The New Campus Anti-Rape Movement is a series of political movements by victims of campus sexual violence and their allies in the United States that began as early as 2008, although many articles begin with the rise of activism in 2011. While related to the anti-rape movement of the 1960s and 1970s that grew out of second wave feminism, which focused on establishing federal and state laws regarding sexual violence against women, the New Campus Anti-Rape Movement has focused on compliance with federal law and measures in institutions of higher education, namely in response to the statistic that as many as 1 in 5 women in higher education will be a victim of sexual violence.[1]
In many situations, the movement has taken the form of protest and petitioning at colleges and universities, with the intention of calling attention to unfair or imbalanced practices regarding victim support, perpetrator sanctions, and higher education cultural issues.[2] In some situations, protests were accompanied by organized filings of Title IX, Title IV and Clery Act complaints with the Office of Civil Rights at the United States Department of Education.[3] Although located throughout the United States, internet activism connected regional groups, giving the movement national cohesion via the sharing of political tactics. The main aims of the movement have been campus rape prevention, creating appropriate college and university procedures for responding to sexual violence, and compliance with federal and state mandates.[4]
Organization
editThe New Campus Anti-Rape Movement is made up of multiple regional and campus organizations, interconnected by multiple internet platforms.
Few people had explored this legal terrain [Title IX Complaints], so the Occidental group reached out to women at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill … The North Carolina group had taken inspiration, and a few strategic cues, from students who last fall drew attention to the mishandling of sexual assaults at Amherst College in Massachusetts. The Amherst students had, in turn, consulted extensively with women at Yale...[5]
According to Amanda Hess, in a Slate follow up, "they're Skyping, Facebooking, and Tweeting it all."[6] Inter- and intra- campus coalitions have used blogs to both share strategies and demonstrate effective tactics, while also updating their communities on local actions.[7] Organizations like George Washington Students Against Sexual Assault, UCLA's 7000 in Solidarity: A Campaign Against Sexual Assault, and the Oxy Sexual Assault Coalition often serve as coalitional groups of multiple on-campus organizations standing against sexual violence. Twitter accounts, such as @EROC (End Rape on Campus) and @KnowYourIX, serve as hubs for sharing information across organizations.
Criticism
editIn City Journal, conservative commentator Heather Mac Donald argues that "the movement is an even more important barometer of academia itself. In a delicious historical irony, the baby boomers who dismantled the university’s intellectual architecture in favor of unbridled sex and protest have now bureaucratized both. While women’s studies professors bang pots and blow whistles at antirape rallies, in the dorm next door, freshman counselors and deans pass out tips for better orgasms and the use of sex toys."[8]
U.S. News & World Report published an opinion piece by American Enterprise Institute employee Caroline Kitchens, where she characterized rape culture as an example of hysteria. Kitchens also alleged that activists have created and distributed false statistics regarding the incidence of sexual violence on campus.[9] Christina Hoff Sommers opines that on-campus anti-rape activists have created a climate that lends itself to paranoia, censorship, and false accusations.[10][11]
Critics such as Barbara Kay, Megan McArdle, Harvey A. Silverglate, and Christina Hoff Sommers have all characterized the controversy over campus rape as a moral panic.[11][12][13][14]
References
edit- ^ Nehring, Abbie (July 29, 2014). "Campus sexual assault: what are colleges doing wrong?". Retrieved July 29, 2014.
- ^ "SAFER sits down with student anti-rape activist John Kelly to talk activism, organizing, and remembering to breath". Students Active for Ending Rape.
{{cite web}}:|first1=missing|last1=(help) - ^ Anderson, Nick (June 29, 2014). "Catholic U. student recounts her struggles after reporting sex assault". Washington Post. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
- ^ Gray, Eliza (May 15, 2014). "The Sexual Assault Crisis on American Campuses". Time. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
- ^ Pérez-Peña, Richard (March 19, 2013). "College Groups Connect to Fight Sexual Assault". The New York Times. Retrieved August 1, 2014.
- ^ Hess, Amanda. "How the Internet Revolutionized Campus Anti-Rape Activism". Slate.com. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
- ^ Pérez-Peña, Richard; Lovett, Ian (April 18, 2013). "2 More Colleges Accused of Mishandling Assaults". The New York Times. Retrieved August 1, 2014.
- ^ Mac Donald, Heather (Winter 2008). "The Campus Rape Myth". City Journal. Retrieved August 1, 2014.
- ^ Kitchens, Caroline (October 24, 2013). "The Rape 'Epidemic' Doesn't Actually Exist". U.S. News. Retrieved August 1, 2014.
- ^ Kitchens, Caroline (May 15, 2014). "It's Time to End Rape Culture Hysteria". Times Magazine Online. Retrieved August 1, 2014.
- ^ a b Hoff Sommers, Christine (May 15, 2014). "Rape Culture is a Panic Where Paranoia, Censorship, and False Accusations Flourish". Time Magazine Online. Retrieved August 1, 2014.
- ^ Harvey A. Silverglate (February 20, 2015). "The new panic: campus sex assaults". The Boston Globe. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
- ^ McArdle, Megan (January 28, 2015). "Moral Panics Won't End Campus Rape". Bloomberg. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
- ^ Kay, Barbara (January 19, 2015). "Rape culture proofiness feeds moral panic over non-existent epidemic". The National Post. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
External links
edit- George Washington Students Against Sexual Assault
- UCLA's 7000 in Solidarity: A Campaign Against Sexual Assault
- Oxy Sexual Assault Coalition
- @EROC End Rape on Campus Twitter Feed
- @KnowYourIX Twitter Feed
Category:Feminist movement Category:Rape Category:Feminist theory Category:Feminism and society Category:Student protests Protest