Discussion List for campus-based and allied personnel working to end gender-based violence on campus.

["Aline Jesus Rafi" <>]

Thank you everyone for your input. I appreciate your suggestions and point 
of view on the subject.
I will take all your point of views in consideration as I develop new 
materials, programs and as I learn to navigate the system.


-------------------------------------------------------
Aline Jesus Rafi, MA
Health Educator
Sexual Assault Prevention Education and Response
Emory University Student Health Services
1525 Clifton Road
Atlanta, GA 30322
Phone: 404-727-1514
Fax: 404-727-9159
Email: 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Molly Dragiewicz" <>
To: "Aline Jesus Rafi" <>; "Amanda Childress" 
<>
Cc: 
<>
Sent: Monday, September 10, 2007 9:43 AM
Subject: RE: Language Question


> "Unwanted sexual experiences" is NOT a synonym for rape or other forms
> of sexual assault and should not be used as such. What happens when
> terms for violence against women are used inaccurately, vaguely,
> euphemistically, is that rape is conflated with "regretted sex" or other
> forms of "unwanted sex" and consent, rapists' intentionality and
> planning, and women's resistance are all erased.
>
> We are in a bad enough place with violence against women from using
> these sort of muddy, inaccurate, vague terms that de-gender behavior and
> experiences that exhibit marked sex differences and which are extremely
> gendered.
>
> Using vague, watered down, and inaccurate terms like this presents a
> harm to women and men, and not just those who are already survivors.
>
> The research on this is important. NAMING rape and other forms of sexual
> assault for the crimes that they are is extremely important for
> survivors.
>
> I would refer everyone to the book
> Researching Sexual Violence against Women: Methodological and Personal
> Perspectives, (Sage 1997), Martin Schwartz, editor
> the whole book but especially Chapter 5 on Self Blame in Hidden Rape
> Cases
> Women who had been raped and blamed themselves (which correlated exactly
> with being blamed by their friends and others when they disclosed) did
> not consider their experience "rape". Women who were told their rape was
> not their fault called it rape. Many more of the women who called rape
> by some euphemism didn't tell anyone at all about the rape.
>
> Also, when I worked with Mary Koss's unwanted sexual experiences survey
> data, I found that all of the women who held the rapist primarily
> accountable for the rape called it rape, and all of the women who used
> some euphemism for their rape saw themselves as responsible.
>
> These terms have serious implications for healing, reporting, help
> seeking, reporting, prosecution etc. for all women and men.
>
> You can use "unwanted sexual experiences" to talk about unwanted sexual
> experiences, but muddying the waters when talking about rape and other
> forms of violence against women is not a good thing.
>
> Molly Dragiewicz
> Assistant Professor
> Faculty of Criminology, Justice, and Policy Studies
> University of Ontario Institute of Technology
>
> -----Original Message-----
> RE "unwanted sexual experiences"
>
>
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