A new feminist materialist analysis of girls and the sexual violence assemblage

Abstract

Inspired by Deleuze and Guattari's (1988) concept of assemblage, in this paper we address 12-13-y ear-old girls' experience of sexual violence as a materially embedded, relational, and affective event. In doing so, we contribute to the understanding of how girls are both constrained by violent gendered cultures in school and of their capacity to resist such violence. We give attention to sexual violence as an assemblage of materialities in the form of bodies, objects, expressions, spaces, and ideas that connect in ways that affect what girls can and cannot do within a specific place and moment in time. Drawing on semi-structured interviews, we show how the assemblage creates the potential to challenge dominant gendered scripts that structure girls' experience in schools but also point to the disabling environments that curtail such potential. We argue that while the assemblage produces agentive capacities, it may simultaneously constrain them. We conclude by offering possibilities to address sexual violence through addressing gender norms while including boys in gender transformative work.

Shame culture and the prevention of sexual harassment in university: A case study in Indonesia

“…However, submitting to male domination is not a complete description of the life of girls on campus. (Janak et al, 2022) There may still be many cases of sexual violence that are not "seen" and are not reported due to various factors. A study conducted by the National College of Women's Sexual Victimization in the United States explains that there are various reasons why victims of sexual violence do not report their cases to the authorities, namely victims do not have sufficient evidence to report, fear that the perpetrator is preparing retaliation, fear of hostility from the authorities, there is uncertainty whether the report will be taken seriously and carried out by the authorities, there is ignorance of how to report to the authorities, and there is a desire that family and friends do not know (Krebs et al, 2007).…”