Levine, Ethan Czuy (Author)
Waidzunas, Thomas John (Advisor)
In 1987, statistics transformed rape from a rare and personal concern into an epidemic in popular consciousness. Mary Koss and colleagues conducted victimization surveys with thousands of college women, 1 in 4 of whom reported completed or attempted rape. This finding received tremendous attention in the 1980s, and continues to influence activists and state officials. Notwithstanding the importance of this and other scientific facts, scholars have rarely explored the role of scientists in shaping perceptions of and responses to sexual violence. This project addresses that gap in the literature, via the following questions: (1) how have scientists conceptualized sexual violence among adults; and (2) what social mechanisms enable, constrain, and otherwise influence scientific research on sexual violence? Drawing on insights from feminist science studies, I approach sexual violence as an intra-active phenomenon, and regard objects of study (sexual violence) as inseparable from agencies of observation (research instruments, researchers). Data came from three sources: content analysis of journal abstracts (N=1,313), in-depth assessment of texts in different subfields (N=84), and interviews with researchers (N=31). Ultimately, I argue that sexual violence research has been dominated by psychological inquiries, as well as gendered assumptions regarding who is most capable of perpetrating and experiencing rape. Scientists have produced a tremendous body of knowledge regarding the individual-level causes, individual-level outcomes, and prevalence of men’s sexual aggression toward women. Systemic forces and sexual violence that deviates from this particular gendered pattern remain underexamined. I further argue that scientific research on sexual violence is shaped by a range of social mechanisms that are particular to fields associated with questions of social morality and social movements including feminism(s).
...More
Article
Cara Dobbing;
Alannah Tomkins;
(2021)
Sexual abuse by superintending staff in the nineteenth-century lunatic asylum: medical practice, complaint and risk
Book
Catherine D'Ignazio;
(2024)
Counting Feminicide: Data Feminism in Action
Book
Samir Shaheen-Hussain;
Katsi'tsakwas Ellen Gabriel;
Cindy Blackstock;
(2020)
Fighting for a Hand to Hold: Confronting Medical Colonialism against Indigenous Children in Canada
Chapter
Stéphanie Pache;
Alain Giami;
Sharman Levinson;
(2021)
‘Healthy’ Relationships: Feminism and the Psy Disciplines in the Political History of Sexual Violence in Contemporary America
Book
Arnold W. Rachman;
(2021)
Psychoanalysis and Society's Neglect of the Sexual Abuse of Children, Youth and Adults: Re-addressing Freud's Original Theory of Sexual Abuse and Trauma
Book
Courtney E. Thompson;
(2021)
An Organ of Murder: Crime, Violence, and Phrenology in Nineteenth-Century America
Article
Weidman, Nadine;
(2011)
Popularizing the Ancestry of Man: Robert Ardrey and the Killer Instinct
Book
Makeda Best;
(2021)
Devour the Land: War and American Landscape Photography Since 1970
Book
Kirsch, Thomas B.;
(2000)
The Jungians: A comparative and historical perspective
Article
Häberlen, Joachim C;
Spinney, Russell A;
(2014)
Introduction: “Emotions in Protest Movements in Europe since 1917“
Article
Nelly Oudshoorn;
(September 2016)
The Vulnerability of Cyborgs: The Case of ICD Shocks
Article
Mennill, Sally;
Strong-Boag, Veronica;
(2008)
Identifying Victims: Child Abuse and Death in Canadian Families
Book
Jen Rinaldi;
Kate Rossiter;
(2023)
Population Control: Theorizing Institutional Violence
Thesis
Alexander T. Kindel;
(2023)
Observing Prestige: Visibility and Performance in the Sociology of Knowledge
Book
William H. Tucker;
(2024)
'The Bell Curve' in Perspective: Race, Meritocracy, Inequality and Politics
Article
Sá, Creso;
Kretz, Andrew;
Sigurdson, Kristjan;
(2013)
Techno-Nationalism and the Construction of University Technology Transfer
Article
Moulin, Stéphane;
Doray, Pierre;
Prévost, Jean-Guy;
Delavictoire, Quentin;
(2014)
La propagation internationale d'une représentation. Le cas du décrochage scolaire
Article
Jasen, Patricia;
(2011)
Menopause and Historical Constructions of Cancer Risk
Book
Christopher Kobrak;
Joe Martin;
(2018)
From Wall Street to Bay Street: The Origins and Evolution of American and Canadian Finance
Thesis
Stuhl, Andrew;
(2013)
Empires on Ice: Science, Nature, and the Making of the Arctic
Be the first to comment!