From Furious to Fearless: Faculty Action and Feminist Praxis in Response to Rape Culture on College Campuses

Abstract

In this article, we (four faculty members) draw on a specific rape‐promoting incident on our campus as a case study for feminist faculty responses to civil rights issues on college campuses. We critically examine the incident and share our multipronged response as faculty members. In so doing, we highlight interdisciplinary activism, the importance of strong visual presence of feminist faculty activism on campus, as well as our challenges and dilemmas. As a call to arms, we hope this article inspires other faculty to recognize their power and to take incisive action on their respective campuses.

Why Sexual Assault Survivors Do Not Report to Universities: A Feminist Analysis

“…One survivor summarized this theme by stating, “I didn't know the procedures for reporting this type of thing.” This finding has important implications for college administrators and Title IX coordinators; universities must figure out effective strategies to alert their students to the options. One way forward is to include this information in syllabi (see Sharp, Weiser, Lavigne, & Kelly, ).…”

“…This finding has important implications for college administrators and Title IX coordinators; universities must figure out effective strategies to alert their students to the options. One way forward is to include this information in syllabi (see Sharp, Weiser, Lavigne, & Kelly, 2017). One subtheme under "I didn't know who to report to or that I could report" was that the survivors felt it "would have been a lost cause" to report (n = 14, 6.4%).…”

Transversal and Postmodern Feminist Praxis in Everyday Politics

“…as a case study, and it sits in conversation with postmodern and transversal feminist theorists, particularly the recent work of Patricia Hill Collins (2017) that builds on Nira Yuval-Davis (1997) and others, to argue that political action is most effective when transversal practice is layered onto intersectional politics and that, despite Hill Collins' concern that political practice has yet to move to effective transversalism (2017,1471), transversal feminist praxis can be found in examples of everyday politics which offer hope for social transformation. Feminist praxis is usually a conscious, reflexive, process of moving from theory to application in order to create transformations (see, for example, Allen 2000; Archer Mann 2012; Cho, Crenshaw, and McCall 2013;De Reus, Few, and Balter Blume 2005;Evans 2016;Hesse-Biber 2012;Naples 2013;and Sharp et al 2017). We want to expand the scope of feminist praxis, however, to include moments in which feminist theory explains political transformations that may not be deliberate, but that result in a feminist outcome: the pursuit of gender equality through personal and political transformation.…”

Confronting Myths About Sexual Assault: A Feminist Analysis of the False Report Literature

“…Feminist scholars should also reach outside their classrooms. Knowledgeable faculty, staff, and practitioners could initiate an educational series on their campus for faculty, staff, and students that shares information about the definitions and rates of false reports (Sharp, Weiser, Lavigne, & Kelly, ). It is also possible to reach out to Title IX investigators and campus police to share information from academic sources and criminal justice organizations.…”