Deconstructing Rape

Sociologist Nicole Bedera reports on her disturbing year-long participant observation of a large university’s Title IX office.

University Distinguished Professor of Psychology Rebecca Campbell reflects on the campaign to test and investigate Detroit rape kits and her successful efforts to combat sexual violence at Michigan State University.

Legal strategist Morgan Lamandre analyses the progress of rape reform in Louisiana.

Leading feminist legal theorist and torts law expert Martha Chamallas explains E. Jean Carroll verdict and other recent developments in rape law.

Political scientist Vanessa Tyson discusses speaking out against sexual violence, first against her father and then against Virginia Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax.

Psychology professor David Lisak discusses his experience as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, his research on serial rapists, and his activism on campus, in the military, and with survivors on death row.

Linda Martín Alcoff discusses how she and other survivors come to understand the impact of  sexual violence and deploys her philosophical expertise to deconstructs the espistemic injustices of philosophers such as Foucault.

Feminist philosopher Susan Brison discusses how surviving first an acquaintance rape while studying abroad and then a violent stranger rape in France shaped her theories of embodiment and the self as well as her commitment to free speech.

Psychology professor Jennifer Freyd discusses how the unwanted disclosure of repressed memories shaped her research on betrayal trauma, institutional betrayal, and her policy activism to promote equality and institutional courage.

Pioneering feminist law professor, lawyer, political operative, and columnist Susan Estrich reflects on how grappling with her own rape shaped her life and work.