddhist Teachers’ Responses to Sexual Violence: Epistemological Violence in American Buddhism
JF Journal of global buddhism
VO 21
SP 123
OP 139
A1 Buckner, Ray
LA English
YR 2020
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1764594460
AB In 2018, popular North American Buddhist teacher, Noah Levine, was accused of sexual assault and misconduct. Several Buddhist teachers responded in Levine’s defense through a seemingly neutral posture of “waiting to find out” the truth. This paper examines these teachers’ responses, asking the question: “Which Buddhist concepts are mobilized in responding to alleged sexual violence?” I find that these teachers respond to allegations with the language of not-knowing, equanimity, and right speech. They ask their communities to “wait and see” whether these allegations are true, with the unspoken assumption that they are not. I assert these responses use Buddhist teachings to uphold cis-masculine innocence by using hegemonic logics and commitments to downplay and delegitimize the phenomenon of sexual violence. I argue that these responses uphold hegemonic control within Buddhist communities, and conclude that a feminist response to allegations of misconduct requires centering survivors of sexual assault.
K1 #metoo
K1 Against the Stream
K1 American Buddhism
K1 Noah Levine
K1 Anger
K1 Feminism
K1 gender and sexuality
K1 Sexual Misconduct
DO 10.5281/zenodo.4031009