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This thesis identifies and examines a cross-section of passages from democratic Athenian oratory that reference mythological incidents of sexual violence against women. These four passages come from four politically motivated public speeches delivered during the fourth century BCE. In analysing these passages within the context of the literary depictions of these myths elsewhere and the political environment of the speeches themselves, this study highlights the existence of a rhetorical technique employed during the Athenian democracy that has yet to be widely recognised. This technique employs recognisable characters and stories from myth and adapts them according to contemporary Athenian values and attitudes. It is subsequently employed by orators to appeal to a sense of shared identity among Athenians that paints an idealised version of Athenian citizens as defenders of women in opposition to the imagined 'other' or barbarian. Chapter one focuses on Demosthenes' use of the sisters Procne and Philomela, who took vengeance on the man who assaulted Philomela sexually, as role-models for the Athenian soldiers who died fighting the Macedonians at Chaeronea. Chapter two explores the comparison drawn by Hyperides between the Greeks who rescued Helen from Troy and the contemporary Athenian soldiers whom he frames as having saved numerous Greek women from a fate similar to Helen's. Finally, chapter three focuses on the use of the sexual assault of Alkippe and the subsequent acquittal of her father Ares for the murder of her attacker by two different orators, Demosthenes and Dinarchus, as an example of the greatness of the Athenian justice system. Through politicising these incidents of sexual violence against women from Greek myth, this rhetorical technique thus incorporates sexual violence against women into a construction of the idealised democratic Athenian identity; idealised because these values are not always reflected in reality.

This research project examines the current theatre practices in Western countries (primarily in the United Kingdom) relating to the subject matter of the #MeToo movement. The research explores the genre of verbatim theatre in relation to this subject, discussing its beneficial possibilities. Key points of enquiry are how sexual violence and harassment are portrayed within theatrical works, the characteristics and conventions of the verbatim genre that might provide a safe, respectful platform for sharing #MeToo experience, and what can be considered best practice in-regards-to dramatising #MeToo-related subject matter. The practice research aspect of the work develops a piece of contemporary devised verbatim performance based on the experiences of sexual assault survivors and creates a theatrical manifesto for exploring future theatrical productions in the same area. The manifesto is an original attempt to define and demonstrate the creative methods and ethical methodologies of a Socially Minded Theatre. Socially Minded Theatre is an original and innovative new methodology for approaching verbatim theatre that prioritises ethical practice and social responsibility in theatre making, paving the way for verbatim theatre makers to create compelling, impactful, and conscientious art. Given the requirements for social distancing due to Covid-19 during the research project (conducted from 2nd October 2019 to 1st October 2022), the practical elements of the research have been designed considering these restrictions. The ability to evolve and adapt when required by social, political, or economic changes reflects a considerable element of Socially Minded Theatre.

This thesis examines social and judicial attitudes towards sexual violence in Scotland between November 1918 and December 1930. Based on a survey of over 700 sexual violence cases prosecuted at the High Court of Justiciary, it addresses three key research questions: who committed sexual violence against whom; what were the spatial and social geographies of these crimes, and how did the judiciary respond? The records suggest that sexual violence was committed by working-class males against women and children of their own class, and that while incest involved mainly pubertal victims, rape was a crime prosecuted equally against minors and adult females. The thesis explores reasons for this difference including the ability of the victim to report an assault. The absence of either middle-class perpetrators or victims from the records may reveal a lack of cross-class transgressions as well as different prosecuting practices for middle-class males. It also argues that the preponderance of prosecutions in Glasgow compared to Scotland's other urban centres and rural areas cannot be explained by contemporaries' correlation of domestic over-crowding with sexual violence. Finally, Scots Law and its reliance on nine regional procurators fiscal operating under a single legal code may have limited the scope for personal decision-making and ‘sifting' of cases. However, once convinced of corroborated, compelling and competent evidence, procurators fiscal could proceed with cases, that often ran contrary to higher legal or forensic opinion. Once in court, analysis of jury gender composition, victim's age, degree of association with the accused and notions of consent suggest that verdicts were evidence-based with class biases largely absent, although sentencing could be erratic. It is acknowledged that the ‘dark number' of unreported and reported-but-unprosecuted crimes may not follow similar trends, but the prosecuted cases analysed in this thesis may offer insights into these unquantifiable, invisible crimes.

Since Cain killed Abel with a rock to the skull, brain injury, violence, and anti-social behaviour have been entangled. This thesis attempts to disentangle them. Chapter One systematically reviews the clinical outcomes of non-fatal strangulation in domestic and sexual violence. 27 studies met inclusion criteria. Together they evidence potentially severe medical consequences: loss of consciousness, seizures, motor and speech disorders. Psychological outcomes include suicidality, dissociation, and PTSD. There was less evidence for cognitive and behavioural sequelae, but memory deficits and compliance were reported. We propose further research, using standardised neuropsychological assessment to build cognitive and behavioural profiles. We also discuss broader implications: the ‘rough sex’ defence, issues of consent, and chokeholds within mixed martial arts. Chapter Two explores the temporal sequencing of childhood brain injury and anti-social behaviour, using prospective sampling. We hypothesised that brain injury would come first and, controlling for confounds, causation could be inferred. 476 members of the Millennium Cohort Study (CLS, 2019) have had accidents resulting in loss of consciousness; we compare them to 3,964 children with orthopaedic injuries. Using interrupted time series regression, we explore post-injury changes to behavioural trajectories, measured by the SDQ (Goodman, 2001). Modelling did not demonstrate any significant alteration in the short or long term, and thus we could not infer causation. Moreover, there was neither a significant effect of age at injury, nor a dose response. We discuss study limitations which may have obscured effects, but highlight the difference made by using prospective sampling, and injured control groups, in a field used to clinical samples, cross-sectional analysis, and retrospective report. The final chapter suggests theoretical development for both papers, further research, and clinical implications, before concluding with personal reflections on the research process.

Cervical cancer (CC) is the fourth most common cancer in women worldwide. The most effective strategy for detecting, and therefore treating it, is through CS, which can detect potentially cancerous cells. Despite the effectiveness of CS, the current attendance rates are declining. Organised screening programmes encourage CS attendance by reducing some extrinsic barriers such as cost and a lack of health insurance. To continue to reduce mortality rates from CC, understanding intrinsic barriers that can be targeted through interventions is likely to be most beneficial. An SR was conducted on quantitative studies exploring the relationship between psychological variables, and intention to and actual attendance (uptake) of CS in countries with organised screening programmes. For the empirical paper (EP), a study was conducted to identify psychological factors related to CS uptake in women who have experienced sexual assault. Women who have experienced sexual assault have lower levels of CS uptake than the general population. One explanation is fears around CS triggering traumatic memories due to similarities between the two experiences, such as insertion of the vaginal speculum. At present, no theory-driven literature exists to facilitate understanding as to why women do or do not attend their CS following an experience of sexual assault. The Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) is a health behaviour model which has previously been applied to inform interventions to increase CS uptake. The model includes three types of self-efficacy, which facilitates understanding of the relationship between intention and on going attendance to health-promoting behaviours. The current study aimed to explore whether the HAPA could explain CS uptake in women who have experienced sexual assault, over and above other potentially confounding variables, which relate to CS uptake. The study also aimed to explore whether trauma variables (severity of trauma symptoms, nature of trauma and age trauma occurred at) explain CS uptake better than HAPA variables. The findings indicate that variables in the HAPA model can help explain intention and attendance of CS in women who have experienced sexual assault. Findings were generally consistent with previous research, however risk perception did not explain intention, and recovery self-efficacy did not explain attendance. These may be due to possible interactions of these variables with trauma variables. Interestingly, trauma variables did not offer a significant contribution to understanding CS. The relationship between trauma symptoms on CS uptake was suggested to be due to the association of self-efficacy with both of these variables. Maintenance and task self-efficacy both predicted intention and attendance. This suggests that for women who have experienced sexual assault, the belief and confidence in their ability to continually attend their CS, even when faced with challenges, is the best predictor of CS uptake. This implies that helping women believe they can successfully attend on going CS, is likely to lead to increased CS uptake. Overall, it can be concluded that CS uptake is related more to self-efficacy, than to the details of the sexual trauma (age and nature) and level of trauma symptoms. This offers a strong argument for the importance of self-efficacy for understanding CS uptake in women with a history of sexual assault, indicating that women can experience trauma symptoms and attend their CS, if they have high self-belief in their abilities.

One-fifth of women in the United States report at least one lifetime experience of rape (Black et al., 2011; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014; Smith et al., 2018). Sexual assault (SA)is a common experience among cisgender women college students, with 20% reporting experiencing a rape during their time in college (Cullen et al., 2000). Universities generally have resources designed to help survivors of SA, though research suggests many of these resources are underutilized by survivors. The current study was guided by social constructivism and used a transcendental phenomenology approach to explore six queer, female participants’ decision-making processes about utilizing campus resources for support following SA. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six participants from multiple universities until information richness was met to develop an understanding of ways in which participants found their universities to be helpful and unhelpful in providing support for disclosing sexuality and SA survivorship to formal campus resources. Data analysis resulted in the generation of five themes: a) Questioning Belonging and Safety on Campus, b) Use of Formal Resources is Dependent on Trust, Reliability, and Past Experiences, c) Stigma and Hurtful Disclosure Reactions Negatively Impact SA Survivors, d) Heteronormativity Complicates Healing from SA for Queer SA Survivors, and e) Supportive Reactions and Community After SA Disclosure Lead to Connection and Healing. Findings from this study can be used to help inform and provide recommendations to universities to better support queer female students who have experienced SA and choose to seek campus resources.

Evidence suggests that few women disclose, seek help or report their experiences of rape or sexual assault (RSA) to police, which may leave them vulnerable to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). However, some women may disclose and seek help or support anonymously online. Through conducting a thematic analysis of 212 messages posted by women in an online RSA support forum, I identified two key themes relating to women’s possible motivation for using the forum: to seek validation as a victim of RSA and for others to bear witness to her story. Themes relating to the possible functions of the forum were serving as a jury, assigning blame, encouraging disclosure or help-seeking, and providing emotional support. These findings suggest that women whose experiences of RSA do not match stereotypical depictions may use online forums to anonymously seek out validation that their experiences qualify as RSA. Moreover, the findings suggest that online platforms may provide women with a safe and supportive environment in which to develop a coherent narrative of their experiences of RSA, which in turn may assist some women’s recovery from the trauma of RSA. Future research might explore if NHS online support or psychological interventions are therapeutic for this population.

There has been a plethora of research studies conducted on the staggering statistics surrounding military sexual trauma (MST) and how the armed forces have systematically failed to provide appropriate protections for women who experience military sexual assault (MSA). However, firsthand experiences from active-duty women who experienced MSA and the possible secondary trauma they experienced have very little documentation besides that from a quantitative research point of view. Studies surrounding survivors’ personal experiences are even more limited. Within this body of research, a phenomenological approach is used to describe the contextual and perceptual experiences surrounding active-duty women who are survivors of MSA. The literature review is examined through a feminist theoretical perspective to determine social, cultural, and systemic complexities within military structures and how survivors can be empowered, validated, and supported while continuing to serve their country.

The current study evaluated the associations between pre-assault factors, assault characteristics, and multiple sexual assault medical forensic exams (SAMFEs) on emergency department visits one-year post-SAMFE. Characteristics associated with individuals who frequent the emergency department at higher rates have been well established; however, factors associated with greater emergency department visits following a recent sexual assault (SA) are largely unknown. The current study included a medical record review of 123 individuals who received a SAMFE at a hospital in the southeastern United States. Demographic variables, characteristics of the SA, pre-SA diagnoses, frequency of SAMFEs, and post-SAMFE emergency department visits were examined. Results indicated that alcohol or drug use during an assault was associated with fewer emergency department visits post-SAMFE. Substance use and injury disorders pre-SAMFE were positively associated with post-SAMFE emergency department visits. Findings provide important insight for prevention strategies to target mental and physical health concerns after recent SA to mitigate risk trajectories.

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to describe active duty and military veterans’ experiences with intimate partner relationships after a sexually traumatic event. The theory guiding this study is attachment theory. Therapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), cognitive processing therapy (CPT), and eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), demonstrate they could help victims of military sexual trauma (MST) minimize the suffering of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depressive disorder (MDD), substance use disorder (SUD), and a host of other debilitating diseases that may have developed as the result of their MST, which could cause difficulties in their intimate partner relationships. Interviewing each participant, this study collected the stories of active-duty service members and veterans who have experienced an MST. MST can come in many forms, but this study focused on service members who have experienced sexual harassment (SH) or sexual assault (SA). SH and SA can be experienced by everyone, but this study focused on heterosexual service members. Those interviews, once analyzed using narrative and grounded theory analytics to articulate the similarities, outlined what similarities each person experienced, if they have received treatment, and which treatment was the most effective. How has the military sexual traumatic event you experienced impacted your intimate partner sexual relationship is what this study set out to answer.

From high heels, hairspray, and lit cigarettes to personal alarms and location-tracking apps, self-defense has been the primary discourse to which universities have turned to respond to the problem of sexual violence on campus. In this thesis, I document and contextualize the use of self-defense rhetoric at The Ohio State University (OSU) by both students and OSU itself. I contextualize the use of self-defense rhetoric by situating it within the history of anti-rape activism present at The Ohio State University (OSU) from 1970s – 2023. I turn to various archives at OSU to demonstrate how the institutionalization of feminist politics and prioritization of individual responsibility has minimized attention to institutional structures of power and complicities. An intersectional feminist analysis of institutional archives not only reveals how gender and race structure self-defense discourse but highlights the limits of neoliberal, carceral and moral frameworks in combating sexual violence on campus then and now.

This thesis examines the correlation between societal equality and the prevalence of sexual assault, comparing data from Greece and Sweden - two nations with starkly different positions on the European Gender Equality Index. The research maintains that societal equality and equality laws do not inherently create a society devoid of sexual assault. There is a significant correlation found where increased equality leads to more reported incidents of sexual assault. However, the central argument remains that gender equality doesn't directly shield against these types of violations. Additionally, the thesis explores how a patriarchal society influences victims' hesitation to report instances of sexual assault and rape. The second part of the thesis explores the factors contributing to the underreporting of sexual assault in Greece. It presents an analysis of the widespread patriarchal norms and attitudes that disable the reporting of sexual violence. Thus, the final part explores a different solution to address the problem: the formation of strong female alliances to combat sexual violence, inspired by our evolutionary relatives, the Bonobos. The research culminates with the proposal of a protective app, which will enable women to unite in the combat against sexual violence

A large portion of women will experience sexual violence in their lives. As many as one in four women report having experienced sexual assault, and there are some who believe that the true number of sexual assault survivors is much higher. Women who are sexually assaulted experience a wide range of emotional, physical, and sexual symptoms related to the trauma. The psychological impacts of sexual violence, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety have been studied and treatments developed. The sexual functioning of sexual assault survivors, however, has not been as thoroughly studied. One relatively new area of study is sexual shame. There has been a link found between sexual shame and sexual functioning in women who experienced sexual violence in childhood. There had not been any studies done to determine if the same is true for women who first experienced sexual violence in adulthood, after they became sexually active and therefore had a developed level of sexual functioning before the assault occurred. The current study sought to fill in this gap in knowledge. The study examined if the same relationship existed between sexual shame and sexual functioning in adult women sexual assault survivors, between the ages of 18 and 50, who did not experience their first sexual assault until after they became sexually active. The researcher found that there was a correlation between multiple aspects of sexual functioning and sexual shame, although not all components were positively correlated.

With the advancement of the feminist movement, our society typically views the experience of sexual trauma as a female issue. The male perpetrator–female victim dyad is the most academically researched and socially recognized experience of sexual trauma. The continued focus on that dyad leaves the male experience of sexual trauma underrepresented in scholarly literature and socially misunderstood. When seeking post-trauma clinical treatment & social support, the shame and stigma associated with male rape myths may represent significant barriers. These barriers leave male survivors to exercise autonomy in finding effective means of identity reformation and coping. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the use of tattoos as mechanisms for identity restoration and coping among male survivors of sexual trauma. The study used Deci and Ryan’s Self-determination Theory (SDT) as its theoretical framework. Self-determination therory addresses motivation. Under SDT, motivation is either autonomous or controlled. This study focused on autonomous motivation. Specifically, the study explored tattoo acquisition as an autonomous act to promote self-healing among male survivors of sexual trauma.

Sexual assault, a form of gender-based violence, exists in a patriarchal culture upheld by harmful beliefs and actions, such as rape myths, victim blaming, and violence (Liss et al., 2019). Sexual assault remains a pervasive issue on college campuses (Cantor et al., 2015;Testa et al., 2010) and is also severely underreported (DeKeseredy, 2021). College women who experience sexual assault may be blamed, not taken seriously, or even prosecuted. Experiences of sexual assault have been tied to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD; Arata & Burkhart, 1996; Burgess & Holmstrom) as well as growth (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004). One goal of this study was to better understand the mechanisms that underlie the development of PTSD symptoms and PTG in college women who have experienced sexual victimization. Another goal of this study was to examine the potential buffering roles of personal empowerment and institutional courage in this process. The current study tested conditional mediation models examining experiences of sexual assault as the predictor, PTSD and PTG as the outcomes, post traumatic cognitions and shame as the mediators, and personal empowerment and institutional as moderators in the relationship between shame and both psychological outcomes.A total of 212 college women participated in the current study. Results indicated several significant bivariate correlations: experiences of sexual victimization was significantly and positively related to post traumatic cognitions, shame, PTSD symptomology, and PTG. Post traumatic cognitions were positively related to shame, and shame was positively related to PTSD symptomology. PTG was not significantly related to post traumatic cognitions or trauma related shame. The final supported model using PTSD symptomology as an outcome was a serial mediation model: the relationship between sexual victimization and PTSD symptoms was partially explained by post traumatic cognitions and shame. The final supported model using PTG as an outcome included a serial mediation of experiences of sexual victimization on PTG through post traumatic cognitions and shame, personal empowerment moderating the relationship between shame and PTG; however, the conditional mediation was not significant. Implications are discussed for future research, therapeutic and systemic interventions, and theory in examining the impact of sexual victimization on college women.

One of the most visible pop culture discussions about the relationship between comedy and sexual violence is the construct of the rape joke, a discourse of power and gender that—to use a phrase plucked from stand-up comic Cameron Esposito’s special on this topic—gets in the way of fully understanding how feminism shapes comedy, and obscures novel ways that women speak about their lives. This dissertation builds upon a definition, advanced by Nicola Gavey and Jane Ward, of sexual violence as ingrained within the practices of heterosexuality and develops a feminist ethical framework I call “walking together” to explore rape jokes in women’s stand-up specials, albums, and joke books that sit outside the boundaries of typical rape joke discourse. I examine Phyllis Diller’s books about housework and marriage in the white midcentury American middle-class home as an example of subtle, sneakily feminist, possibly liberating comedy about sexual violence, while my analysis of Iliza Shlesinger’s self-declared feminist stand-up comedy specials finds damaging rape myths. Further, using Sienkiewicz and Marx’s theory of the interconnected right-wing comedy complex, I question whether Shlesinger’s comedy might serve a possible point of entry into political conservatism for white women who are open to something that sounds like popular feminism. Finally, I dissect the common comedy metaphor of punching up and punching down that is so often used to analyze the ethics of a joke and, working instead from comedy about sexual assault and sexual coercion by Wanda Sykes, Cameron Esposito, and Natalie Palamides, I offer shadowboxing as an alternative way to view what comedy is and what it can do.

Sexual assault is a public health crisis on college campuses. On average, one in five female undergraduates will experience sexual assault while in college. Students with disabilities (SWDs) are at a much greater risk for sexual assault. Using SPSS statistics, the project aimed to examine the prevalence of sexual assault in SWDs and how alcohol, a known cofactor for abuse, affects the likelihood of victimization. Data came from the on-campus Student Health Survey of a medium-sized university. The data showed that SWDs were twice as likely to experience sexual assault compared to students without disabilities. Both men and women with disabilities were more likely to experience sexual assault and more severe sexual assault than individuals without disabilities. SWDs also had more problems associated with alcohol and higher motivation to drink than students without disabilities. SWDs are experiencing a public health crisis in which they are not on the radar of their universities or college campuses. They need to receive more support than what they are currently getting. Future research should evaluate preexisting methods of sexual assault awareness and education to see how these resources could better serve this demographic.

Previous research examined the effect of victim gender and rape myth acceptance (RMA) on perceptions of victim credibility; however, little attention has been given to the impact of victim race and mental health history, and even fewer studies have explored the intersection of these two identities. The primary purpose of the current study was to identify factors affecting understanding of perceived credibility of victims of sexual assault, specifically in terms of victim race and mental health history. The study also examined the role of RMA on perceptions of credibility and explored participant attitudes related to color-blind racial attitudes and mental illness stigma, as well as religiousness and rurality. 689 college students participated in an anonymous online study in which they (1) read and evaluated a fictional news article describing testimony of woman who had been sexual assaulted and (2) completed questionnaires related to RMA, color-blind racial attitudes, mental illness stigma, religiousness, and rurality. Only 199 participants demonstrated sufficient effort in the first section (vignette), but 545 demonstrated sufficient effort in the second (questionnaires). A planned 2 (Victim Race: Black, White) x 3 [Victim Diagnosis: Asthma (Control), Depression, Schizophrenia] between-subjects ANOVA was conducted and revealed no significant effects on perceived victim credibility. Another planned 2 (Victim Race) x 3 (Victim Diagnosis) x 3 (Participant RMA: Low vs. High) between-subjects ANOVA was conducted and showed that participants with high RMA perceived the victim as less credible compared to participants with low RMA. Victim race and diagnosis were again not significant. Both analyses were limited by the large volume of insufficient effort leading to greater-than-expected exclusions. Several exploratory analyses were conducted, including comparing participants who grew up in rural and non-rural areas on self-reported RMA, color-blind racial attitudes, ableist attitudes, and religiousness. No differences were found. Correlations revealed RMA, racist attitudes, and ableist attitudes significantly positively correlated, and religiousness positively correlated with RMA and racist attitudes, but not ableist attitudes. These findings and others are discussed. Understanding factors contributing to victim credibility may help clinicians and educators create effective interventions, particularly for survivors from marginalized communities.

The investigative interview forms the evidential pillar in cases of adult sexual assault. Yet, the police have been criticised for undermining the strength of evidence in these cases and re-victimising complainants. Broader research suggests that this may be because the Cognitive Interview (CI) – the major framework used by police to interview adults including those alleging sexual assault – does not align entirely with the characteristics of sexual assault cases. To address these criticisms, I adapted a child interviewing framework for use with adult complainants of sexual assault. I did so by adopting a multistage mixed-method approach. Stage one identified components in the CI that are (or are not) meeting the needs of stakeholders (i.e., investigators, prosecutors, and victims) and considered how frameworks used with children may be applied with adults. The latter question was guided by studies showing that child interviewing researchers have successfully found ways to enhance the evidential quality of children’s accounts whilst tending to their emotional needs. Stage two experimentally tested the utility of discrete elements of the child interviewing framework identified as holding promise with adults and compared the two frameworks in the laboratory prior to future implementation of the new framework in field settings. [...]

This paper examines the influence of key sociopolitical and cultural variables, and how they impact rape laws using a comparison of two countries, having different ethnic backgrounds, strong religious and cultural values, and abortion rights, but different rape laws. A review of current literature, journals, interviews, surveys, conferences, and current laws was undertaken to identify which variables can be used to implement change on an international scale to better protect women from rape. The argument brought within this paper is that the most influential, and often overlooked, aspects of a state which affect its laws, specific to rape, and affect the rate of rape within a state, are the political and institutional influences, domestic and international, on a state. It is my recommendation, that more effort is put into researching the ways in which institutions exert influence in state governments.

Policy makers are tasked with changing laws and improving systemic processes in response to evolving moral standards. As societal outrage grew regarding sexual assault in the military, those in power sought to balance what was perceived as a system that ignored, retaliated against, or unfairly burdened victims. However, as the pendulum swung toward victims’ rights and privileges, those accused of this crime inherited the burden of an imbalanced system. In the military context, the experience of the accused is impacted by the lack of separation between functional domains of life (e.g., work, home, community), multiple roles of military commanders (e.g., providing supervision and support as well as being a decision authority for prosecution), and problematic mandatory training that has included misinformation and may have biased court members. Researchers have not previously studied the experience of a court-martial, nor considered the far-reaching impact of the experiences that precede and follow acquittal. The purpose of this study was to explore the psychological and functional consequences for military members that were accused and acquitted of sexual assault through the court-martial process. Analysis was qualitative with a phenomenological approach to identify common themes and more broadly, the essence at the core of the experience. I found that this experience significantly impacted participants while it was happening and in the time since acquittal. Using themes identified by Brooks and Greenberg (2020) with regard to experiencing a false accusation, I determined that most identified themes were salient to the experience of acquitted service members (e.g., loss of identity, stigma, psychological and physical health, relationships with others, attitudes toward the justice system, impact on finances and employment, and adjustment difficulties). I offer recommendations to mitigate these negative effects. With this information, policymakers and military leaders can more effectively consider the unintended effects of well-intentioned systemic change on those accused of sexual assault in the military.

Defendants are convicted of sexual offences at lower rates than for other types of violent crime. Prior research has implicated attitudinal contributors to this “justice gap” amongst the jury-eligible population, including rape myth acceptance (RMA), and misconceptions about the availability and conclusiveness of medical and forensic evidence to support a complainant’s allegations. The present research hypothesised that further contributors were common legal misunderstandings of the standard “beyond reasonable doubt” (BRD), and jurors’ beliefs that certain types of evidence are required in order to convict. A series of five online studies with 1,434 mock-jurors from English-speaking, common-law jurisdictions examined the contributions of RMA and legal and evidentiary misconceptions to juror decision-making. In Study 1 an original survey measure, the Legal Misconceptions Questionnaire (LMQ), was validated and pilot tested with a sample of 324 MTurk workers. Several common legal areas of legal misconception in the lay population were identified, including overly-lax and overly-stringent BRD thresholds. Study 2 provided a manipulation check of the trial stimulus materials and potential order effects using a 3x3 between-participants factorial design with 325 MTurk workers. Study 3 used 3x2 and 2x2 between-participants factorial designs to investigate the effects of type of complainant injury (none, physical injury, or sexual injury), and legal and evidentiary misconceptions upon the verdicts of 407 mock-jurors sourced from Prolific, and their perceptions of the complainant and evidence in different types of criminal trials (adult sexual assault, child sexual assault, and robbery). In Study 3, the presence, but not type, of injury increased mock-jurors’ ratings of complainant credibility. Mock-jurors who endorsed more legal misconceptions and held greater expectations of forensic evidence, rated the trial evidence as weaker and were more likely to acquit the defendant. Study 4 used a within-participants design to examine the impact of attitudinal variables including RMA, ambivalent sexism, and pre-trial bias upon the decisions of 136 Prolific workers in a sexual assault trial. Lower thresholds for BRD were positively associated with convictions for sexual assault. Hostile sexism predicted lower perceived credibility ratings of the complainant and benevolent sexism predicted greater perceived credibility. RMA was not significantly associated with any measured outcomes, perhaps due to sample characteristics and methodological features of the study. Study 5 used a between-participants design which compared the effects of three different formulations of the BRD standard upon mock-jurors’ verdicts (n = 242 Prolific workers) in a simulated sexual assault trial. Variations in BRD formulation exerted no significant effects upon mock-jurors’ verdicts, their thresholds for conviction, or the accuracy of their understanding of the BRD standard. Open-ended responses stating the reasons for the verdict from three studies were subjected to a thematic analysis revealing that both acquitting and convicting jurors utilised a combination of heuristic and systematic processing in which they variously endorsed and rejected rape myths, evidentiary and legal misconceptions. Robust support was found for mock-jurors’ use of coherence-based reasoning when considering verdict options. Overall, findings indicated that misconceptions about evidence and the law, particularly dissatisfaction with a complainant’s oral testimony, and the erroneous belief that BRD mandates total certainty, are contributors to the low conviction rates in sexual assault cases. Unexpectedly, a concurrent risk of unsafe convictions emerged with reversals of the onus of proof by up to one-third of mock-jurors. Jurors may require educative intervention (such as additional judicial instructions, expert evidence, or explanations by counsel) to counter prevalent misunderstandings not only about the nature of sexual assault, but evidentiary and legal issues which are relevant in all criminal trials.

This dissertation explores the newly theorized concept of “sexualized aggression” in U.S. college women’s social drinking spaces (e.g., parties, bars, clubs). I developed the concept of sexualized aggression to refer to understudied and overlooked forms of sexual assault and aggression—more specifically, sexual assault that happens in the absence of aggression and forms of sexual aggression that are not followed by assault. Drawing on data from my four-year, mixed methods study of sexualized aggression with University of Michigan undergraduate women (N = 456), I frame sexualized aggression as a form of “everyday” sexual violence that is normalized and impacts young women’s movements, imaginations, and beliefs about themselves and the world they live in. In Chapter 1, I situate this dissertation and sexualized aggression as a phenomenon within the sexual violence literature, with a particular focus on popular approaches to conceptualizing and measuring sexual assault and harassment among women. Furthermore, I describe the origin and parameters of the longitudinal study that informs this dissertation. In Chapter 2, I analyze data from students’ survey data from the start and end of the study (i.e., data from Fall 2018 and Fall 2021) to interrogate changes in social behavior as a response to sexualized aggression. Approximately 38% of participants at Time 1 (N = 319) and 23% of participants at Time 2 (N = 232) indicated that exposure to sexualized aggression affected their behavior in at least one way (e.g., avoiding fraternity parties). I provide descriptive information about how women modified their behavior in response to sexualized aggression and analyze a total of 208 open-ended responses across both time points. I conclude that young women are engaging in immense labor to avoid, prevent, and cope with sexualized aggression in drinking settings and beyond. In Chapter 3, I seek to understand how undergraduate women make sense of sexualized aggression at the start and end of their college careers. I present findings from a reflexive thematic analysis of interview data from the first and fourth years of the longitudinal study, specifically drawing on responses to the question, “Why do you think these sorts of things [sexualized aggression] happen in parties, bars, and places like that?” I determine that young women draw on theories regarding initiators’ attributes, community and environment norms, and cisheteronormative expectations at a societal level to understand everyday sexual violence. In Chapter 4, I utilize data from the end of the first, second, and third years of the longitudinal study to examine the downstream effects of accepting and experiencing sexualized aggression. I test a model wherein accepting and experiencing sexualized aggression predict personal, then global, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors concerning assault, gender, and sex. Results indicate that accepting sexualized aggression prompts young women to lean into inequitable and harmful ideas about heterosexual intimacy and violence. Further, results support a positive relationship between experiences of sexualized aggression and (solo) sexual assertiveness, which may be reflective of the pressure placed on women to prevent sexual violence through agentic behavior. In Chapter 5, I integrate and expand on the findings of the three studies presented in Chapters 2-4. Finally, I reflect on the insights and challenges of research on sexualized aggression, and I propose several future directions for the research.

By evaluating the case recommendations following a preliminary hearing from military sexual assault cases from fiscal years 2016-2018, this study aims to assess whether or not extralegal factors are influencing decisions of case recommendations of assigned convening authorities. Using secondary data from the Department of Defense’s annual reports on sexual assault in the United States military (n=5,171), this study aims to answer the following questions: Do extralegal factors contribute to convening authorities’ recommendations following Article 32 hearings? If so, what extralegal factors contribute to convening authority's decision on non-judicial hearing recommendations? The results of the following analyses identified several extralegal variables that significantly impacted Article 32 case recommendations, including victim and offender characteristics, such as branch of service, pay grade, and gender. By recognizing and resolving any extralegal bias factors, the military can implement even more changes to protect the victims of such crimes. Each factor evaluated showed bias in one, some, or all case recommendations.

Previous research examined the effects of victim gender, perpetrator gender, and rape myth acceptance on victim blaming attribution; however, fewer studies explore victim and perpetrator gender at the same time, and even fewer studies examined the relevance of factors like timing of reporting (immediate or delayed) or rurality. The primary purpose of the study, therefore, was to explore the effect of victim gender, perpetrator gender, and report timing (same day vs. six months later) on victim blaming attributions. The study also examined the role of rape myth acceptance on victim blame and compared levels of rape myth acceptance across participant rurality. The current study recruited 803 undergraduate college students for an anonymous online study involving an evaluation of a short scenario describing a sexual assault. The variables manipulated in the scenarios were victim gender (man or woman), perpetrator gender (man or woman), and timing of victim's report to the police (same night or six months later). Participants completed questionnaires related to rape myth acceptance and demographics, including rural residence. A between-subjects ANOVA revealed a trend toward significance of blame toward male victims and an interaction between victim gender and timing of report on participants' ratings of victim blame. A follow-up ANOVA was used to examine the main and interaction effects between victim gender, perpetrator gender, and report timing on ratings of victim blame again, but adding two categorical variables (high/low female and male rape myth acceptance). Results showed significant main effects of both female and male rape myth acceptance on ratings of victim blame. Additional analyses revealed higher acceptance of female and male rape myths among men compared to women and no difference in rape myth acceptance across participant rurality. Supplemental findings showed high rates of experiencing sexual assault and very low rates of reporting sexual assault among study participants. These findings and others are discussed. Being able to understand factors contributing to victim blame may help clinicians and educators create effective interventions.

Over the past decade, the Australian university sector and regulatory bodies have implemented a range of actions to improve the management and prevention of sexual assault and sexual harassment in Australian university settings. Despite these concerted efforts, little progress has been made in reducing campus sexual violence or in achieving institutional accountability. To date, research on campus sexual violence in Australia has focused on the experiences of students and staff (such as prevalence surveys and the impact of sexual violence on educational outcomes) or institutional responses (such as policy frameworks, reporting mechanisms and support services). This dissertation offers a new perspective by taking a system-wide structural approach to consider the entire regulatory community. Through the lens of theories of responsive and smart regulation, this thesis critically examines the regulatory initiatives adopted by various actors during the period 2011-2021. Addressing a gap in the literature, I offer an analysis of how regulatory theory does not adequately explain the vital role of civil society activists in creating momentum and initiating reform in this area. Drawing on legislative reviews, analysis of primary documents and 24 interviews with representatives drawn from across the regulatory community, the dissertation reveals how a lack of political will and the absence of even a latent threat of genuine enforceable institutional accountability – a ‘benign big gun’ in responsive regulatory theory – has undermined regulatory efforts across the whole sector. This dissertation also identifies the role that regulatory ritualism has played in stymying systemic change to respond to and prevent sexual violence in the Australian university sector, extending the existing literature by proposing two new applications of regulatory ritualism, language ritualism and announcement ritualism, and providing examples of where this has occurred. This dissertation argues that substantive progress in tackling sexual assault and sexual harassment in Australian university settings has stalled due to an over-reliance on the self-regulating university sector to lead the reform effort, the failure of enforced self-regulation models led by regulatory agencies, the indifference of governments and sector-wide regulatory ritualism which has seen institutions adopt tokenistic rather than substantive responses. To address these factors and improve institutional accountability, I argue that genuine systemic reform will require political leadership, more robust application of existing legislative and regulatory tools towards effective enforcement, and innovative exploration of other legal and regulatory approaches.

My dissertation is a case study of the county-level education system in the Mao era from 1949 to 1976. My dissertation initiates with the investigation into the financial feasibility of Mao era’s expansion in education. To illuminate this issue, my research examines the county-level fiscal system. Exploring the county-level fiscal system in the political and social context distinguishes my dissertation from the existing scholarship. The overarching argument of the whole dissertation is that the education expansion, the state’s heavy extraction, and political campaigns formed a mutually beneficial triad, which exacerbated both the urban-rural divide and gender inequality. This overarching argument consists of two sub-arguments: the first sub-argument, elaborated in chapters 1 and 2, argues that education expansion, intensive extraction, and political campaigns not only coexisted but also benefited each other. The other sub-argument, presented in chapter 3 and 4, contends that this mutually beneficial relationship intensified the urban-rural divide and amplified gender inequality. Chapter 3 focuses on the reappearance of traditional private schools in rural areas during the early 1960s, a phenomenon resulting from the state's abandonment of villages. Chapter 4 investigates 99 sexual assault cases in elementary schools in one county during the Mao era. In the 99 cases, 99 elementary school teachers sexually assaulted at least 331 students. The chapter argues that the punishment for sexual assault in elementary schools was highly politicized, which was not necessarily bad for victims, but could separate their sufferings from the sentencing process. The politicization not only means coincidence with the campaigns, but also a close relationship between the punishments and political campaigns. My field work on the urban-rural divide and the research on the sexual assault throughout the Mao era fill out the blanks in the existing scholarship. Chapter 5 examines how political campaigns, resource extraction, education policies, the urban-rural divide, gender, and other local factors influenced the personal experiences of minban teachers.

Bystander intervention programs aim to reduce the acceptance of violence against women by fostering prosocial behavior from community members, and often provide knowledge on behaviors associated with sexual risk and ways a bystander can intervene. However, there is limited knowledge on which intervention strategies are used, and how these interventions impact perpetrator behavior and incidence of verbal and physical harm to those involved. There is even less research on these phenomena from the perspective of the victim. To address these gaps, the current study utilized a qualitative approach to (1) identify bystander intervention strategies employed; (2) discuss trends of the presence of certain strategies as it relates to the perpetrator’s behavior being unchanged, paused, or stopped towards the victim at the event-level; and (3) examine general trends between the presence of strategies and verbal and physical harm from the perspective of the victimized individual. Adult women between the ages of 18 to 30 (N = 25, college student = 80%) were interviewed about their experiences of bystander intervention during an unwanted sexual interaction since the age of 16 years old. Results suggested that: (1) distance, direct, distract, delegate, and proximity strategies were identified by victims of sexual harassment and assault; (2) distance or direct strategies were most frequently present when the perpetrator’s behavior was stopped towards the victim at the event-level; (3) the incidence rate of verbal and physical harm, though low, occurred more frequently when a direct or distance strategy was involved. Because distance and direct strategies most frequently mentioned overall in the stories, further research is needed to disentangle whether these strategies are more effective at thwarting sexual assault or related to harms than other strategies or just employed more often. Future research should attempt to replicate and extend the present findings in a larger and more diverse sample.

Abstract: The majority of sexual assault incidents in Canada are committed against women and girls. Among the many injurious sequelae survivors can experience post-sexual assault are sexual problems. Sexual concerns related to desire, arousal, pain, orgasm and/or sexual well-being can last for years after the assault. Given the strong association between sexual well-being and both mental and physical health, it is crucial to understand how women effectively cope with sexual concerns stemming from sexual assault. Although self-compassion has been studied as a positive way of coping with other forms of trauma, no study to date has examined self-compassion’s role in addressing the needs of female sexual assault survivors, specific to sexual issues. Thus, this study explored women’s experiences of self-compassion in coping with sexual problems following a sexual assault. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used to explore in detail how female survivors made sense of their world and the meanings these experiences held for them. Data were collected from 10 women across Canada in the form of semi-structured interviews held either in person or over the phone. Data analysis revealed eight themes: (a) honouring time, (b) quieting the inner critic, (c) connecting with social supports, (d) countering societal messages, (e) asserting personal boundaries and taking control, (f) engaging in regular self-care, (g) rebuilding a relationship with one’s body, and (h) persevering through emotional challenges. Clinical implications, limitations, and direction for future research are also discussed.

This thesis constructs a history of the changing role of survivors’ narratives in anti-sexual violence zines from the 1990s to the early 2020s. I argue that zines are a window to the changing politics of the American anti-sexual violence movement. Through this lens, I find that the role of survivors’ narratives in zines has complexly changed and ultimately diminished over time. I examine how and posit why this change occurred in zines and the anti-sexual violence movement. Among other reasons, I find that both have followed the traditional arc of social movements, which chronologically involves emergence, coalescence, institutionalization, and decline. There are complicated consequences of zines’ transition from helping survivors heal to providing impersonal education and the paralleled progression of the anti-sexual violence movement. Ultimately, I advise that there must always be space for survivors’ narratives in anti-sexual violence efforts because of their benefits to survivors’ healing and the movement’s progress.

A global culture of sexual violence exists across the world and is found within families, institutions, communities, faiths, and all socioeconomic backgrounds. A sexual violence culture exists when people go to great lengths to protect the perpetrator(s), thus emboldening their actions, and where the media and family silence victims for coming forward with their experience. This cross-cultural analysis between the U.S. and India focuses on the media’s influence on cultural norms—norms that perpetuate sexual violence and silence victims of both child sexual abuse and adult sexual assault. The study seeks to show how this issue has evolved over a 40-year span in the two countries. A structured random sample of articles was extracted from The New York Times and The Times of India between 1980 and 2019 using the keyword phrase, “sexual abuse.” This phrase was found in both newspaper articles across all four decades. A content analysis was then conducted on the selected sample articles. The sample articles included incident reports on specific episodes of sexual abuse as well as feature articles that reported more generally on sexual abuse. Among the incident reports, the average age of victims in both countries was young, just 11 to 17 years. Female victims were reported more than males in both countries. Incident reports were typically presented in reports that focused on the criminal justice system. The feature articles discussed sexual abuse in a broader context across a range of social and cultural themes. Such feature articles in particular could be used to sensitize and educate society to challenge cultures of sexual violence. Unfortunately, the intended audience (perpetrators) and those enabling them most likely are not reading articles about sexual abuse. Thus, the media’s message on sexual abuse needs to be made more relevant to the enablers, and specifically, those who know but do not say anything. Silence and covering up is the biggest part of the cycle besides the actual abuse. In both countries the media’s characterization of sexual abuse often used inappropriate and even harmful terminology. Although both countries may be considered patriarchal, women have more individual freedoms in the U.S. Despite these freedoms, however, the U.S. media, like India, shamed, blamed, and ostracized girls and women for disclosing their experience with sexual abuse. In addition, multiple victims of the same perpetrator were reported in both countries as well as multiple perpetrators involved in the abuse. A sexual abuse perpetrator culture clearly exists in both countries. Societies suffer from their respective media’s failure to challenge misguided notions of sexual abuse. This failure contributes to the perpetuation of cultures of sexual violence that in turn leads to sexual abuse. The findings from this thesis research illuminate the media’s role in perpetuating a culture of sexual violence. These findings also support and emphasize the need for educating journalists on how to challenge cultures of sexual violence. The media needs to improve society’s awareness of and sensitivity to sexual violence, not perpetuate it.

The growing prevalence and severity of both clinical and subclinical eating disorders resulted in the inclusion of a Healthy People 2020 objective aimed at reducing the proportion of individuals who engage in disordered eating behaviors. At the same time, survivors of intimate body trauma (childhood abuse, sexual assault, dating violence, etc.) are coming forward with their own violence narratives at unprecedented rates thanks to global support movements such as #MeToo. Research on the development of disordered eating behaviors after the experience of recurrent intimate body trauma (IBT) over the life course is limited but has been linked in compensatory &/or coping mechanistic ways. This dissertation explored the relationships that may exist between poor body image, a range of maladaptive eating behaviors, comorbid mental health issues, and experiences of IBT over the early life course. This research specifically utilized secondary data analysis from a large, nationally representative sample of U.S. men and womxn followed over 24 years (1994-2018) to expand on the methodology and findings from previous clinical, small-scale studies. Drawing on sociological theories related to cumulative disadvantage, stress proliferation, and toxic socialization this dissertation systematically explored the impact(s) of IBT over the early life course. A sociological understanding of the cumulative impact trauma has on the body is necessary to evaluate who may be at most risk for future revictimization and their associated mental health outcomes. Findings from this dissertation revealed that survivors of recurrent IBT experiences are roughly 2 to 4 times more likely to suffer from a range of mental health issues as compared to those who have not experienced sexual violence. Additionally, according to analysis results, queer IBT survivors are at risk of developing maladaptive mental health outcomes at a rate of 2 to 3 times that of heterosexual survivors. Analysis results also revealed that being a survivor of childhood abuse significantly increased an individual’s likelihood to experience both sexual violence and dating violence in the future. Finally, this dissertation is the first known sociological study to find income to serve as a protective buffer between repeat sexual violence experiences and the development of mental health issues. Findings from this study can be used to substantiate future policy and public health work that aims to better treat and prevent the cyclical nature of body image disturbance, intimate body trauma experiences, mental health issues, and disordered eating.

Sexual assault is highly prevalent on college campuses in the United States (U.S.), such that college students are at high risk for sexual victimization. Furthermore, while the disclosure rates to informal sources are more prevalent, disclosure to formal sources (e.g., legal authorities and university staff) and mental health service use of college students who have experienced sexual assault are low. As such, understanding the factors that either facilitate or hinder disclosure and service-seeking is of critical importance. Research has identified rape myth acceptance (RMA) and acknowledgment of the victimization (i.e., whether the survivor labels their experience as sexual assault) as two factors that shape the likelihood of whether a college survivor will disclose the incident or seek mental health services post-assault. The present study, therefore, focused on two aims: 1) to examine whether levels of RMA and acknowledgment are predictive of disclosing sexual assault and mental health service-seeking behaviors among college student survivors, and 2) to assess the indirect effects of RMA on disclosing the incident or seeking services for the assault via acknowledgment. Results identified RMA and acknowledgment as predictors of disclosure and service-seeking behaviors. Additionally, analyses provided evidence that certain types of rape myths are predictive of the outcomes. Results did not provide supporting evidence for the indirect effect of RMA on disclosure and service-seeking via acknowledgment. Implications for prevention, advocacy, and clinical practice, as well as future directions for research, are provided.

Women who have been physically, psychologically or sexually abused often do not completely process the trauma of their wounds. As a result, some women may display physical and psychological manifestations of their continued trauma. In a contemporary setting that adheres to a dualism that separates mind and body, the symptoms reported by these women are often not associated with their previous trauma. This continued trauma often interferes with the woman’s ability to relate to her family, her community, and her faith. This dissertation names this trauma, “the wounds of women,” and explores the varied manifestations of these wounds. It then uses Scriptural and theological lenses to explore wounds, identity, and the meaning of wounds in resurrected bodies. An examination of theologies of forgiveness provides wounded women, and those called to attend to them, a pathway forward. In the end, an exegesis of the story of the healing of the woman with the hemorrhage in Mark 5:23-34 encourages women to open their wounds to God’s healing grace.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a chronic and disabling disorder that affects a significant proportion of individuals exposed to traumatic events (Liu et al., 2017). Women are more than twice as likely as men to develop PTSD (Koenen et al., 2017). As such, sex-based biological vulnerabilities for the development and maintenance of this disorder warrant further research. Previous research (e.g., Garcia et al., 2018; Li & Graham, 2017) has suggested that one such vulnerability, differences in sex hormone levels, may contribute to the disparity in observed rates of PTSD. However, little research to date has examined the role of hormonal contraceptive (HC) use in the mechanisms underlying the maintenance of PTSD symptoms. To that end, this study examined the relationship of HC use to attentional bias to threat among female survivors of recent (< 12 months) sexual assault between the ages of 18 and 35. Ninety-nine participants recruited via Prolific completed online surveys assessing HC use, lifetime traumatic event exposure, PTSD symptoms, depression and anxiety symptoms, peritraumatic distress, emotion dysregulation, treatment history, reading ability, and demographic information, as well as an online behavioral dot probe task assessing attentional bias to general threat words and sexual assault-related words. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were conducted to examine main effects of and interactions between PTSD symptom severity and HC status on attentional bias to general and sexual assault-related threat words. Across analyses, HC demonstrated a significant positive main effect on attentional bias to sexual assault-related words above and beyond relevant covariates (bs = 14.268 – 14.767, ps = 0.011 – 0.014). HC use demonstrated no significant main effect on attentional bias to general threat words (ps > 0.05). There was no evidence of an interaction effect between HC use and PTSD symptoms across models (ps > 0.05). Results suggest that HC use is positively associated with heightened attentional bias to threat for trauma-related cues among a recently trauma-exposed sample. These findings suggest that individuals who use HC may struggle to habituate to trauma-related stimuli compared to those who do not use HC and have important implications for treatments that use fear extinction learning as a primary mechanism of change in PTSD recovery. Future research in this area may benefit from the examination of sex and stress hormone levels among individuals with PTSD symptoms.

This dissertation examines the important affective labor of diverse feminist activists and sexual assault survivor advocates and contributes a theory of feminist affective resistance. I define feminist affective resistance as the transformative rhetorics and literacy practices feminists employ to challenge dominant pedagogies of emotion while building toward feminist and survivor-centered futures. In Chapter 1, I situate this dissertation within scholarship on affect, feminist rhetorics, and literacies, establishing how feminist scholars and activists have begun to identify and resist social-emotional scripts. In Chapter 2, I constellate a feminist trauma-informed methodology and introduce my participants and methods. I investigate feminist rhetorical strategies and literacy practices through interviews with eleven feminist activists and an ethnographic case study at a rape crisis center where I have volunteered for three years. In Chapter 3, I describe how feminist activists enact digital tactics of feminist affective resistance while making social media work for them. Participants in this study established feminist affective counterpublics online and carefully navigated the affective burdens of their online activism. In Chapter 4, I investigate the feminist rhetorical pedagogies at the Midwest Rape Crisis Organization (MRCO), including five rhetorical tenets that guide advocate interactions with survivors. MRCO rhetorics and pedagogies help survivors and advocates realign away from discourses of rape culture and toward feminist values of the organization. In Chapter 5, I present MRCO as a literacy sponsor that helps advocates affectively attune with survivors and affectively realign away from vicarious trauma. Literacy practices of MRCO advocates include reading to believe, writing to process, and gathering to heal. In Chapter 6, I review four lessons of feminist affective resistance, including the importance of rhetorical affective education. I conclude this dissertation with implications and suggestions for social justice leaders, writing teachers, and researchers.

Sexual assault is prevalent on college campuses all over the world. Male fraternal settings have historically been a source of high levels of sexual violence. In fraternal settings, often times, partying and alcohol use are contributing factors to sexual assault and many studies have examined these issues (Annan, 2009; Banyard et al., 2003; Berkowitz, 2002; Cantalupo, 2010; Flood, 2005; Muehlenhard, 1996; Orchowski, 2013). However, another probable contributing factor to high levels of sexual violence in fraternal organizations is the socialization processes among fraternal men. This study examines the relationship between socialization processes between men, various training approaches on sexual misconduct, and the general treatment of women among fraternity members. The study employed the Male Peer Model as a theoretical framework. The results of this study aligned with different tenets of the Male Peer Model including the connection between sexual misconduct and alcohol consumption, all-male membership, hypermasculinity, absence of deterrence, and group secrecy. The findings uncovered insights that would be useful to training efforts. For example, behaviors towards women are intimately tied to the foundation of fraternity affiliation—that is, relationships among members. Training is effective when it capitalizes on value of relationships among brothers and women in sororities, also the self-image of the fraternity has a significant influence on discourse and behaviors. Treatment of women can be leveraged by highlighting respect as a hallmark and indicator of fraternal reputation. These findings offer insight on fraternities, all-male settings, and informal training which may be leveraged in creating future curriculum in sexual assault prevention efforts.

Troll messages and campaigns are part of contemporary social movements backlash (Khan, 2020). So, this study aims to understand trolling of a contemporary social movement i.e., #MeToo movement. Precisely, this study probes how audiences perceive trolling of #MeToo that they encounter. To respond to this question, I conducted in-depth interviews of 22 research participants whose ages ranged from 22-63. Built on data analysis, three important categories of perceptions of trolling emerged. They are, i) trolling as dialogic- engaging in dialogue and discussion, ii) trolling as discursive closure – used to suppress the voices of victim/survivor and #MeToo movement, and iii) trolling as enigmatic- difficult to understand as sexual assault is a complex situation. The first two categories are contrasting in their views as one is considered valuable while the other is considered detrimental to #MeToo. The third category participants pointed out about the complexities of sexual assault/harassment situations and could not adequately interpret the purpose of trolling. It is also important to note that most of the participants (five out of seven) who viewed ‘trolling as dialogic’ were men. Whereas most of the participants (six out of seven) who viewed ‘trolling as discursive closure’ claimed to be an activist or activist ally. So, based on the first two categories of perceptions of trolling and the dimensions of gender and advocacy that play into these perceptions I argue that trolling is perceived as an inherent part of online interaction informed by power struggle due to conflicting personal, political, or social opinions. This perception of trolling is indicative of polarization of social media and perhaps enables the sectarian animosity on these networking sites. And trolling therefore, can be designated as a political problem of the modern society.

It is estimated that one in five women and one in 71 men have experienced attempted or completed sexual assault (Black et al., 2011), and these numbers might be higher given that only 10% of victims/survivors of sexual assault disclose their assault (U.S. Department of Justice, 2000). With more victims/survivors coming forward, it is important to understand how to best support these victims/survivors as previous research has indicated that a victim’s/survivor’s support system can play a large role in coping (Ullman, 1996). Through interviews and open-ended surveys of couples and individuals, I address this need by examining how non-assaulting, romantic, significant others offer social support to their victim/survivor partner after a disclosure of sexual assault.I argue that social support is a transactional communication process in which both the partner and victim/survivor exchange social support after a sexual assault disclosure. After analyzing the data through a grounded theory approach, I created a model which illustrates two paths in which partners can support victims/survivors, and the paths are predicated on how the partner interprets the victim’s/survivor’s disclosure. The findings of the study indicate that emotional support (e.g., listening, empathizing, offering words of encouragement) was the most common form of social support given to victims/survivors from their partners followed by network support (e.g., connecting victims/survivors with a therapist) and informational support (e.g., giving advice). Additionally, I found that when partners are silent, do not focus on the victim’s/survivor’s emotions and needs, and/or become overly emotional about the disclosure, it can be difficult for victims/survivors to discuss and process their trauma with their partner. In addition to this the model of social support, I offer five best practices and tips for partners who need to provide social support to victims/survivors of sexual assault: 1) recognize your partner’s disclosure as an important moment for them, 2) emotional support is key, 3) reassure your partner, 4) mirror your partner’s emotions, and 5) recognize that support needs will change over time. Together, these five best practices shift the partner’s attention to the victim’s/survivor’s needs and can help the coping process.

This article investigates the news coverage of the Stanford, California 2015 rape case People v. Turner. Pulling from five national and two local daily newspapers, I conducted a qualitative thematic analysis of 96 news articles. I examine three questions: (1) How did journalists frame news articles in relation to the rape victim? (2) How did journalists frame news articles in relation to the rapist? (3) How often do rape myths and stereotypes appear in news articles about the case? My analysis reveals that the news coverage of People v. Turner frequently mentioned the victim’s alcohol use when discussing consent and mentioned the perpetrator’s alcohol use when excuses were made for his actions. There was indirect and direct coverage of the excuses made for the perpetrator’s behavior, in addition to frequent mentions of his white privilege and status as a star student and athlete. Finally, the analysis demonstrated that rape myths concerning alcohol use, consent, and the rapist image were presented, endorsed, and rejected in the news coverage of the case. These findings shed light on how victims and perpetrators are framed by news media, and the findings also provide insight into how rape myths are used by news media in sexual assault coverage.

Sexual violence continues to be a pervasive problem on college campuses and for Black college women research shows a history of racialized trauma – one that dates back to slavery that continues to bear witness to psychological harms of fear, self-blame, and guilt - that forces them to remain silent. Yet college administrators continue to respond to sexual violence from an identity-neutral and dominant narrative that leaves women of color erased, hidden, or missing in the fight against campus sexual violence. Several studies have focused on sexual violence against women in college; however, there is a lack of diversity in the samples. To fill this gap, this qualitative case study sought to illuminate Black women’s voices as they described their sexual violence experiences and reflected on the ways, if any, their intersecting identities (i.e., race and gender) impacted their sexual violence experiences while attending a historically White institution. Findings indicate that Black women described their sexual violence as psychologically impacting, socially isolating, overwhelming to report or seek help, faith evoking, compounded by social media and COVID-19, and leading to manifesting resilience. Findings, also, suggest that Black women’s intersecting identities related to gender and race affected their experience and led them to adhere to a culture of silence, evoke racial consciousness, and be viewed as hyper-sexualized. Based on the study findings, recommendations are offered for college administrators who address, respond to, and direct initiatives to prevent sexual violence. Student services personnel are also strongly encouraged to employ an intersectional lens that includes disaggregation of pertinent data by identity factors. Given the focus and nature of the current study, areas for further inquiry are also highlighted to continue to enhance our understanding of sexual violence on campuses as well as discover effective strategies to support Black women.

Interpersonal and sexual violence on college campuses is rampant. While federal legislation exists to support survivors of interpersonal violence in higher education via the Violence Against Women Act, Title IX, and Clery Act, support specifically for institutionally underserved survivors of interpersonal violence (IUS) tends to be limited in nature. Because of this deficit, institutionally underserved students and survivors of interpersonal violence are often left unsupported by interpersonal violence prevention staff members (IVPSM). Through semi-structured interviews, this critical multisite case study collected information on the perceptions of IVPSM on IUS support and resources, identified gaps in education on how to respond and support IUS, and examined IVPSM’s social identities and influence of their identities on their work. Data was analyzed through critical race theories and critical trauma theory with a focus on intersectionality. This research can aid higher education professionals in understanding promising practices in supporting institutionally underserved survivors.

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to understand the perceived role of empathy and self-efficacy in college students that have completed a bystander intervention training program and intervened to prevent a potential sexual assault situation at two small private Christian colleges. The theories guiding this study are Bandura’s social learning theory and theories of self-efficacy. Bandura’s (1977) social learning theory suggests that individuals quickly learn new behaviors through observation and modeling. Bystander intervention programs that include opportunities for college students to observe and listen to the stories of females that have experienced a sexual assault may increase empathy in college students, making them more likely to engage in intervening behaviors. Based on Bandura’s (1977) theories of self-efficacy, students that have completed bystander training may feel more confident in engaging in intervening behaviors. The participants in this study were students who were currently enrolled in an undergraduate program, had completed bystander training, and self-identified as having intervened to prevent a potential sexual assault situation. There was a sample size of 12 participants. Data were collected using interviews, participant letters, and focus groups. Data were analyzed using Moustakas’s method of data analysis, which aligns with transcendental phenomenological research.

Introduction: More than 43% of women report experiencing sexual violence during their lifetime. Experiencing SA, especially violent SA, is associated with depression, substance abuse, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempt. Receiving a SA medical forensic exam (SAMFE) in the emergency department is typically the first line of acute care after an assault, providing an opportunity for prescribing necessary medications, forensic evidence collection, and treating physical injuries. Little is currently known how procedures during the exam and characteristics of the SA itself predict suicidal behavior and overdoses after an assault. Methods: Participants included women who received a SAMFE within 120 hours of an assault (n=239). Information on demographic characteristics, medications prescribed during their SAMFE visit, and SA characteristics as well as information on poisoning and suicide-related diagnoses were collected from the electronic medical record. Analysis: An initial logistic regression was performed to assess whether receiving prescription psychiatric medication during SAMFE visits predicted suicide-related diagnoses. A latent class analysis was also performed to identify classes of assault survivors’ experiences. The identified classes were then assessed for differences in proportions of suicide-related and poisoning diagnoses in the year following the exam. Results: Women who received psychiatric prescription medication during a SAMFE had 5.41 times greater odds of receiving a suicide-related diagnosis within one year (p=0.007). The latent class analysis identified two classes of assault severity among survivors. Survivors in Class 1 had more typically assaults, while survivors in Class 2 experienced more violent assaults with a higher probability of experiencing anal penetration, genital and non-genital injury, and weapon use. A two-proportion z-test found that Class 2 comprised a higher proportion of poisoning diagnoses in the sample (p=0.029). Conclusion: These findings highlight the prescribing of psychiatric medication or documenting characteristics of severe SA as markers for suicide and self-harm interventions. Future studies should focus on developing these interventions for implementation in acute care settings and promote the ease of follow-up psychological care after an assault.

INTRODUCTION: Sexual assault (SA) victimization affects thousands of service members in the military each year and identifying risk factors of SA is essential to inform prevention efforts. AIM: To synthesize literature on SA within the military to determine risk factors of SA incidence. METHODS: Risk factors from 6 epidemiological studies were compared via meta-analysis using R. Odds ratios and tests of heterogeneity were calculated to illustrate the collective odds of SA given each risk factor across the studies and to show variability. Odds ratios were calculated separately for risk factors only mentioned in one study. RESULTS: Women (OR =16.37), persons reporting sexual harassment during service (OR = 14.54), persons with a SA history (OR = 3.99), enlisted rank (OR = 2.47), non-married persons (OR = 2) and persons with no college experience were at greater risk of SA (OR = 1.32). Being White was found to be a protective factor (OR = 0.76). Our descriptive analysis found that experiencing stalking (OR = 11.84), being a sexual minority (OR = 2.15) or transgender increased the risk of SA (OR = 1.91). However, transgender womxn were at lower risk of SA than transgender mxn (OR = 0.42). DISCUSSION: It may be useful to develop tailored prevention programs for those identified as at risk according to our findings. Further, more needs to be done to address the environmental and cultural factors specific to the military that perpetuate SA incidence.

Sexual assault is a national public health problem, yet there is a dearth of information about how and why survivors disclose and obtain post sexual assault healthcare in the era of social media campaigns. This study examined the influence of #MeToo on sexual assault survivors’ decision-making post assault, including formal disclosures to health providers and formal health seeking behaviors. The research question is “what are the patterns of sexual assault survivors’ disclosure and health seeking behaviors in the era of #MeToo?” A qualitative, exploratory descriptive study was undertaken to understand the influence of #MeToo on a survivor’s decision to disclose sexual assault and obtain health care. With the use of online focus groups, 56 participants’ stories were shared, and four salient themes emerged. These results were the first to provide insight into how an online social media movement (#MeToo) influenced offline health behaviors. The knowledge gained from this study advanced nursing science focused on the care of sexual assault survivors. Additionally, findings informed intervention strategies such as developing targeted public health campaigns that capitalize on online social movements to impact offline behaviors.

Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) analysis is an essential tool for analyzing biological evidence from sexual assault forensic casework. Advances in the sensitivity of DNA quantitation kits and short tandem repeat (STR) analysis have led some forensic laboratories to modify their forensic workflow toward a “direct to DNA” analysis method that eliminates all or some serological testing. Traditional body fluid testing is significantly cheaper and faster than DNA testing, therefore, if biological screening methods can eliminate non-probative samples from the workflow valuable resources can be saved. However, if DNA methods are more sensitive and are a better predictor of the presence of biological material, it could be advantageous to bypass traditional body fluid screening techniques. This study evaluates the sensitivity of presumptive and confirmatory forensic serological screening methods compared to the sensitivity of quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (q-PCR) and capillary electrophoresis (CE) for semen-positive evidence swabs. Semen samples from four volunteers, one of which was azoospermatic, were obtained and dilutions ranging from 1:10 to 1:8000 were prepared. Neat semen and the dilutions were analyzed using the SERI® AP Spot Test, ABA card® p30 Test, RSIDTM-Semen Test, as well as microscopically examined for spermatozoa aided by Kernechtrot Picrodindigocarmine (KPIC) staining. The serological exam results were compared to DNA quantitation results using the Quantifiler® Trio DNA Quantitation Kit, CE results using the GlobalFiler™ PCR Amplification Kit in conjunction with a SeqStudioTM genetic analyzer, and profile analysis using GeneMapper® ID-X v1.6. Results showed that the AP Spot Test was the most sensitive out of the four serological tests examined. Positive results were observed up to a 1 in 4000 semen dilution if allowed five minutes of development time. However, if only given two minutes to develop, the limit of detection was observed at a 1 in 1000 semen dilution. RSIDTM-Semen yielded positive results for three of four donors at the 1:1000 dilution with the fourth donor providing results only up to the 1:100 dilution. Comparatively, the ABA card® p30 Test and microscopic analysis using KPIC stain had a limit of detection of 1 in 100. The azoospermatic donor showed higher sensitivity than the sperm positive donors, displaying serology results up to a 1:4000 dilution. To assess the comparative sensitivities between serological testing and DNA testing, the 1 in 100, 1 in 1000, and 1 in 2000 dilutions were selected for DNA quantitation and analysis. The DNA quantitation results obtained showed that values suggestive of successful autosomal DNA profiling could be obtained for most 1 in 100 and 1 in 1000 semen dilutions. When samples were analyzed using capillary electrophoresis, full STR profiles were obtainable at the 1 in 1000 dilution for all three sperm-positive donors when using an analytical threshold (AT) of 30 relative fluorescent units (RFU). For one sperm-positive donor, a full profile was obtained at the 1 in 2000 dilution with successful partial profiles obtained from the other two sperm-positive donors. The azoospermatic sample provided full STR profiles up to a 1 in 100 dilution, which was as sensitive or less sensitive than its corresponding serological test results. DNA analysis was more sensitive than serological testing for the sperm-positive samples in this study. Overall, the findings of this study support a “direct to DNA” approach for sexual assault evidence swabs, however it highlights that additional serological examination may be beneficial, particularly in cases involving an azoospermatic donor.

How does a woman’s racial background affect her perceived credibility when she discloses an experience of sexual victimization? Prior research has found women of color report more unsupportive reactions to their disclosures, but studies have not directly examined perceived credibility outside of a legal context. Using an experimental study depicting a hypothetical sexual assault, I test a potential mechanism to explain disbelief in sexual assault survivors: survivor race. In a 1x3 between-subjects vignette study, participants were randomly assigned to read and respond to a hypothetical woman friend who was either Asian, Black, or white. I find that, on average, participants evaluated Black survivors as less credible than non-Black survivors on the qualitative, but not quantitative, measures. I also find that men participants, regardless of whether the survivor was an Asian, Black, or white woman, evaluated the survivor as less credible than women and non-binary respondents did on both qualitative and quantitative measures. Taken together, the present research highlights the impact of survivor race as well as observer gender in evaluations of survivor credibility.