Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Research Blog #1: Topic Idea
For my culminating research paper I've been thinking about exploring the issue of sexual violence on campus. I think it's a pressing issue that a lot of students experience, encourage, or take part in somehow, but perhaps they aren't very informed about it. It's important to me that I raise awareness on the relevance and significance of it, and it might be interesting to raise questions regarding why and how it happens and/or how it affects students socially, emotionally, mentally, and physically. Perhaps it might be interesting to touch on the role of gender within the issue of sexual violence or sexual violence associated with Greek life.
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I'm glad someone has taken up this issue, which came to a head after the controversial UVA story in Rolling Stone. But it is a long-standing issue, and there are many cases you can examine closely to explore the topic -- including the very well documented and widely examined story of Emma Sulkowicz from Columbia, whose performance art of carrying her mattress around campus attracted widespread media attention:
ReplyDeletehttp://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/09/columbia-student-art-project-protests-her-rapist.html.
Sulkowicz's case has been closely analyzed, with lots of detail in the various sources, and even her rapist has come forward to discuss it. So if you wanted a case to focus on (as I strongly encourage), this would definitely make for an interesting one. It definitely raises lots of questions about when consensual sexual activity turns into non-consensual activity, which is a very fraught question worthy of analysis.
From a "privatization" perspective, you might consider the ways that Universities have set up for dealing with reports of sexual assault are really self-serving. I suggested as much in a post I wrote immediately after the UVA case broke (and before that story collapsed in on itself):
http://college201.blogspot.com/2014/11/a-rape-on-campus-in-rolling-stone.html
I think the mission of "protecting the brand" definitely is exacerbated by privatization, as Universities worry about how they appear to potential students. Whether or not you see it in this light, there is no question that the typical University handling of a sexual assault case simply does not compare to the way the legal and criminal system handles these things. That system may have been designed to protect the privacy of both parties in such cases, but it ends up being too balanced (often treating the perpetrators with kid gloves), too often handled by deans and other University staff with no legal training (and possible sexist biases), too prone to corruption (as the children of major donors or other politically powerful figures could get special treatment), and too self-serving (as the University would prefer to just keep such cases quiet). A paper that focused just on the way these cases are handled by schools as compared to the law would be very interesting. A lot has been written about this, but this NY Times piece might be a place to start:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/16/opinion/sunday/mishandling-rape.html?_r=0
There is also the "Title IX" angle to the story, and you could examine the way University handling of these cases is really governed by a law meant to increase women's athletics on campus. That is an interesting angle in itself.
Another angle could connect to what is often referred to as "hookup culture" on campus. I have had a number of students explore that potentially related topic, including one fellow who looked at how "hookup culture" is often interpreted by men through the lens of "pickup culture," resulting in a mismatch of expectations and desires that could easily result in date-rape. I was going to link to his blog, but he has made it "private" now so you cannot see it. But there was an interesting article on the phenomenon in Jezebel:
http://jezebel.com/5967279/meet-the-nice-guy-pickup-artists
Those are just some angles that come to mind. Start by reading around and thinking about the angle that interests you, and then dive in deep into that approach. And be brave -- it is a very important topic.
A very well documented case of he-said / she-said sexual assault at college is in the NY Times Magazine today:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/the-stanford-undergraduate-and-the-mentor.html