Research Project

Description

Research Project – Rape Culture

In class we defined Rape Culture using the definition from the Oxford English Dictionary:
“A society or environment whose prevailing social attitudes have the effect of normalizing or trivializing sexual assault and abuse.”

For this project we are going to focus on two elements:

1. How US Popular Culture fosters, or contributes to the creation, of those social attitudes.

2. What are the tangible effects that occur when sexual assault and abuse are trivialized in the US.

Your task is to:

1. Provide and explain two specific artifacts from US pop culture (within the last ten years) that contribute to the trivialization of sexual assault and/or sexual abuse. Do not use examples that were covered in any of the course lecture videos.
For example, if I could go back further than ten years (you can’t) I might point to the lyrics of Summer Lovin’ from Grease, Baby It’s Cold Outside, or the movies Sixteen Candles or Revenge of the Nerds.

2. Provide and explain two specific real world incidents (not just statistical analyses) in the US where we can see that sexual assault and/or sexual abuse were trivialized (not treated with the seriousness they deserve). These incidents should be drawn from news reports within the last five years. Do not use examples that were covered in lecture videos. Cite your sources (MLA or APA).
For example if I were to draw examples from outside the US (you can’t), I might cite the court case in Ireland where a man was acquitted of rape solely because the survivor was wearing black lace panties which the defense argued “was an indication of consent”. Or, the case in India of #boislockerroom.

The assignment is worth 100 points.

Papers must be submitted online in either .doc, .docx, or .pdf format

All papers must be typed.

Double spaced with a minimum of 11 point font required