What are we rehearsing? : transforming the carceral logic of drama-based interpersonal violence prevention

Get Sexy Get Consent’s temporal limitations prevent systemic change. UT Austin boasts the interactive performance, Get Sexy Get Consent, as the crown jewel of Theatre for Dialogue, its campus interpersonal violence prevention program. Each Get Sexy performance follows a precise formula that adapts Theatre of the Oppressed practitioner and theorist Augusto Boal’s forum theatre exercises. However, the Get Sexy performance formula upholds a linear, hypothetical framework for understanding sexual violence. Over the course of an in-depth interview process with Theatre for Dialogue facilitators, trainers, and employees, I determine ableism and carceral feminism are chiefly responsible for Get Sexy’s limited understanding of sexual harm. In place of Get Sexy’s current structure, I argue for the program to transform its conceptualization of individuality and linearity. Chapter 1 identifies the key interventions Get Sexy makes. Chapter 2 conducts a social movement historiography on the Get Sexy Program. Chapter 3 imagines how a temporal shift would open the Get Sexy program up to support greater healing.