Thesis advisor: James F. Keenan / This dissertation addresses the problem of rape on campus in the United States. It takes seriously the data offered by the social sciences which demonstrate not only that approximately twenty percent of college women will experience a completed or attempted rape, but also that rape is, itself, on a “continuum of violence” that marks women’s lives. In addition to rape, women also face harassment, visual abuse, and stalking. All are components of rape culture. Rape culture is also comprised of the social norms and expectations regarding gender and sexuality that constitute women according to desirability, defined by their ability to be treated as sexual objects. This culture simultaneously undergirds and veils the violent manifestations of rape. As such, it requires moral analysis. The dissertation proceeds in four chapters. The first chapter outlines the contours of the reality of campus sexuality, gender, and sexual violence with the help of the social sciences. Drawing on the social sciences, it argues that the cultural context that supports campus rape must be addressed in order to adequately work against campus rape. The second chapter draws on feminist approaches to sexual violence in order to argue that the reality of campus rape requires an interrogation of socially expected heterosexuality. Here, heterosexuality is structured around dominance and submission in order to construct gendered identities of masculinity and femininity, respectively. In the third chapter, this dissertation argues for a conception of “cultural sin” in order to theologically diagnose the way that the expectations, norms, and behaviors around sexuality participate in campus rape culture. From a theological perspective, this cultural reality violates right relationship among human beings, the dual commandment to love both God and neighbor, and it is human beings who bear moral responsibility for this sinful situation. Finally, the fourth chapter argues for a tri-fold theological and moral response to rape culture: interruption, solidarity, and conscience. Interruption works to expose the violent reality of campus rape and rape culture, challenging what seem to be common sense, taken for granted, expectations around sex and gender. Solidarity demands that all persons identify themselves with those who are victimized. It requires that one’s everyday life regarding gender presentation and sexuality are guided by the conviction to challenge the culture that victimizes so many. Through conscience, persons are called to recognize their moral duty to challenge this culture and discern the ways to put this call into action. The conscience is what is able to guide persons in moral action for participation toward greater cultural transformation. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / In April 2016 students from South African universities launched the #Endrapeculture movement to protest their universities’ institutional policies towards sexual assault on campus, which was seen as perpetuating a rape culture. Through the use of social media, students from across South Africa were able to provide instrumental information and mobilise support for the protests. This thesis focused on exploring the rape culture discourse that emerged from the online debates following the #Endrapeculture protests, as well as the potential of social media as an accessible and affordable pedagogical tool to address rape culture on campus. An exploratory qualitative design was used and this was framed within a postmodern feminist framework. To address the aims of the study two methods of data collection were utilised. All ethics principles were adhered to for both forms of data collection. Firstly, natural observation of comment threads of Facebook relating to the April 2016 #Endrapeculture protests was conducted. A total of 590 comments from 8 Facebook posts were collected and analysed using qualitative content analysis. The findings indicate that rape culture discourses were prominent within these comment threads with Perpetuating Victim-blaming emerging as the most significant theme followed by Rape or Rape Culture, Patriarchy, Race and Culture, Sexualisation and Bodily Autonomy, Trivialising Rape Culture and Role of Universities and Law Enforcement. The second part of the data collection involved conducting online, asynchronous focus groups using the Facebook secret chat group application. Participants for the SFFG were recruited on Facebook through a process of snowball sampling. A total of three SFFG were conducted with 16 participants. Thematic decomposition analysis was used to analyse the data. The findings revealed three main themes namely; Defining Rape Culture, Learning about Rape Culture and The Role of Social Media. Based on the observations from the comment threads and the findings from the SFFGs, it is argued that social media can be used as a pedagogical tool to address rape culture on campus in two ways. Firstly, it is beneficial on a macro level by using social media platforms to provide instrumental information about rape culture. Secondly, it can be utilised on a micro level by using applications like the SFFG to provide a safe space where students can engage in small-scale interactive discussions.

This thesis explores the way we learn to advocate for sexual assault survivors. This multi-methodological, qualitative study examines both popular cultural representations of sexual assault and official training materials provided by rape crisis centers and domestic violence organizations as sites of pedagogical messaging. I argue that it is imperative to incorporate intersectional feminist frameworks into understanding how advocacy is animated in these different sites of learning. This project offers an intersectional feminist analysis of two television shows: Netflix's Unbelievable and HBO's I May Destroy You, in addition to the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault (TAASA) training manual and supplemental training materials from six different rape crisis centers within a 75-mile radius of the Dallas Ft. Worth metroplex. Together, both sets of texts work pedagogically to teach us who is a worthy victim, what counts as "real" rape (and to challenge this very framework), and who deserves organizational resources. This thesis concludes by offering an Intersectional Rape Advocacy Toolkit, aimed at offering a set of values, lessons, and practices necessary for activists to grow in mutual advocacy for survivors and mutual support for fellow activists working to put an end to rape culture.

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This project examines rape culture in American literature and society, exploring factors of rape culture through the narratives of literary protagonists and current women alike. Each chapter is grounded in a work of literature, which serves as a lens through which to analyze a factor of rape culture, and is then broadened in scope to incorporate recent court cases that have had significant sociocultural impacts. The introduction includes a critical review of rape in feminist theory, from Susan Brownmiller to Ann J. Cahill. The first chapter treats the rape of Dolores Haze and victim blaming in Vladimir Nabokov’s 1955 Lolita, and the 2010 Cleveland, Texas gang rapes of an eleven-year-old girl, who was cast as a “Lolita” by her community and the media. The second chapter discusses the rape of women with disabilities in Elmer Harris’s 1940 Johnny Belinda, and two 2012 cases in California and Connecticut involving the rapes of women with disabilities and the issue of consent, both of which influenced legislation. The third chapter focuses on the use of mass rape as a weapon of war in Lynn Nottage’s 2009 Ruined, and the narratives and testimonies of rape survivors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where nearly 2 million women have been raped since 1998. As the literature illustrates, when rape functions as an instrument of power and control certain similarities arise, such as victim blaming, consent, and the use of rape to demoralize and subjugate women, all of which are primary features of rape culture.

This paper examines the prevalence of sexual violence in American media with particular focus on attitudes of sexual violence as a contribution to rape culture. Included is a content analysis of the prevalence of sexually violent lyrics in popular rap music, and a literature review of articles and studies on the effects of sexually violent media. The media discussed in the literature review includes films, television, and pornography. The relationship between the presence of sexually violent media and its impact on public opinion on sexual assault and rape proclivity are analyzed. The literature reviewed includes studies on differences in response to sexually violent media based on gender. Also included are explanation and summary of a study utilizing the excitation transfer theory and the social learning theory as they apply to the understanding of the perpetuation of rape myth acceptance based in the viewing of sexually violent media. These studies utilize the rape myth acceptance scale, the acceptance of interpersonal violence scale, and the adversarial sexual beliefs scale, among other scales of measurement to assess rape myth acceptance and rape proclivity. The high prevalence of sexual assault in the United States calls for an analysis of the acceptance of beliefs that perpetuate sexual assault and the media which support and increase the presence of these beliefs.

This research looks into the ways society, the media, and the criminal justice system influence the sexual values of individuals in the United States. These separate, yet interdependent, institutions have profound impacts on the attitudes individuals have towards sexual violence. The research explores the ways we are consciously and subconsciously consumers of messages that influence how we view a myriad of issues related to sexual expression. Additionally, this research highlights how various factors contribute to the rape culture prevalent in contemporary American society. Specifically, the research explores theories rooted in the psychopathology model and argues that while some perpetrators of sexual violence are mentally ill, this model and the treatment model which are often applied by society may inadvertently provide perpetrators of sexual violence a scapegoat. Additionally, the nature of the biological theory, often referred to as the “impulse” model, is another way American society permits perpetrators of sexual violence to blame their behavior on evolution and genetic predispositions (Levay & Baldwin, 2012). Also discussed is the advancements in technology and the media’s methods of portraying sexual violence in the news and how it profoundly impacts the sexual values of Americans (Waechter & Ma, 2015). In summation, this review of the literature, will investigate how the values of sexual violence also impacts the criminal justice system, the results of sexual violence trials, and how victims are treated in the system (Moylan, 2017). The impact of sexual violence does not just affect the survivors themselves. However, there are few studies on the impact of sexual violence on secondary victims, such as family members. The majority of the literature focuses on how to help the survivor through abuse, without attention to how family members work through their own trauma. There is literature that states, following the sexual assault of a family or loved one, family and friends often experience considerable emotional distress and physical and psychological symptoms that can disrupt their lifestyles and family structures (Cwik, 1996). Responses of family members to the assault, including shock, helplessness, rage and so on, which can "parallel the affective responses of the victim" in the acute post-traumatic period (Silverman, 1978, p. 169). Undoubtedly, the impact of sexual violence is significant for the entire family, and the experience of each survivor will vary.

Please note: creative writing theses are permanently embargoed in OpenBU. No public access is forecasted for these. To request private access, please click on the locked Download file link and fill out the appropriate web form. / Abstract not applicable for Creative Writing. / 2031-01-01

abstract: It’s Not That Simple: A Complex Journey of an MFA Applied Project discusses the experience of graduate student, Molly W. Schenck. Schenck’s applied project, It’s Not That Simple, was an interdisciplinary dance theatre performance piece that challenges rape culture on college campuses. While the focus of the applied project was this performance, it was the obstacles and highlights that were related to the project that made the journey memorable. This paper will discuss the history and evolution of It’s Not That Simple, the creative process, the research, the trajectory of the project, and reflections on the journey. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Dance 2016

The purpose of this study is to qualitatively determine whether gender constructions influence gender relations in residences and the role these views have in the perpetuation of rape culture on campus, with a particular interest in how residence traditions contribute to these views. The social constructionist paradigm was used to co-construct the gender perceptions of residence students through a qualitative research approach. The study was aimed at participants who were familiar with the university’s residences and their traditions (residence students and leaders). This study was conducted among students at the University of Pretoria, who were familiar with the University’s residences, their traditions and the student protests which have taken place in the University in response to practices that fostered rape culture in the university and its residences, primarily focusing on students staying in campus residences. The study targeted two sets of groups: residence students and key informants. Current undergraduate resident students were the primary target population, regardless of the residence they reside in, their course or year of study. A focus group discussion was held with a group of male and a group of female students. Key informants for this study included residence house committee members, student activist group members and student representative council members. The researcher was aware of potential conflicts and made efforts to show good judgment and sensitivity to allow students to express their opinions and respect each other’s opinions. The study adhered to the University of Pretoria’s Code of Ethics for Research. The researcher applied the principles of respect for personal autonomy, benevolence, and justice, which do not work in isolation from one another. The quality, trustworthiness and rigor of the findings were ensured by triangulation of data sources (key informants and students) and data collection methods (focus groups and semi-structured interviews). By using a co-researcher to interpret the data independently, the credibility of the interpretation was enhanced. These findings show that there is evidence that some residences hold attitudes or beliefs which may perpetuate traditional views of gender, which are made apparent through their traditions and activities. As a result of this, residences can become a breeding ground for the perpetuation of rape culture and the enforcement of harmful gender stereotypes. It is also worth noting that it is not solely the formal traditions which play a role in the perpetuation of rape culture, but informal ones as well. Another key concern is how management of residences manages reported incidences of sexual assault or harassment. It is worth noting however, that residence students feel that there have been changes which resulted in a noticeable difference, particularly in incidences of rape culture. In spite of the highlighted challenges, students feel that there are positives to living in on campus residences. / Mini Dissertation (MA (Research Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Psychology / MA (Research Psychology) / Unrestricted