Preventing Sexual Violence?

Abstract

T his article critically assesses the main social policy responses to preventing rape following much feminist struggle to make sexual violence a public matter of legitimate concern. It considers the preventative potential of legal measures, anti-violence campaigns waged by feminist and men's groups in the US and Australia, public education campaigns in Schools and Universities, and public awareness campaigns sponsored by the state.We argue that sexual violence is not amenable to quick fix strategies that place responsibility for prevention entirely on individual men or women. While we recognise that responsibilising victims and individualising offenders is consistent with wider global shifts in social policy calling upon individuals to manage their own risk, we argue that the increasing reliance on such neo-Iiberal social policy is especially problematic in preventing rape. The paper suggests ways to resist this which place greater emphasis on the promotion of sexual ethics; the eroticisation of consent; the reinvention of the norms of romance to include both these, and the complete separation of the psycho-social-symbolic connections between sex and violence, and ultimately the re-evaluation of the cultural expectations of masculinity and femininity.

Sexual Ethics and Violence Prevention

“…Governments, community groups and individuals often champion community education as a strategy to reduce sexual violence. In an earlier review of community education and education programmes in schools and universities, Kerry Carrington and I argued that many of these programmes adopted a 'quick-fix' workshop approach to rape prevention education (Carmody and Carrington, 2000). We were also critical of the reliance on psychological discourse, the limited evaluation of programmes, their inability to lead to lasting attitude change and the risk avoidance focus, especially for women.…”

“…We were also critical of the reliance on psychological discourse, the limited evaluation of programmes, their inability to lead to lasting attitude change and the risk avoidance focus, especially for women. Parrot's (1990) review of 26 US university programmes was also cited, which revealed only two programmes aimed at changing men's behaviour and 21 for women (see Carmody and Carrington, 2000, for a detailed discussion). An alternative approach to prevention building on links between sexual ethics could look somewhat different.…”

“…Despite the often fraught nature of this relationship, since the early 1980s, numerous rounds of legislative reform, increased penalties for sexual offences, revised health, welfare and police procedures and several decades of community education have been achieved. These gains were not easily won but despite their best intentions they have failed to deliver the much hoped for deterrence in crimes being committed or significant changes in the behaviour of those who continue to perpetrate violence against women (Carmody and Carrington, 2000). The failure to achieve legal sanction against perpetrators of sexual assault highlights this point dramatically.…”

Ethical Erotics: Reconceptualizing Anti-Rape Education

“…However most of the evaluated programmes have been in either university or college settings in the United States. In 1999 Carmody and Carrington (2000) analysed 18 evaluations of rape education programmes. A further analysis was conducted of Australian anti-violence education funded by the Federal government (Carmody, 2001).…”

Young women's management of victim and survivor identities

“…Rather, disclosing past experiences of (male) violence continues to be caught up in discourses and femininity, where women are ultimately perceived as the 'poor girl' and the perpetrator the 'dangerous other' (Lamb 1999a, 108). As Carmody and Carrington (2000) argue, there are some apparent dangers in creating dichotomies based around 'innocent' women and 'evil' men when discussing instances of sexual violence. Significantly, the reliance on traditional gender discourses not only operates to simplify women's experiences of abuse, it also masks the wider social forces that contribute to the culture of violence (Carmody 2006;Marecek 1999).…”