Sexual Violence

Question 1

Sexual violence

Answer 1

range of behaviors: any sexual act, act of sexual nature or act targeting sexuality, physical or psychological, that is committed without consent

Question 2

Range of behaviors that are umbrella’d under sexual violence

Answer 2

• sexual harassment and street harassment; sexual assault
• stalking
• voyeurism (spying)
• sexual exploitation
• sleathing
• indecent exposure
• distribution of sexually explicit photographs or videos
• threats of rape and sexual harm
• incest, child sexual abuse, sexual trafficking

Question 3

What is Sleathing

Answer 3

• to remove a condom secretly during sex

Question 4

define “rape culture”

Answer 4

a term describing the political, legal and social subordination of women created the conditions for sexual violence to occur, which also normalized violence against women

Question 5

Are there groups more vulnerable to sexual violence than others? if so who are they?

Answer 5

yes, examples include: transgender youth, indigenous women/girls/boys

Question 6

What is Victim-blaming and rape myths?

Answer 6

are attitudes and beliefs deployed to undermine dismiss, belittle or invalidate survivors’ experiences

Question 7

When did the use of ‘storytelling’ get big? Why did it have such a big impact?

Answer 7

• got big in the ’80s with Oprah bringing on women to interview on their stories
• through stories, patterns are found - “i’m not alone, this is not only about me” (being oppressed as a group

Question 8

Consciousness raising

Answer 8

• began in the ’60s
• created a space for women to come together and discuss a range of challenges they experienced in their personal lives, including sexual violence
• It was through consciousness raising networks where women began to erode normative assumptions about sexual violence, and brought to light the widespread nature and experiences of other forms of sexual harm, such as sexual harassment, unwanted sexual advances, and unwanted sexual contact

Question 9

How did Consciousness Raising alter the understanding of sexual violence?

Answer 9

altered how sexual violence was socially, legally and politically understood sparking further, more public forms of activism and structural reforms including legal changes and the development of rape crisis services

Question 10

Types of “Speaking Out”

Answer 10

• public forums
• survivor memoirs
• artistic forms (ex. Clothesline Project - addresses victim blaming)

Question 11

Criminal Law Reform

Answer 11

Reform efforts have focused on increasing rape conviction rates, and redefining rape

Question 12

Criminal Law Reform drawbacks

Answer 12

• sexist stereotypes still used when looking at cases
• still see problematic patriarchal attitudes in the courtroom
• most sexual violence happens often with people you know

Question 13

Why is “no means no” not good enough?

Answer 13

• because it is harder when victim is in place of lower power in comparison to the offender

Question 14

Affirmative Model of consent

Answer 14

“yes means yes” rather than silence means yes

Question 15

Why is Digital Activism important?

Answer 15

create subaltern counterpublics - spaces where dominant norms and attitudes are disrupted and subverted

Question 16

What are some ways that Digital Activism is used as a form of protest

Answer 16

• changed social movement organizing
• embedded in everyday life
• can mobilize protests offline (i.e., slut walk)
• use images to reflect back/resist (i.e., memes)
• create “community, solidarity, respect”
• vital in areas where activism is restricted or women’s public life restricted

Question 17

Critiques of activism against sexual violence

Answer 17

there is a lack of examination fo structural dynamics and intersectionality
- prominent public image of sexual violence survivors and activists speaking out have been – and remain – white, heterosexual, mostly middle-class women
- consciosness raising did not provide a framework for women to understand the extent to which structural dynamics, such as racism or class shaped women’s experiences of violence

Question 18

Critiques of digital activism against sexual violence

Answer 18

• access to technology
• state imposed digital censorship
• literacy/tech literacy
• online is individualist (attention economy; self-branded neoliberalism)
• curating a particular image for others to see

Question 19

Impact of the #MeToo Movement

Answer 19

• fall 2017
• use the # 19 million times in 12 month in English
• created of global collective voice
• diverse voices but often privileged
• excluded 2SLGBTQA+
• focused on criminal/legal changes (ie. the Weinstein trial)

Question 20

Why did the Weinstein’s conviction seem like a clear win for survivors

Answer 20

It provided institutional recognition and vindication after decades of sexual harassment and violence that had been quietly ignored (if not openly condoned), with his victims often intimidated into silence

Question 21

What is the future of Sexual Violence activism

Answer 21

• need to attend to complex political conditions
• some success with systemic approaches on campus
• explore alternative justice
• recognize/strategize re: limitations of digital forms
• victim centered, culturally informed, community-based and collaborative
• link to systems of oppression: colonial practices, state practices, etc.