Not Just About the Sex: Systematically Deceptive Relationships & the Law

Helen Frowe is Professor of Practical Philosophy and Knut and Alice Wallenberg Scholar at Stockholm University, where she directs the Stockholm Centre for the Ethics of War and Peace. She has worked on various issues in moral and political philosophy, particularly on the distinction between doing and allowing harm, the moral significance of using a person for the benefit of others, and how these principles interact with considerations of responsibility, causation, consent, and authority. Helen is Honorary Chair of the Society for Applied Philosophy.

The revelation that undercover police officers engaged in long-term intimate relationships has met with widespread outcry, triggering a public inquiry and substantial compensation payments from the Metropolitan Police.

But whilst the involvement of state actors might make these cases especially egregious, such Systematically Deceptive Relationships, are far from the exclusive domain of ‘spy cops’. Historically, bigamy laws helped to deter Systematically Deceptive Relationships, with the aim of protecting women from the reputational harm of extramarital sex.

While our changing social norms regarding cohabitation and divorce have decreased the chances of ending up in a bigamous relationship, they have simultaneously increased the chances of ending up in a Systematically Deceptive Relationship.

This talk defends a pluralist account of the wrongness of Systematically Deceptive Relationships, looking beyond the wrong of nonconsensual sex that often preoccupies existing discussions. I argue that when the harms of Systematically Deceptive Relationships pass a threshold, there is a (defensible) reason to criminalise their infliction.