This paper is an analysis of Jennifer Walshe’s 2003 multimedia Barbie opera XXX_LIVE_NUDE_GIRLS!!!, with a particular focus on the opera’s treatment of sexual assault. I argue that in addition to depicting an instance of acquaintance rape directly in the narrative, Walshe’s entire opera can be read as a simulation of an experience of acquaintance rape and its aftermath. Drawing on sexual assault research and case studies, I demonstrate that XXX_LIVE_NUDE_GIRLS!!! creates this simulation in three ways. First, plot points are initially obscured and later clarified. This slow revelation simulates the phenomenon of delayed recognition (in which many acquaintance rape victims do not immediately recognize their experience as rape). Second, the opera’s overwhelming multiplicity of intersecting and diverging sonic, musical, visual, and textual streams simulates the complex web of communications surrounding an instance of acquaintance rape. Third, the drastic reduction of sonic and visual information and the emotionally dissonant music in the rape scene simulate the phenomenon of disassociation. By creating a simulation instead of a mere representation, Walshe engenders enhanced empathy for victims of sexual assault.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 258-270).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, The Dept. of English Language and Literature, Jun. 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 175-190). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--Washington State University, May 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 64-67).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 271-289).

Thesis (M.A.)--Villanova University, 2006. / English Dept. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wyoming, 2008. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Nov. 11, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 143-146).

M.A. / In this dissertation I aim to establish how Ovid uses the Rape of the Sabine Women, part of the foundation myth of Rome, in the Ars Amatoria I: 101-134 to maintain or restructure male-female relationships within Roman patriarchal society. Furthermore, Ovid's legacy in the Middle Ages and our modem society is briefly looked at. This myth tells that Romulus and his men had a shortage of women in their city as they were not considered suitable husbands by the men of the surrounding tribes. In response to the ridicule of their neighbours, Romulus held a celebration of the Consualia at which he and his men seized the Sabine maidens, who would later become their wives. A semiotic approach is used to understand how Ovid viewed existing male-female relationships and to what end he would like to restructure them. Ovid understood the strength of this myth and retold it in order to persuade his audience of his argument. In these lines Ovid explained to the student-lover how and why to meet a woman at the Theatre. Through the comparison of the ancient and the contemporary, his use of certain words and figures of speech, Ovid attempted to convince his audience of the effectiveness of the art of love he promoted: a contract of agreement between two willing partners created by persuasion rather than force. He displayed an amazing understanding of the human psyche, as well as the violent, angry nature of rape. Ovid's novel approach has affected authors of the Middle Ages, among them Geoffrey Chaucer, artists of the 'heroic rape' genre and can even be discussed in relation to modem rape myths and the modern concept of equity between the sexes introduced in the Ars already. His style and subject matter has caused the analysis of his work to be highly debated among many modem scholars. It is my conclusion that Ovid wrote the Ars Amatoria with the intention of restructuring male-female relationships in Roman society, promoting a movement away from violence and unfulfilling relationships, typical of the Roman marriage tradition. His work was so far reaching that he did not only create a stir among his contemporaries, but instead he influenced the development of the male-female relationship and interaction over centuries.

This thesis examines the complex and conflicting arguments surrounding the crime of rape in early modern England and how the important literary texts, Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadias, explore the issue of rape. The thesis explores Sidney's attitude toward a system that sanctioned systematic sexual violence towards women as expressed in the text; as part of this it explores the way that the text differentiates rape from seduction.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Tulsa, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 148-159).