Rape Archives - Public Seminar

Activism

Protest as a Means of Political Change: An Indian Case Study

How the 2012 gang rape of Jyoti Singh and the protests that followed changed a nation

July 2, 2020 • by Natasha Behl

In this current political moment of mass protests for racial justice across America, many of us are wondering how effective these protests are. Can marching in the streets lead to enduring change? Can dissent and disruption help us achieve a more equal and just society? Consider what happened in India eight ...

Protest as a Means of Political Change: An Indian Case Study

Feature

Feminists Say

Gagging on rape

August 13, 2018 • by Vanessa Place and Cassandra Seltman

Last year the journal Studies in Gender and Sexuality published a panel called "The ontology of the rape joke," organized around a performance by Vanessa Place of her piece, "Rape joke." The panel included responses from Jamieson Webster, Jeff Dolven, Gayle Salamon, Kyoo Lee, Katie Gentile, and Virginia Goldner, and ended with ...

Multi Media

Muhammad Ali, Brock Turner, and the First Woman Nominee

Past Present Episode 38

June 15, 2016 • by Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela and Neil J. Young

On this week's episode, Niki, Neil, and Natalia debate the legacy of Muhammad Ali, the aftermath of the Brock Turner trial, and America's first woman nominated to the presidency by a major party. Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Muhammad Ali died last week at the ...

Muhammad Ali, Brock Turner, and the First Woman Nominee

Education

Adjusting the Lens on Rape Culture

September 10, 2015 • by Ali Shames-Dawson

Notably absent from Zaretsky’s idyllic depiction of the college campus as an outpost of sexual freedom and experimentation is any discussion of the role of the drug and alcohol culture in such settings. Zaretsky’s campus thrums with intellectual and cultural exchange -- as he says, in classes, athletic and cultural ...

Uncategorized

Affirmative Consent and Neoliberal Bodies

The individual yes vs. the social no

September 3, 2015 • by Katie Gentile

I am writing this with great relief as the “crisis” of sexual assaults on college campuses in New York State has finally been addressed through affirmative consent, or “yes means yes” legislation from Governor Cuomo. Having worked for years as the director of a college-based women’s center, having ...

Education

Rape Culture and the College Campus

September 3, 2015 • by Eli Zaretsky

The idea that colleges and universities are “rape cultures,” that is cultures in which rape is normalized due to invidious gender norms, is a false and malicious one that should rejected by all progressives. Young women go to college for reasons very similar to those of young men, among which ...

Uncategorized

Israel’s Culture of Violence

September 3, 2014 • by Nahed Habiballah

In contrast to the old image of the Jew who was led to his death in Europe without fighting back, the Israeli military has played a vital role in creating a new model, in which the Jewish soldier is a strong man who fights and kills for survival. ...

Uncategorized

Hard Lessons on Rape Culture: Dispatch from Brazil

May 7, 2014 • by Mariana Prandini Assis and Ana Carolina Ogando

“I don't deserve to be raped! No one deserves to be.” These were the words printed on the signs made by thousands of Brazilian women who decided to join a massive online campaign launched through Facebook some weeks ago. The campaign aimed to protest against the highly misogynist views made ...

Hard Lessons on Rape Culture: Dispatch from Brazil

Uncategorized

Torture and Dignity

October 25, 2013 • by Jay M. Bernstein

This lecture to the New School's General Seminar was originally published on the above date. Given the recent revelations concerning the CIA's program of torture, we are highlighting Bernstein's reflections today, Dec. 12, 2014. -J.G.