Rape & Consent in U.S. Culture

Assistant Professor Ashley Mack Department of Communication Studies

Since 2017, the #MeToo movement has shifted public conversations surrounding sexual harassment and rape. Discussing sexual violence and engaging in high level critical analysis of the various ways we communicate about sexual violence in mediated and public life is gravely important.

This course explores how sexual violence is symbolically negotiated in U.S. public culture. We will examine how sexual violence and consent are framed in legal, political, educational, media, and cultural contexts. We will survey the intersectional relationships between race, gender, sexuality, nation, age, ability, and class as they relate to sexual violence. Finally, we will consider the ways that the public framing of sexual violence impacts cultural views about rape, and in turn, how social institutions (such as schools, the government, religious bodies, or the criminal justice system) attempt to stop sexual violence.