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Opposing viewpoints of sexual assault
Personal narratives on sexual assault
Personal narratives on sexual assault
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Recommended: Opposing viewpoints of sexual assault
In October of 2011, the media could no longer ignore the thousands of protesters camping in Zuccotti Park calling themselves Occupy Wall Street with their battle cry of “We are the 99 percent” (Gitlin 50). The social movement began to bring awareness on economic inequality in which 99 percent of the wealth was controlled by one percent of the population. The name Occupy Wall Street began because the protestors were occupying the space outside of Wall Street through setting up tents and refusing to leave the location (Gitlin 26). As more and more protestors flocked to the camps, the movement broadened its goals to include a wide variety of issues including agriculture, housing and student loans. Described as lacking any clear-cut goals for the movement by the media, news pundits bickered over the credibility of the movement and if these protestors would create the next social revolution in the United States (DeLuca, Lawson, and Sun 491). The coverage of the movement varied from newspaper to newspaper, but the framing of coverage continued to show a disorganized, but large movement that showed no signs of stopping. As Occupy Wall Street gained momentum, the public became aware of sexual assaults occurring within the Occupy Wall Street camps. As a result of this information, media began covering these assaults as part of their Occupy Wall Street coverage.
This project will use a feminist media analysis of mainstream newspapers to explore the discourse around the ideology of sexual assault and women protesting in public space. I argue that the coverage of sexual assaults during Occupy Wall Street used a “blame the victim” narrative to link the participation of women protesting in public space to gender based violence. Feminist researc...
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... goal as feminists is to end gender-based violence, we must look at how dominant news outlets shape messages of sexual assault.
Not only does the Occupy Wall Street sexual assault coverage have repercussions for sexual assault survivors, but also it could create challenges as it relates to women occupying public spaces for public protests. Mass media displaying victim blaming narratives send a strong message to women that protesting can only occur using a narrow framework to accesses public space. The victim blaming messages can hinder women’s participation in larger social movements because of the fear of sexual assault occurring. By exploring the connections between women’s occupation of public space and sexual assault coverage, this project will demonstrate how pervasive and intertwined society’s understanding of sexual assault and the public/private divide is.
Women of color are treated differently; law does not function as a social mediator between relationships of all people. The focus is on women of colour and how non-white communities are considered inherently violent. By such stereotypes, rape myths create a belief that certain races are more dangerous than others, creating fear based on the social construction of society. Using the ``Slut Walk`` article as an example: women have argued ``it is different for a white middle class women to wear something slutty and march in a parade than a women of colour.`` Due to the social construction black woman are more likely to have their characters stereotype and are seen more promiscuous compared to white woman. (Julie Dowsett Lecture).Stereotyping has even gone so far where a police official made a comment about York university students, referring to the females saying “they should not dress like a slut” to reduce assault (Slutwalk 249). Such rape myths put women on the line, claiming that it is their fault for getting sexually assaulted because they provoke men. “Such stereotypical assumptions find their roots in many cultures, including our own. They no longer, however, find a place in Canadian law” (R. v. Ewanchuck
Oftentimes, the things individuals take for granted as preexisting facts are merely the products of social construction, which exert tremendous impacts on belief and action. Men and women are socially constructed categories inscribed by norms of masculinity and femininity that enables rape to occur. Catharine MacKinnon claims that rape is defined in a male perspective, which lacks the account of female experience. On the other hand, Sharon Marcus argues that rape is a constructed language that scripts the female body. As bell hooks points out, black men celebrate “rape culture” as a mean of expressing patriarchal dominance and endorsing female subordination. In order to redefine rape and to develop effective rape prevention, it is crucial to deconstruct the predetermined assumptions about men and women. Rape is socially constructed, through the ways how individuals possess misogynistic ideologies and endorse patriarchal power, turning the erotic fantasy of male dominance into “reality”.
Demonstrating a form of protest that was more of an art form and a statement than riots and violence, in September 2011, people occupied New York 's financial district of Wall Street over issues that Henry David
In today’s society, there is evidence that gender roles hold high standards in forming an identity, whether that gender is male or female. These standards put pressure on either gender to uphold them and commit to specific behaviors/actions that validate their very being. For men, this includes being considered masculine, or portraying the sense that they are authoritative over others, in which this includes displaying attitudes that contribute to female subordination. According to Pascoe (2016) in his article “Good Guys Don’t Rape” men are given the opportunity to challenge rape yet reinforce rape attitudes at the same time that are contained within rape culture and masculinity considered “norms.” Pascoe, illustrates that rape can be seen
...ough group and individual models of deviant behaviour. The patriarchal pedagogy and structures that set the stage for permitting sexual assault to occur historically, still continue today, although in more subtle ways. Women are still seen as the property of men, and are protected as such. Men and women are still taught to occupy very different roles in today's world. Men are usually in power positions, especially of an economic nature, and women are seen as passive. Marxist-feminist and differential identification are two theories that can be used to effectively explicate the cycle of sexualized violence in Canadian society today. In order to deal with the occurrence of sexual assault in our society, we must examine its causes more deeply. We must understand the sociology of sexualized violence in order to effectively explicate its groups and individual dynamics.
In the past century, America has made great leaps in terms of equality. With the efforts made by the civil rights and suffrage movements, all people gained the right to vote. We are even moving forward with marriage equality, and currently fifteen states recognize same-sex marriage. But regardless of all of our progressive institutional movements forward, we continue to socially oppress women. Men’s violence against women has grown to be an internationally recognized epidemic, and will continue to grow unless measures be made to stop it. Domestic violence continues to be prevalent in the lives of many families, and is the primary cause of homelessness in half of cases for women in children. Many women have been forced to alter their behaviors out of fear of being sexually or physically assaulted. One out of every three women is sexually or physically abused in their lifetimes. The first thing that comes to mind is, there are a lot of people abusing women out there. Many people with opposing ideas may claim that men can be victims of violence perpetrated by women, but in instances not used for self-defense, it is rarely part of a systematic pattern of power and control through force or threat of force. In fact, 99% of rape is perpetrated by men, but when confronting men about the issue of violence against women, it is often combated with denial. Jackson Katz writes in his book, The Macho Paradox, “We take comfort in the idea of the aforementioned child-rapist murderer as a horrible aberration. A monster. We’re nothing like him.”(Katz 30). The sad truth is that most women who are raped are raped by men they know, or even men they love. Many men have a hard time believing that saying that most violence is perpetuated by men does not...
One out of sixteen men and one out of five women are sexually assaulted in college, but 63% of rape crimes are not reported. In collusion women report their sexual assaults more than men. Also, they put men in a box labeled rapist, but only if feminist accepted the fact that women rape not only men, but also other women. In a video called “Street Harassment”, by OCATIV; it includes women that are talking about what women have to deal with while walking down the streets of New York and how men treat women in life. As in their opinion sexaul assault and harassment are watered down to catcalls, whistles, looks/glances, being called beautiful, or being told goodmorning. The second lady walks through downtown Detroit of New York and she even admits her outfit is provocative, but she wasn’t provoking; which provocative is to arouse sexual desire or interest, especially deliberately or cause annoyance, anger, or strong reaction, especially deliberately. What a quote to end all quotes and to continue this mind blowing ignorance. Buzzfeed also supports feminism, but they have no logic. In their video “36 questions women have for men” starts off with “How does it feel to have the same sex as Donald Trump?”, anyone with enough sense would know this video is going to be unscrupulous. Later in the video they ask, “Why do you guys sit with your legs open? Like I know you have balls, but you don’t see me with my arms
2.) National Research Council. Understanding Violence Against Women, Washington, DC: National Academy of Press. 1996.
It is not a topic that is brought up often, especially at schools or at gatherings, yet it is crucial that everyone be educated, or at least informed on a topic that affects women every day. “Given that sexual violence continues to occur at high rates in the United States, it is vital that we understand attitudes and cultural norms that serve to minimize or foster tolerance of sexual violence” (Aosved, 481). Growing rates of sexual violence goes to prove that it is not taken seriously by many, especially when myths excuse the actions of the perpetrator and instead guilt victims into thinking they are responsible for the horrible act. Burt (1980), in her article titled, “Cultural myths and support for rape” attempts to make sense of the importance of stereotypes and myths, defined as prejudicial, stereotypes, or false beliefs about rape, rape victims and rapists- in creating a climate hostile to rape victims (Burt, 217). Examples of rape myths are such sayings as “only bad girls get raped”; “women ask for it”; “women cry rape” (Burt, 217). This only goes to prove that rape myths against women always blame and make it seem like it is the women’s fault she was raped and that she deserved it for “acting” a certain way. McMahon (2007), in her article titled, “Understanding community-specific rape myths” explains how Lonsway and Fitzgerald (1994) later described rape myths as “attitudes and beliefs that are generally
Sexual assault is defined as a type of behaviour that occurs without explicit consent from the recipient and under sexual assault come various categories such as sexual activities as forces sexual intercourse, incest, fondling, attempted rape and more (Justice.gov. 2017). People often become victims of sexual assault by someone they know and trust (Mason & Lodrick, 2013) which is conflicting to the public’s perception and beliefs that offenders are strangers. Women are the main victims for sexual assault and are 5 times more likely to have been a victim of sexual assault from a male (Wright, 2017, p. 93). Men are victims of sexual assault however only 0.7% of men, compared to 3.2% of women, experience some form of sexual assault which highlights how vulnerable women are compared to men. Sexual assault is publicised and exposed in the media, however is often
This event in particular shook me as I had run past the exact same spot, on the exact same day, one hour later than she had, and without pepper spray”. She says that these occurrences are not uncommon and as stated before, she says women are targeted over men unproportionally. She feels that simply because of her gender, she is being targeted and that makes her feel unsafe and uneasy even in these heavily policed places. Soffe does fail to show true evidence that there is a disparity between men and women and that women are truly targeted more however, she truly connects to her audience by connecting sexism to her everyday life making her more relatable. This example really bridges the gap between reader and writer. Individual experience with sexism can vary a lot depending on where you live, work, and study and this connection Soffe makes to her audience especially those who are currently in college. Soffe is a clear example of real sexism happening in everyday life and her example makes the issue see much more real to her audience and more of an issue that needs to be
Recently, the “#MeToo” movement has been creating a platform for people, more specifically women, to come out about being victims of sexual assault. Creating an open conversation about sexual assault is a great way to use social media, yet there are still issues being created by this movement. The most significant of those issues is men being accused of sexual assault publicly and forced out of their professions through social pressure with no hard evidence, only anecdotal. In addition, there is a large grey area between sexual assault, sexual harassment, and misread signals between the alleged victim and perpetrator. This is leading to accused assaulters who meant no harm in their actions to be publicly recognized as a criminal with no course
North’s prudent use of excerpts from Caitlin Flanagan’s response to Grace’s experience – a collection of abrasively dismissive disparagements featured in (what could be argued to be) one of the most well-known magazines on the continent – serves to not only emphasize the lack of respect that women receive in the media, but also to illustrate how a victimized woman seeking justice is seen as less important than how that justice might affect a man. In highlighting this social sexism, Anna North ultimately reveals the state of relative powerlessness that Western women currently exist within; it is both common and expected for these women to not only have their discomfort ignored in favour of a male’s desires but to be socially attacked should she choose to report these kind of wrongdoings. More than disheartening, this societal inequity shows misogyny to be perhaps less apparent than in previous eras, but unfortunately still alive and well in 2018. Anna North’s deliberate inclusion and acknowledgement of the narrative surrounding Flanagan’s rebuttal ultimately reveal the prioritization of male prosperity over female safety within the Western world of 2018; in this society, a woman is free to anything (but only anything that doesn’t come at the expense of a
The main article that will be utilized within this event analysis on the topic of the Occupy Wall Street Protests is Suppressing Protest: Human Rights Violations in the U.S in Response to Occupy Wall Street. This particular article looks at Occupy Wall Street broadly through the discussion of several topics such as policing guidelines, international laws and protest rights and the excessive use of force conducted by the police. The specific section of this article I will be
In order to better understand society’s attitudes towards sexual assault on college campuses, Ashley Giraldi and Elizabeth Monk-Turner have analyzed the comments on a local media post about an incident involving banners with sexually charged messages on them that happened at a large southeastern university during its move in day. They discuss how social media affects almost every aspect of our lives and the information we see, specifically concerning rape culture. There are two approaches to looking at the way social media perpetuates rape culture: through perpetuating hegemonic masculinity or the “boys will be boys” ideology and by normalizing rape culture in fraternities. The data gathered about the story came from comments on a Facebook