Rereading Rape in the Critical Canon

differences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-160
Author(s):  
Erin A. Spampinato
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Rape Law ◽  
The Law ◽  
Criminal Conduct ◽  
Forms Of Violence ◽  
As If ◽  
Physical Outcomes

This essay identifies what the author terms “adjudicative reading,” a tendency in literary criticism to read novels depicting sexual violence as if in a court of law. Adjudicative reading tracks characters’ motivations and the physical outcomes of their actions as if novels can offer evidence, or lack thereof, of criminal conduct. This legalistic style of criticism not only ignores the fictionality of incidences of rape in novels, but it replicates the prejudices inherent in historical rape law by centering the experiences of the accused character over and against the harm caused to the fictional victim of rape. By contrast, the “capacious” conception of rape proposed here refuses to locate rape in a particular bodily act (as the law does), rejects the yoking of rape’s harms to a particular gender, and understands various forms of violence as equally serious (rather than creating a hierarchy of sexual assault, as current legal conceptions tend to do).

Sexual Violence

2019 ◽  
pp. 302-312
Author(s):  
Ruchi Trivedi
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
The Third ◽  
Thin Line ◽  
Forms Of Violence

It takes seconds of impulsiveness for an act of sexual abuse to cross the thin line to convert into an act of sexual violence and vice-versa. There are cases where the act of sexual violence is initiated with consent, and there are acts of sexual violence that fall under the umbrella term sexual assault. This chapter examines the role of violence in sexual abuse, i.e. sexual violence. The first section reviews the definitions of sexual violence and throwing some light on forms of violence in sexual abuse and violation of consent during an act of sexual violence. The second section reviews the risk factors and causal for sexual violence. The third section presents an overview of different perspectives on violence in context to sexual abuse are mentioned and examined.

A Comment on Consent, Sex, and Rape

Legal Theory ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin West
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Sexual History ◽  
Marital Rape ◽  
Rape Law ◽  
The Law

During the last 25 years, rape law has undergone a profound transformation, as the articles in this symposium clearly show. To mention just three of the more striking doctrinal reformations: All states have repealed the most egregious aspects of die marital rape exception; most have abandoned the “utmost resistance” requirement; and all have enacted rape shield laws to protect complaining witnesses from intrusive inquiries into their sexual history. All three reforms were the product of feminist agitation, all three were aimed toward the general end of redirecting rape law toward the protection of women's, rather than men's, interests, and all three did, to some degree, broaden and democratize the scope of the law's protection: Wives, prostitutes, promiscuous girls, and women not inclined to risk their deaths by fighting off their rapists “to the utmost” are now protected by the law of rape against sexual assault, at least in theory, and at least to the same degree as non-wives and non-prostitutes, fighters, and virgins. All of this, virtually every contributor to this symposium agrees, is very much to the good.

Sexual Violence

2018 ◽  
pp. 86-96
Author(s):  
Ruchi Trivedi
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
The Third ◽  
Thin Line ◽  
Forms Of Violence

It takes seconds of impulsiveness for an act of sexual abuse to cross the thin line to convert into an act of sexual violence and vice-versa. There are cases where the act of sexual violence is initiated with consent, and there are acts of sexual violence that fall under the umbrella term sexual assault. This chapter examines the role of violence in sexual abuse, i.e. sexual violence. The first section reviews the definitions of sexual violence and throwing some light on forms of violence in sexual abuse and violation of consent during an act of sexual violence. The second section reviews the risk factors and causal for sexual violence. The third section presents an overview of different perspectives on violence in context to sexual abuse are mentioned and examined.

Rape, Resistance and Women's Rights of Self-Defence

1993 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gail Reekie ◽  
Paul Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Sexual Intercourse ◽  
Criminal Justice Systems ◽  
The Law ◽  
Serious Injury ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Physical Resistance ◽  
Self Defence

The legal and criminal justice systems proceed on the masculinist assumption that a woman's body communicates her lack of consent to sexual intercourse and that a woman will offer strong physical resistance to sexual violence. Recent changes to the legal definition of non-consent as a positive and performative act provide women with greater protection under the rape laws. Women are unlikely to be protected by the law, however, if their physical resistance to sexual assault results in death or serious injury. This paper argues that, to ensure that women subjected to sexual violence have full equality and justice before the law, all manifestations of women's resistances must be seen as acceptable and lawful acts of self-defence.

Virtualized Violence and Anonymous Juries: Unpacking Steubenville’s “Big Red” Sexual Assault Case and the Role of Social Media

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 477-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan Fairbairn ◽  
Dale Spencer
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Group Response ◽  
Online Activism ◽  
Sexual Assault Case ◽  
Forms Of Violence

In this article, we analyze a 2012 sexual assault case from Steubenville, Ohio, and the hacktivist “Anonymous” group response to the sexual assault. Drawing on Paul Virilio’s discussion of dromoscopy and concept of virtualization, we demonstrate the speed at which a “local” sexual assault can be exposed and go viral and how broader publics can be interpellated as bystanders in such cases. We show how emerging forms of online activism are exposing and contesting these new forms of violence against women and consider their potential to erode criminal justice blockages to justice for survivors of sexual violence.

Influential Factors in The Law Enforcement Process of Sexual Violence Cases in Children in The City of Semarang

SOEPRA ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Liya Suwarni
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Medical Record ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Influential Factors ◽  
Medical Record Data ◽  
Violence Against Children ◽  
Record Data ◽  
The Law ◽  
The City

Background. Cases of sexual violence increase every year, victims ranging from adolescents, children to toddlers. Based on data from the Indonesian Child Protection Commission, abuse and violence against children in Indonesia in 2013 were 23 cases, in 2014 there were 53 cases, in 2015 there were 133 cases, 2017 reached 1,337 cases, and as of July 2018 there were 424 cases. Purpose. Knowing the factors that influence the law enforcement process of sexy violence cases in Semarang City. Method This study uses descriptive analytical methods for cases of violence against children, based on medical record data in hospitals, documents in Mapolrestabes, the District Attorney's Office and the Semarang City Court for the period of January 2015 to December 2018. Results. Based on research results obtained 213 experimental cases section from medical record data in hospitals in the city of Semarang. Most cases of child abuse occurred in 2018 with 72 cases. Most victims are 12-14 years old age group, female. Most types of cases are cases of intercourse. The majority of violations are persons known as victims, perpetrators not working, and most of the places of occurrence are in the defendant's house. At the time of prosecution and trial, the number of cases was significantly reduced to only 8 cases. Factors related to this include lack of evidence, difficulty in obtaining information from victims, convoluted statements of coverage, lack of election, and obtaining diversion rates. Conclusion Cases of sexual violence have increased from year to year. The process of law enforcement on this problem still has many difficulties in each manufacturing process which is still difficult to overcome.

Genital Call and Genitals on Trial: by Giegold & Weiß (nGbK, 2014)

Screen Bodies ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-91
Author(s):  
Karen Fiss
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Male Student ◽  
The Other ◽  
Columbia University ◽  
The Law ◽  
Affirmative Consent

In California, where I live, an affirmative consent law was recently passed: often referred to as the “yes means yes” standard for sexual assault, it is now required of all colleges receiving state funds. Supporters of the law argue that campus rapists can no longer be exonerated because their victims did not resist or were incapacitated by fear, shame, or intoxication. On the other side of the country, a student at Columbia University became an icon in this ongoing legal struggle by carrying her mattress around with her everywhere, including to her graduation, as a sign of protest against the university’s refusal to expel the male student who raped her.

The Right to Bodily Integrity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Brysk
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
The United States ◽  
Bodily Integrity ◽  
Global Pattern ◽  
Popular Resistance ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Right

In Chapter 7, we profile the global pattern of sexual violence. We will consider conflict rape and transitional justice response in Peru and Colombia, along with the plight of women displaced by conflict from Syria and Central America, and limited international policy response. State-sponsored sexual violence and popular resistance to reclaim public space will be chronicled in Egypt as well as Mexico. We will track intensifying public sexual assault amid social crisis in Turkey, South Africa, and India, which has been met by a wide range of public protest, legal reform, and policy change. For a contrasting experience of the privatization of sexual assault in developed democracies, we will trace campus, workplace, and military rape in the United States.

The foundations of literary rhetoric

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michel Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Reception Theory ◽  
Literary Language ◽  
Literary Interpretation ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
The Law

Chapter 7 deals with one of the most traditional aspects of rhetoric, namely literature. It describes a basic law of literary rhetoric which accounts for the increasing problematicity of literary language in novels, poetry, and drama. This chapter also explains the evolution of literary criticism. The fact that literature is less and less linear in its narratives, and is increasingly enigmatic (Joyce or Kafka) is accounted for by the law of auto-contextualization of the problematic in the fictional answers. This law encourages the reader to provide the meaning of the text, even when it is considered as impossible or equivocal and pluralistic. The four main schools of literary interpretation correspond to our four basic operators of rhetoric: Mimetic for =, Hermeneutics for ±, Reception Theory for + (the reader is the “plus” of the interpretation of the text), and Deconstruction for –.

Between sexual assault and compassion: The experience of living with a spouse’s dementia-related hypersexuality—A narrative case-study

Dementia ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 147130122110320
Author(s):  
Dovrat Harel ◽  
Tova Band-Winterstein ◽  
Hadass Goldblatt
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Psychological Symptoms ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Intimate Relationship ◽  
Older Woman ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Narrative Case Study ◽  
As If

Background Hypersexuality is one of the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. This symptom can lead to poor quality of life for the person who lives with dementia, as well as for his or her caregiver, who might be exposed to sexual assault. Aim This study aimed to highlight the experience of an older woman living and coping with a spouse who exhibits dementia-related hypersexuality. Method A narrative case-study of a single case was designed, composed of four semi-structured interviews conducted over a 10-month period. The data were analyzed through thematic, structural, and performance analysis. Findings Four phases were revealed, depicting the experience of being a partner and caregiver of a spouse with dementia-related hypersexuality: a) “I need help”: A distress call; b) “It depends how long I agree to go on with it”: Living with the ambiguous reality of dementia-related hypersexual behavior within an ongoing intimate relationship; c) “It’s as if I’m hugging someone who’s no longer alive”: The transition from the previous couplehood identity to a new couplehood identity; and d) “I am just taking care of him as if he is a child”: A compassionate couplehood identity construction. Conclusions Living with a partner with dementia-related hypersexuality is a distressing experience for the caregiver-spouse. Yet, positive memories from a long intimate relationship can lead to the creation of a compassionate identity, which supports the caregiving process, and creates a sense of acceptance and meaning making. This, in turn, enables a positive aging experience. These finding have some practical implications for supporting and intervening in such cases.

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