The Mainstreaming of Rape Culture: The Reframing of Sensitivity to Sexual Violence as a Social Problem

• In Event: Media Constructions of Gendered Violence

Abstract

This presentation discusses how feminist-inspired concerns of gender-based microaggressions, harassment, and other forms of sexual violence are framed as symptomatic of "rape culture" in popular media. It is a critical look at how the concept initially served as a means of raising cultural awareness, yet was undercut by challenges to the concept as a moral panic, particularly with regard to debates over campus sexual assault. Through an analysis of how the concept flowed through popular media, I examine how sensitivity to sexual violence itself was reframed as a social problem and ultimately viewed as a form of overreaching political correctness, a threat to free speech, and to the broader culture-at-large. In this context, I will address public sentiment at the intersection of rape culture and policy, specifically sex offender legislation.

Author

• Nickie Phillips, St. Francis College