ACTIONS TO END SEXUALIZED VIOLENCE

Humboldt State University

Spring 2010

Eric Rofes 1954 - 2006

COURSE GOALSAt the end of the course, students shall be able to:

Have a working definition of sexualized violence Understand the diversity of ways that sexualized violence is used as a tool of social control/domination

Analyze sexualized violence as interconnected with the social construction of masculinity and femininity as well as hierarchies of race, class, sexuality, physical ability, and nation

Understand the concept of “blaming the victim” Analyze date rape or non-stranger sexualized violence

Access information about resources in the community for survivors of sexualized violence

Plan and carry out an action to help end sexualized violence in our campus community

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE CLASS

Attend all 3 class sessions - sign in sheet will be circulated after every break

Complete the required readings Complete an action component for the class in which you take some action to help eliminate sexualized violence at HSU

Write a 2-3 page paper of C- quality or better in which you reflect on the action component in light of the lecture, discussions, films, and/or readings for the seminar (guidelines for the paper are on the back of the syllabus).

EXPECTATIONS FOR THE ACTION COMPONENT OF THE CLASS

 Spend at least 4 hours outside of class time on an action to end sexualized violence in our community.

You may fulfill the action component of the class in a variety of ways:

 Attend Take Back the Night at HSU or CR and at least one of the events leading up to take back the night. Then talk about these events with your friends, co-workers, and acquaintances!

Help to organize Take Back the Night. Create your own specific action on this issue.

Work with others to create ongoing groups on our campus to end sexualized violence.

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE PAPER

 Write a 3 page paper (C- quality or better) in which you:

Describe the action you took to end sexualized violence at HSU;

Make linkages between this action and the analysis of sexualized violence presented in the seminar;

Refer to at least one recommended reading or film (see Moodle site and reference list)

Analyze the possibilities and limitations of this action for making change.

  Papers are due at our final class meeting on May 1st from 4-6:50 p.m. in FH 118.

COURSE OUTLINE

I. Introduction to the CourseII. Understanding Sexualized Violence

Victim Blaming Stranger Versus Non-Stranger

Assault Eroticization of Domination and

Subordination Rape Supportive Culture

III.Laying the Ground for Action

Eroticization of Domination and

Submission 

The Eroticization of Domination and Submission

Because dominant culture eroticizes the relations of domination and subordination, rape is not the exceptional, deviant act; rather it is structured into our daily relations:

Through definitions of femininity and masculinity andThrough the eroticization of hierarchies of race, class, gender, sexuality, nationality, physical and mental ability, age and family

Eroticization: to make something sexy

Rape Supportive Culture

A culture in which dominationand submission are eroticizedsuch that sexuality and desireare molded on a model offorced sexual acts

VOICE...

What just happened?  

What was expected or unexpected?  

What did you feel?

SILENCE---VOICE

If the intention is to dominate/oppress, how can silence be used?  What about voice?

If the objective is to resist/survive/transform/challenge domination, how can voice be used?  What about silence?

Who is speaking / who is silent?  What is their relationship to authority/power?  

What are they saying or not saying?  Who is the audience?

What social norms are at stake?  What institutions, if any, benefit?

How do we know who speaks or not?  What assumptions do we assign?  

How is this social agreement enforced?

SILENCE---VOICE

Objectification

Fragmentation

Consumption

Objectification -language which replaces living

beings with objects

Source: Carol J. Adams The Sexual Politics of Meat 1990.

Fragmentation -language in which bodies

broken into parts

Source: Carol J. Adams The Sexual Politics of Meat 1990.

Consumption -

language of devouring, the lack of ethics or care

Source: Carol J. Adams The Sexual Politics of Meat 1990.

Internal InterpersonalInstitutional

Consent

Survivor Centered Actions

Rape is not the exceptional, deviant act; rather it is structured into our daily relations:

Through definitions of femininity and masculinity Through the social construction of sexuality and

Through the eroticization of hierarchies of race, class, gender, sexuality, nationality, physical and mental ability, age and family

Modified from “Introduction: The New Sexual Revolution” by Jodi Gold and Susan Villari in Just Sex, pp. 1-14

CATHERINE MACKINNON

domination eroticized = masculinity

submission eroticized = femininity

“Rape is a violent unredeemable sexual act.”

- Maya Angelou, in Letter to my Daughter

Effects of the idea of Grey RapeShifts responsibility from rapists to victims, thereby blames the victim and lets the rapist off the hook

Encourages women to: suppress desires; embrace vulnerability as part of femininity; see sexual desire as dangerous

Blames feminism – they claim that empowered women invite danger

From Lisa Jervis “An Old Enemy in a New Outfit”

RAPE CULTURE (OR RAPE SUPPORTIVE CULTURE)

“described by Dianne Herman as a culture in which men’s and women’s values and beliefs about heterosexual intercourse are molded on a model of forced sexual intercourse. Such a culture renders what happened to me as usual and unremarkable.” (Hong, p.62)

 “I realized what happened to me wasn’t only the fault of one man, but the responsibility of an entire society’s cultural norms.” (Hong, p.68)

 From “Breaking the Silence, Making Laughter: Testimony of an Asian American Sister” by Luoluo Hong (Chapter 5 in Just Sex)

Hong’s Essay 1. What explanations were articulated to justify her sexual assault?

2. What are the emotional and physical consequences for Hong?

3. How is racism a part of sexual assault and a barrier for Hong to get help?

UNDERSTANDING THE INTERSECTIONS OF RACE, GENDER AND SEXUALITY

1. Racialized and sexualized gender stereotypes are produced.

2. In different political, economic and historic contexts we would have different racial, sexual and gender meanings.

3. Racialized and sexualized gender stereotypes are produced in relation to other race, gender, and sexual categories.

SEXUALIZED VIOLENCE AND THE INTERDEPENDENCE OF RACE, CLASS, GENDER AND SEXUALITY

Dominant Cultural Representation of Sexuality of Elite White Men

•Controlled expression of sexuality•Chivalrous, honorable•Incapable of rape

Dominant Cultural Representation of Sexuality of Elite White Women

•Pure•Asexual (past); able to control desire•A body that can be violated•In need of protection by elite white men to ensure no violation takes place•Model rape victim

Dominant Cultural Representation of Sexuality of Men of Color

•Animalistic sexual desire•Unable to control lust•Sexual predators of elite white women•Stereotyped as rapist

Dominant Cultural Representation of Sexuality of Women of Color

•Impure•Animalistic sexual desire•Always consents to sexuality, therefore represented as not able to be raped•Body cannot be violated

EFFECTS OF RACIALIZED AND GENDERED SEXUAL REPRESENTATIONSEffects of Representation on Elite White Men

•Assumed to be civilized and incapable of rape•Actual acts of rape committed by this group rendered invisible

Effects of Representation on Elite White Women

•Actual sexual desire rendered invisible or secondary to men’s•Most commonly raped by white men, but these rapes rarely acknowledged

Effects of Representation on Men of Color

•Criminalized and stereotyped as sexual predators•Suspected of being rapist by color of skin alone

Effects of Representation on Women of Color

•Invisibility of rape by white men (during white conquest and slavery systematic and widespread rape of women of color)

•When raped by men of color, often pressured to not air “dirty laundry” to protect men of color

TYPES OF ACTIONS WE CAN TAKE

Internal self reflection, personal transformation

Interpersonal communication, theatre, educational events, accountability outside of formal institutions (remember ethical issues of action!)

Institutional Change

policies on and off campus, laws, creation of alternative institutions for accountability

BREAK OUT GROUPS TO DISCUSS THE ACTION COMPONENT

Take Back The Night FH 118 (front of room) Attending TBTN Helping to put on TBTN

Internal FH 178 Reading, writing, reflecting, art as self-reflection

Interpersonal FH 118 (back of room) Create your own event

Institutional Change FH179 HSU Policy Laws/off-campus policy