Browsing by Subject "Rape"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8

Boys will be boys : feminist and patriarchal perspectives on sexual violence and masculinity in coverage of the Duke lacrosse rape scandal
(2007-08) Gardner, Elizabeth Louisa, 1980-; Harp, Dustin, 1968-
This thesis examines how the news media respond when rape allegations first enter the public discourse, as exemplified by local newspaper coverage of the Duke lacrosse rape scandal in the spring of 2006. Guided by the academic literature on feminist and patriarchal understandings of sexual violence and gendered representations in the media, a textual analysis explores how journalists framed and articulated a rape story in its earliest inception and what this coverage reveals about patriarchal and feminist ideologies operating in the public realm. This research demonstrates that feminist voices have fractured the dominant traditional perspective by challenging and re-articulating patriarchal narratives on rape. However, a reluctance to critically examine misogynistic or aggressive male behavior demonstrates the normalized state of sexually violent masculinity and the hegemonic power of patriarchal ideology.
The foundational rape tale in Medieval Iberia
(2009-12) Castellanos, María Rebeca; Bailey, Matthew; Harney, Michael, 1948-; Nicolopulos, James; Sutherland-Meier, Madeline; Ebbeler, Jennifer
The present study examines the rape episodes in Muslim and Christian historiography of the Iberian Peninsula between 9th and 13th century. These episodes possess a structure which the author defines as “rape tale.” The rape tale has a stock cast of characters—a rapist ruler, the female rape victim, and her avenging guardian, and a predictable ending: the ruler will be deposed. In the works studied in this dissertation, every version of the rape tales is part of a discourse that legitimates an occupation, an invasion, a conquest. The stable structure of the rape tale may reveal its mythic origins. It is possible that before these stories were put into writing, they were elaborated orally. The importance of these allegorical tales requires the necessity of memorization by means of oral repetition, which is possible only through a paring down of details in order to obtain a clear pattern. The images, the actions, must be formulaic in order to be recovered effectively. Characters—no matter their historicity—are simplified into types. Hence in all myths, heroes are brave and strong; princesses in distress are beautiful; tyrannical rulers, lustful. The myth studied here appears in chronicles and national/ethnic histories written by a community that saw itself as the winning character in a story of conquest—or Reconquest. It is a myth that features not one but two rape tales: the rape of Oliba (also known as Cava), daughter of Count Julian, which brought about the Moorish invasion of Spain, and the rape of Luzencia, which signaled a Christian rebirth with Pelayo’s rebellion.
In a feminist state? : sexual violence and gender equality in Sweden
(2022-05-09) Carroll, Caitlin P.; Williams, Christine L., 1959-; Gonzalez-Lopez, Gloria; Rudrappa, Sharmila; Glass, Jennifer; Busch-Armendariz, Noel
According to the World Economic Forum, Sweden ranks as one of the most women-friendly countries in the world and has been called a “gender equal utopia” (Fiig 2009: 199). Yet at the same time, Sweden has one of the highest reported rates of sexual violence in the world. What explains the paradox of Sweden’s high reported rate of rape and high level of gender equality? By engaging in multi-method fieldwork inspired by Dorothy Smith’s institutional ethnography, I illuminate the ways in which sexual violence is framed and addressed from a socio-legal perspective. My findings suggest that the high reported rate of sexual violence in Sweden is not necessarily a paradox, but rather a reflection of a commitment to gender equality: Swedish state institutions incentivize reporting of sexual violence, encouraging victim-survivors to disclose and seek help. In this dissertation, I look to three state institutions to illuminate how the Swedish state incentivizes reporting. First, I write about the political sphere, where a 2018 legal reform was hotly contested but ended with a “feminist victory.” Second, I examine the criminal justice system, where victim-centered policies and practices have been implemented to improve the experience of victim-survivors who report. Finally, I turn to the welfare state, including the healthcare system and the education system, where government-funded programs address sexual violence treatment and prevention. Through a transformation of these state institutions, Sweden provides accessible services and possibilities for justice. Thus, I argue that a high reported rate of sexual violence does not necessarily reflect the high occurrence of rape and sexual assault, but in the case of Sweden, may reflect the successful work of feminist activism and a state commitment to gender equality through institutionalized support for disclosure and reporting.
It'S Not Just 50 Minutes Of Csi: Advocacy Around On-Campus Sexual Assault Forensics
(2019-05-01) Shahane, Rhea; Busch-Armendariz, Noël
In my thesis I aim to answer the question: Why are so few students at the University of Texas at Austin getting Sexual Assault Forensics Exams (SAFE exams) on campus and what can the university do to change the under-utilization of on-campus SAFE exams.To answer this question, I first identified 6 other American Association of University colleges that also had on-campus SAFE exams. I conducted qualitative and quantitative research to find out how many students report their sexual assaults to law enforcement, and what procedures and protocols the other on-campus SAFE exam clinics had in place. Based on this research, I was able to do a descriptive comparison of the methods used by the University of Texas at Austin’s University Health Center for on-campus SAFE exams and other university clinics in order to see what the University of Texas at Austin can do to improve advocacy and education around on-campus SAFE exams. Using this comparative analysis, I developed a set of recommendations for the University of Texas University Health Services Center Staff that the key stakeholders at the University Health Service center might consider to increase education and advocacy around on-campus SAFE exams.
Protecting Argentina : lawmaking, children and sexual crimes in Buenos Aires, 1853-1921
(2011-05) Rahe, Julia Grace; Twinam, Ann, 1946-; Garrard-Burnett, Virginia
"Protecting Argentina" explores how the definitions of sexual crimes (rape, seduction, abduction and the corruption of minors) changed in Argentine penal law during the process of congressional codification between 1853 and 1921. It contextualizes an in-depth analysis of legal definitions within the legislative process and the shifting ideologies of criminology that influenced it. It argues that, as nineteenth century positivist criminology replaced Enlightenment-inspired "Classical" criminology, the meaning and foundational presupposition of these crimes shifted from those of their colonial predecessors. Where in colonial times "Acts of lechery" were criminal when committed against chaste women, in the republican era, the law punished "Crimes against honesty" when the victims were children. Liberal lawmakers defined these sexual acts primarily by the age of the victim and secondarily by the violence used in their perpetration. The year 1903 was a watershed in this process, as it marked Positivism's displacement of "Classical" criminology as the guiding ideology of criminal law. These conclusions suggest there were substantive correlations between elite campaigns to ensure the future of the nation by saving children and the codification of national criminal law undertaken by Congress. As argentine elites began to witness what they perceived to be the negative effects of modernization, rapid population growth, industrialization and the accompanying increase in crime, they sought to ensure the future of the nation through "child saving" campaigns. The increasingly age-based definitions of sexual crimes, which aimed to protect young victims, fit within the broader state-led campaign to protect future citizens. "Protecting Argentina" therefore suggests that historians should consider legislative processes of state building as forming an integral part of turn-of-the-century nationalist projects in Latin America. Tying together positivist penology, nationalist discourse, and congressional codification, this report places children at the center of Argentine elites' attempts to ensure the future of the nation through the protection of children.
Queer imagined communities in diasporic Caribbean literature
(2020-03-19) Pérez, Gabriela, Ph. D.; Arroyo, Jossianna; Salgado, Cesar; Dominguez Ruvalcaba, Hector; Moran Gonzalez, John
National communities have historically been imagined through heteronormative discourses. In Latin America, foundational fictions often center on the (non-consensual) sexual union of a European man and a woman of color, figuring the nation as their biological offspring. Also prevalent is the national emblem being a virile, white, hyper-masculine male (such as the Cuban hombre nuevo or the Dominican tigre). The logics of purity that undergird these constructions lead to the marginalization and expulsion of queer people. The last 50 years in publishing have meant a growing platform for previously silenced voices in, amongst other topics, the imagining of national communities. What happens when community is imagined from the vantage point of a body that is female, or black, or fat, or raped, or gay, or migrant, or (almost always) marginalized by an assemblage of these factors? My dissertation begins to answer this question through an analysis of contemporary texts by diasporic Caribbean authors. I find that not only do these texts launch poignant critiques of the violence of nationalisms, but they also suggest new models for imagining community and relating to one another. In my first chapter, two novels by Haitian-American women, Edwidge Danticat and Roxane Gay, help throw into relief the tacit sexual violence of foundational fictions, and propose new ways of relating to one another based on shared experiences of vulnerability and trauma, on practices of companionship and caretaking. In the second chapter, a performance piece by Josefina Báez and a novel by Junot Díaz queer the national macho (specifically the Dominican tigre) while also boldly calling for more of that seemingly cliched, coopted, unsexy but nevertheless radical affect: love. Lastly, in my third chapter, carnivalesque novels by Cuban Roberto Fernández and Puerto Rican Eduardo Vega Yunqué enact a literary drag of the romanticized national constructions particularly prevalent in diasporas, offering instead a queer portrait of their respective diasporas. This dissertation points to a hope from and for diasporas and their queers. It highlights new voices and new ways of imagining who we are that have not been looked at as the queer foundational fictions that they are.
Staging the campus anti-rape movement : representations of sexual assault and rape culture in U.S. theatre and performance
(2021-07-29) Baglereau, Laura Elizabeth; Canning, Charlotte, 1964-; Bonin-Rodriguez, Paul; González-López, Gloria; Heinzelman, Susan; Rossen, Rebecca
This dissertation looks at representations of rape, its aftermath, and rape culture in performance(s) within the campus anti-rape movement in the United States. I analyze three types of performance: protests, performance art, and interactive prevention plays. I argue for the importance of studying such representations, in part, because sexual assault—and the perception of sexual assault—is, and has been, a continuing problem in U.S. culture. Throughout the dissertation my analysis not only considers how and in what ways these representations understand concepts of rape culture but also the current paradigm of rape in which they were created and performed. I draw conclusions about the ways these representations affect the national imaginary about sexual assault, rape culture, victim-survivors, and rapists. As such, this work contributes to the field of rape studies, sociology, and performance studies. By situating this dissertation among and between these fields I demonstrate how a consideration of representations of sexual assault can contribute to our understanding of rape, the sociology of sexual violence, and social movements. The introduction provides a brief overview of the anti-rape movement. I argue for a turn away from the wave metaphor to categorize different periods of the feminist movement in order to better track the dis/continuities within the anti-rape movement since the late 1960s. Chapter one examines campus anti-rape protests as performances. I use a performance studies lens to read the ways these protests represent the movement’s demands for change from university administration, federal policy, and rape culture. The next chapter focuses on performance art by individual artists and artist-survivors as acts to raise awareness as well as process their experiences with sexual assault. The third chapter analyzes interactive prevention plays for the ways they provide undergraduate students with opportunities to develop empathy for victim-survivors, rehearse bystander intervention, and practice verbally negotiating consent. I argue these prevention plays point to a shift in the anti-rape movement from a fear-based rhetoric to a pro-consent discourse.
‘What I have to say is important’ : including youth voices in conversations about sexual violence
(2018-05-03) Buchanan, Taylor Marie; Sylvie, George
Sexual violence – rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse – impacts youth at an alarming rate. One in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. Youth are also at risk for dating violence. Twenty-one percent of girls and 10 percent of boys experience dating violence while in high school, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But adults have created a culture that discourages youth from saying #MeToo. In determining whether and how to have conversations about sex, some parents and teachers stay silent, others talk too much. Both approaches prevent youth from asking questions about healthy relationships, reporting sexual violence and seeking support if their boundaries are crossed. In such conditions, sexual violence becomes tolerated and normalized. Youth are eager to have their voices heard. Following the Feb. 14 shooting that killed 17 students and staff inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, survivors vowed #NeverAgain. These high schoolers took to the streets to speak openly against adults failing to protect them from gun violence. Against this backdrop of youth activism, a group of teenagers stepped on stages across Austin, Texas, this spring. They devised a play about healthy relationships and consent, based on their own experiences with sexual violence. From February to April 2018, they performed their play, “Just Ask” 22 times in nine middle schools. Their work as student activists offers a window into one form of peer-led prevention with potential for change. Sexual violence is preventable. Youth do not have to grow up in a culture of shame and silence. To get there, a holistic approach is needed. Talking about it won’t fix the problem altogether. But empowering youth to be active participants in these conversations, seen and heard, is a promising place to start.