Defining Rape

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 89-101
Author(s):  
Lisa H. Schwartzman ◽  

Legal definitions of rape traditionally required proof of both force and nonconsent. Acknowledging the difficulty of demonstrating the conjunction of force and nonconsent, many feminists argue that rape should be defined based on one element or the other. Instead of debating which of these two best defines the crime of rape, I argue that this framework is problematic, and that both force and nonconsent must be situated in a critique of social power structures. Catharine MacKinnon provides such a critique, and she reframes rape as a matter of gender inequality. However, rather than rejecting the force/nonconsent dichotomy, MacKinnon focuses exclusively on force, which she thinks can be reconceived to include inequalities. Considering the #MeToo movement and feminist efforts to use Title IX to address campus rape, I argue that the concept of consent is more flexible than MacKinnon suggests and that “affirmative consent” can challenge this liberal model. In requiring active communication, affirmative consent shifts responsibility for rape, opens space for women’s sexual agency, and allows for the transformation of rape culture. Thus, I argue that rape should be defined by the use of force, the lack of affirmative consent, or the presence of both elements.

Screen Bodies ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-91
Author(s):  
Karen Fiss

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.


1991 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 393-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Burbules ◽  
Suzanne Rice

In this article, Nicholas Burbules and Suzanne Rice engage several of the central claims made by postmodern authors about the possibilities and limits of education. Specifically,they focus on postmodern conceptions of difference, and on the question of whether dialogue across differences, particularly differences in social power, is possible and worthwhile. In order to answer this question, Burbules and Rice distinguish two trends within postmodern thought: one extends and redefines modernist principles such as democracy, reason, and equality; the other deconstructs and rejects these principles. They argue that it is the redefinition of modernist principles, not their wholesale rejection, that offers educators the most hopeful and useful conception of dialogue across differences.


2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-192
Author(s):  
Dejan Petrovic

Key contemporary sociological theorists, such as Foucault or Habermas rarely explicitly discussed gender in their studies. This fact has not caused a lack of interest in the critical examination of the theoretical systems of these authors within a feminist perspective. During the 1990?s feminists? attention was drawn to Pierre Bourdieu?s social theory. French sociologist?s study Masculine Domination deals with issues of gender dynamics and its reproduction. In this study the persistence of the asymmetric distribution of social power between women and men is explained by concepts of habitus and symbolic violence. As this article will show, social change cannot be explained by Bourdieu?s concept of habitus, as a key link between social structure and action, due to its reduction of actors to socialized bodies, which are practically deprived of any true action potential. On the other hand, with regard to social activism as a permanent feature of feminist theory, this paper seeks to examine whether critical examination of Bourdieu?s conceptual apparatus achieves to provide the means to overcome the aforementioned shortcomings of the theoretical system of French sociologist. In other words, this article seeks to answer the question whether such a modification of habitus is possible, which will allow for actors whose action is truly structured and structuring, and lead to possible change of existing power relations.


Author(s):  
Daniela Stoltenberg

Urban public life has historically and famously been structured by social stratification and a segregation of social milieus. Such spatialized social inequality along the lines of, most importantly, class, age, and ethnicity engenders unequal access to civic participation and supportive social networks. Meanwhile, the Internet and Web 2.0 technologies in particular have often been hailed for their potential of bringing underrepresented voices into the public discourse and even creating so-called “networked counterpublics”, challenging social power structures. This contribution seeks to address the question of whether social media communication about urban issues challenges or reproduces patterns of spatial inequality in its attention distribution. Empirically, it investigates the distribution of place-naming within the Berlin-based Twitter discourse on housing. It finds that - while issue attention in the urban Twitter discourse is clearly spatially unequal, with a striking imbalance between center and periphery - neither sociodemographic composition nor issue characteristics perform well in explaining these patterns. Instead it proposes focusing more on local civic and activist infrastructure in future research.


Author(s):  
Alex J. Bellamy ◽  
Nicholas J. Wheeler

This chapter examines the role of humanitarian intervention in world politics. It considers how we should resolve tensions when valued principles such as order, sovereignty, and self-determination come into conflict with human rights; and how international thought and practice has evolved with respect to humanitarian intervention. The chapter discusses the case for and against humanitarian intervention and looks at humanitarian activism during the 1990s. It also analyses the responsibility to protect principle and the use of force to achieve its protection goals in Libya in 2011. Two case studies are presented, one dealing with humanitarian intervention in Darfur and the other with the role of Middle Eastern governments in Operation Unified Protector in Libya in 2011. There is also an Opposing Opinions box that asks whether the West should intervene in Syria to protect people there from the Islamic State (ISIS).


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rana Saba Sultan ◽  
Nadil Shah ◽  
Ambreen Fazal

Gender became the attention of contemporary scholarships when women were found in domestic issues as well as gender inequality in terms of job opportunities, education, health, political participation etc. Many studies have been carried out regarding women issues and provided policies and laws to provide opportunities for women to contribute in the society. So, gender presentation in school textbooks is newly emerging field of study in the academia. The present study focuses on women presentation in school textbooks of Balochistan. The English Books for Class I, to V were taken as sample for present study. These books were selected through purposive sampling. All conversations, texts and images related to women misrepresentation were taken from selected books. These data were analysed by the help of Michal Foucault’s theory of power/Knowledge and Discourse Analysis and also Cultural Hegemony by Antonio Gramsci. The findings of the present study suggest that textbooks of Balochistan are clearly misrepresenting women and promoting the male hegemony. The women are shown in domestic works and teaching jobs which are considered soft works. On the other hand, men are shown in school administrations, public domains, ownerships and in those jobs which need more power and energy. So, it is clear that schools textbooks promote the gender biased approach because men are shown in powerful, prestigious, well reputed and respectable jobs and women are shown in less respected and less valued positions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-58
Author(s):  
Chotibul Umam ◽  
Dita Sukawati ◽  
Fadilla Oktaviana

In this research, the writer was aimed to find out the types of code switching that used by English teacher based on gender inequality and the reasons of using code switching that used by English teacher based on gender inequality. The writer was conducted case study in qualitative method. In collecting the data, the writer used observation by using video recording and interview. The result of the research shows that the writer found three types from each teacher based on gender inequality by observation. The types are inter-sentential, intra-sentential and tag switching. In the other hand, each types that used by English teacher based on gender inequality was made in number percentages, for female English teacher are inter sentential code switching 54%, intra sentential code switching 38% and tag switching 8%. Moreover, for male English teacher are inter sentential code switching 42%, intra sentential code switching 41% and tag switching 18%. In the other words, interview was used to find out the reasons that used by English teacher based on gender inequality. The reasons are talking about particular topic, repetition, Interjection and Raising status.


JURNAL BASIS ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Andri Fernanda ◽  
Ranto Ranto

The goal of this study was to break down gender issues and stereotypes towards women constructed in Bangka Belitung society from the perspective of female authors. In analyzing the data, researchers carried out a qualitative descriptive method with feminist theory. The researchers also conducted critical discourse analysis on writings that have been published by Bangka Belitung’s female authors. The results showed that there were still gender inequality and inferiority of women in society. The identity crisis faced by women when they are not married since marriage is seen as an ideal as well as a complement to their life as real women in society. On the other hand, the picture of how women had no rights over themselves was demonstrated in a situation when matchmaking and marriage were performed one-sidedly and suddenly, women did not have enough power to question these, even refused them. Besides, how strong a patriarchal system and culture was shaped by women, their closest people and the community was proven in the novels of the Bangka Belitung’s female authors.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Brzezinski

This paper estimates how previous major pandemic events affected economic and gender inequalities in the short- to medium run. We consider the impact of six major pandemic episodes – H3N2 Flu (1968), SARS (2003), H1N1 Swine Flu (2009), MERS (2012), Ebola (2014), and Zika (2016) – on cross-country inequalities in a sample of up to 180 countries observed over 1950-2019. Results show that the past pandemics have moderately increased income inequality in the affected countries in the period of four to five years after the pandemic’s start. On the other hand, we do not find any robust negative impacts on wealth inequality. The results concerning gender inequality are less consistent, but we find some evidence of declining gender equality among the hardest hit countries, as well as of growing gender gaps in unemployment within the four years after the onset of the pandemic.


Author(s):  
Dana Julia Loew

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the relationship between peace processes, gender equality, and communication by introducing feminist and intersectional approaches as tools to assess and deconstruct underlying power structures. The author argues for a human rights-based approach to gender equality and a deconstruction of essentialist understandings of “women,” calling for a perspective on peace that is responsive to the experiences of minorities and the marginalized. The chapter seeks to outline ways for individuals and groups to engage around the topics of power, oppression, and marginalization, and to create space for a more inclusive dialogue as the basis for a peace culture. Coeducation, the media, and a change in discussion culture are established as essential in creating a peace culture that allows all individuals to live empowered and fulfilling lives in a peaceful society void of structural violence, regardless of their gender, race, class, or sexual orientation.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document