DOCSLIB.ORG

RAPE MYTHS in the LOCAL and NATIONAL NEWSPAPER COVERAGE of the BROCK TURNER CASE by Juana Campos a Thesis Submitted to the Depar

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
RAPE MYTHS in the LOCAL and NATIONAL NEWSPAPER COVERAGE of the BROCK TURNER CASE by Juana Campos a Thesis Submitted to the Depar Running head: RAPE MYTHS IN THE NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF THE BROCK TURNER CASE RAPE MYTHS IN THE LOCAL AND NATIONAL NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF THE BROCK TURNER CASE by Juana Campos A thesis submitted to the Department of Sociology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in Sociology Chair of Committee: Samantha S. Kwan, Ph.D. Committee Member: Amanda Baumle, Ph.D. Committee Member: Jennifer Arney, Ph.D. University of Houston December 2020 RAPE MYTHS IN THE NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF THE BROCK TURNER CASE Copyright 2020, Juana Campos ii RAPE MYTHS IN THE NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF THE BROCK TURNER CASE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I would like to thank my committee chair, Dr. Samantha Kwan not only for her expertise and feedback but also for her understanding, empathy, and support during rough times. Without her guidance, I don’t think I could have pushed through to finish these last steps in my thesis. Additionally, I would like to thank Dr. Amanda Baumle and Dr. Jennifer Arney for their time, patience, and feedback. For funding, I would like to thank the Department of Women and Gender Studies for awarding me the Blanche Epsy Chenoweth Graduate Fellowship. I would also like to the Department of Sociology for awarding me their Department Research Grant. Their funding made it possible for me to fund my education and the additional coder. Last but certainly not least, I am thankful for the generous support from my friends and family. Thank you for lending me your wifi and your support. iii RAPE MYTHS IN THE NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF THE BROCK TURNER CASE ABSTRACT Rape myths are false claims that pardon perpetrators, blame victims, and justify sexual assault. They are invoked when a case of sexual assault deviates from the socially constructed definition of “real rape,” in which a deranged man attacks an innocent woman despite her physical resistance. When characteristics or actions by the victim and perpetrator defy this definition, the victim can be held responsible. Rape myths help their endorsers explain and distance themselves from sexual assault. Previous studies focusing on high profile sexual assault cases found rape myths in the print media coverage of such cases. My study focuses on the Brock Turner case. Turner, a white Stanford student athlete, was found guilty of sexually assaulting an intoxicated and unconscious Emily Doe. He successfully used Doe’s intoxication, sexual history, apparel, and partying history to excuse his behavior. Because rape myths surfaced during the trial, they may surface in the media coverage of this case. Specifically, I examined rape myths in the reporting of this case in newspapers (n=50). Using a quantitative coding scheme, I documented the prevalence of these myths and how often journalists criticized these myths. Research shows when journalists report on cases of sexual assault, they often frame stories in which the victim is to blame. In the newspaper coverage of the Brock Turner case, 68 percent of articles contained at least one rape myth. The most prevalent rape myth was “rape is insignificant” (54 percent). The myth to receive the most criticism was “rape is insignificant” (60 percent). Keywords: content analysis; news media; quantitative; rape myths; sexual assault iv RAPE MYTHS IN THE NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF THE BROCK TURNER CASE TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................... III Abstract .................................................................................................................................. IV List of Tables ......................................................................................................................... VI I. Introduction (Rape Myths in the Local and National Newspaper Coverage of the Brock Turner Case) .................................................................................................................1 II. Literature Review ...............................................................................................................6 Sexual Scripts, Real Rape, and Rape Myths ...................................................................................... 6 Rape Myths in the Media ................................................................................................................. 10 III. Methods ............................................................................................................................16 Sample .............................................................................................................................................. 16 Prevalence......................................................................................................................................... 19 Variables Coded ............................................................................................................................... 19 Rape Myths about the Victim ...................................................................................................... 19 Rape Myths about the Perpetrator ............................................................................................... 21 Journalist Endorsement/Condemnation ........................................................................................ 21 Measures of Portrayal ................................................................................................................... 21 Article Characteristics .................................................................................................................. 22 Coding and Analysis ......................................................................................................................... 23 Process of Coding ........................................................................................................................ 23 Reliability .................................................................................................................................... 23 Analysis ....................................................................................................................................... 24 Research Questions ..................................................................................................................... 24 IV. Results ...............................................................................................................................25 Information about Journalists ........................................................................................................... 25 Prevalence of Rape Myths ................................................................................................................ 26 Measures of Portrayal .............................................................................................................. 29 Commentary on Rape Myths ............................................................................................................ 29 IV. Discussion .........................................................................................................................32 Limitations ........................................................................................................................................ 36 Future Research ................................................................................................................................ 37 References ...............................................................................................................................40 Appendix Codebook ................................................................................................................................51 Tables ......................................................................................................................................66 v RAPE MYTHS IN THE NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF THE BROCK TURNER CASE LIST OF TABLES I. Prevalence of Rape Myths Across All Variables .............................................................66 II. Measures of Portrayal Across All Articles .....................................................................67 III. Commentary on Rape Myths Across All Articles ........................................................68 vi RAPE MYTHS IN THE NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF THE BROCK TURNER CASE Rape Myths in the Local and National Newspaper Coverage of the Brock Turner Case In the early morning of January 18, 2015, two students found Brock Turner penetrating an unconscious and half naked Emily Doe1 behind a dumpster on the Stanford University campus.2 Turner is a white man in his early twenties with an upper middle-class upbringing. At the time of the incident, he was a Stanford student and an award-winning swimmer. Doe, a white woman3 in her early twenties had recently graduated college and was spending time with her younger sister at the same party Turner attended prior to the assault. When the two students approached the scene, Turner bolted but eventually was restrained by the two students until police arrived and took him into custody. The victim awoke three hours later in a gurney in a hospital hallway, unaware of the sexual assault. On February 2, 2015, Turner was indicted on five charges. Though two charges (one count of sexual penetration by a foreign object of an intoxicated woman and one count of sexual penetration by a foreign object of an unconscious woman) were dropped in October 2015, Turner was found guilty on three
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Knowing Her Name: the Framing of Sexual Assault Victims and Assailants in News Media
    Knowing Her Name: The Framing of Sexual Assault Victims and Assailants in News Media Headlines A thesis submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Communication, College of Arts and Sciences by Tessa Webb B.A. University of Cincinnati, December 2017 Advisor: Nancy Jennings, PhD. Committee: Omotayo Banjo, PhD. and Ronald Jackson, III, PhD. Abstract: By examining how attribution of responsibility is constructed by public opinion, this research determines the discrepancy in the presence of the victim and their sexual assailant in news media headlines. This research is based in the theoretical framework of framing, which will be used to evaluate how electronic news media sources portray these stories and the ways in which they possibly alter truth through agenda setting and priming. Rape myths grow within our society through repetition, so the theoretical basis of the cumulative and cognitive-transactional model of media effects will be utilized in order to focus on the consonance and repetition of themes and messages that occur across media content. A content analysis will examine the ways in which electronic news media headlines are more likely to utilize language of support and use more description for the sexual assailant, as opposed to their victim. Content analyzed will include electronic news media headlines related to the Stanford sexual assault trial. ii iii Acknowledgments: I would first like to acknowledge the support of my advisor, Dr. Nancy Jennings. Your patience and support are the reason why I survived such a harsh topic of research.
    [Show full text]
  • Downtown Streets Team Execs Accused of Harassment Page 5
    Vol. XLI, Number 16 Q January 24, 2020 PaloAltoOnline.com Downtown Streets Team execs accused of harassment Page 5 FFirstirst pplacelace oonn tthehe llineine Paly boys play at Los Altos on Friday night Page 33 Pulse 12 Transitions 13 Eating Out 17 Movies 20 Puzzles 35 QArts Local theater power couple talks life, love and drama Page 14 QBooks Find out what Palo Altans are reading Page 21 QHome In greenhouses, Filoli’s elaborate gardens take root Page 22 Your new Stanford Hospital provides high quality emergency care at dedicated Adult and Pediatric locations Marc and Laura Andreessen Pediatric Emergency Department Adult Emergency Department Caring for children—newborn to age 20 Caring for adults 900 Quarry Road Extension 1199 Welch Road Stanford, CA 94304 Stanford, CA 94304 Labor and Delivery, through Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital: 725 Welch Road • Palo Alto, CA When your needs are less urgent, we can see you at our Express Care or Walk-in Clinic (1.833.777.6151). For more information: stanfordhealthcare.org/emergencydepartment The Marc and Laura Andreessen Adult Emergency Department at Stanford Hospital is the only Level 1 Adult and Pediatric Trauma Center between San Francisco andand thethe SoutSouthh Bay. We hhaveave nationanationall ddesignationsesignations as ComprehensiveComprehensive StroStrokeke anandd CChesthest Pain Centers. IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY CALL 911 Page 2 • January 24, 2020 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com Contact Elyse for other ]bI@]bù / properties coming soon /b]Kbù / Johnson Street Menlo Park 7BR 5.5BA 18,942SF New construction w@U]@H]Mbù / 180 Forest Lane 180 Forest Menlo Park Sophisticated Loft Style Home with private elevator in premium Park Forest location 180Forest.com Pending 1 Holbrook Lane 1 Holbrook Atherton 6BR 5.5BA New construction 1HolbrookLane.com 650.743.0734 [email protected] DRE 01006027 ElyseBarcaHomes All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only.
    [Show full text]
  • Courses of Instruction
    Phillips Exeter Academy seeks students who combine intellectual curiosity, academic ability and tenacity. Throughout the Academy’s 239 years we have placed emphasis on uniting goodness and knowledge, and that remains true today. Because learning at Exeter arises largely from each individual’s engagement with others, the richness of education here requires diversity in all its dimensions. Students and teachers value — and grow from — the differences they bring to the community they share. This celebration of diversity is found in the many courses we offer, and it is reflected in the desire that students be given room to explore their unique interests and realize their potential. In addition to a broad selection of classes in cornerstone subject areas, the Academy offers unique choices such as Social Innovation, Humans and the Environment and 3-D Design. Please read through the following pages, contemplate new directions and seek fresh challenges. Enjoy the process of selection and the adventure in your learning. 2020-21 COURSES OF INSTRUCTION TABLE OF CONTENTS ACADEMIC INSTRUCTION 1 SPECIAL ON-CAMPUS OFFERINGS 74 CHOICE FORMAT DESIGNING YOUR COURSE OF STUDY 1 FIELD COURSES GENERAL GUIDELINES SENIOR PROJECTS GUIDELINES BY CLASS SPECIAL OFF-CAMPUS OFFERINGS 75 DIPLOMA REQUIREMENTS 2 THE MOUNTAIN SCHOOL, FOR FOUR-YEAR STUDENTS VERSHIRE, VERMONT FOR THREE-YEAR STUDENTS SCHOOL YEAR ABROAD FOR TWO-YEAR STUDENTS FALL TERM IN STRATFORD, ENGLAND FOR ONE-YEAR STUDENTS FALL TERM IN GRENOBLE, FRANCE FALL TERM IN TOKYO, JAPAN MEETING DIPLOMA REQUIREMENTS
    [Show full text]
  • Can You Be a Feminist and a Criminal Defense Lawyer?
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Georgetown Law Scholarly Commons Georgetown University Law Center Scholarship @ GEORGETOWN LAW 2020 Can You Be a Feminist and a Criminal Defense Lawyer? Abbe Smith Georgetown University Law Center, [email protected] This paper can be downloaded free of charge from: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/2273 American Criminal Law Review, Vol. 57, Issue 4, 1569. This open-access article is brought to you by the Georgetown Law Library. Posted with permission of the author. Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub CAN YOU BE A FEMINIST AND A CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER? Abbe Smith* INTRODUCTION Young people in the current cultural generation seem to like the word ªliterally.º They use it often and with great feeling, though not necessarily accurately. Law students will exclaim, for example, that the length of reading assignments is ªliter- ally killing them.º Young public defenders will complain that judges and prosecu- tors are ªliterally driving them crazy.º My son sometimes claims that he is ªliterally starving to death.º I can't help replying to each, ªWell, maybe not literally.º But the answer to the question I pose in this Essay is literally self-evident, for I am both a feminist and a criminal defense lawyer. I have been both of these things for more than thirty years. So yes, of course, one can be a feminist and a criminal defense lawyer: here I am. Moreover, I have answered this question many times in nearly everything I have written since becoming a law professor.
    [Show full text]
  • Carceral Feminism, Brock Turner, and the Dilemmas of Seeking Accountability for Sexual Violence in Our Prison Nation
    Interrogating Injustice: Carceral Feminism, Brock Turner, and the Dilemmas of Seeking Accountability for Sexual Violence in Our Prison Nation A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies from William & Mary by Willa Quinn Moffatt Accepted for _____Honors______________________________ (Honors) __Claire McKinney_______________________________ Claire McKinney, Director __Victoria A. Castillo_____________________________ Victoria Castillo ___Jackson Sasser________________________________ Jackson Sasser Williamsburg, VA May 10, 2021 Interrogating Injustice: Carceral Feminism, Brock Turner, and the Dilemmas of Seeking Accountability for Sexual Violence in Our Prison Nation Willa Quinn Moffatt Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies Undergraduate Honors Thesis Professor Claire McKinney May 14, 2021 Moffatt 3 Table of Contents I. Epigraph 4 II. Preface 5 III. Background 11 IV. Case Study: The People vs. Brock Turner 21 a. Case Summary b. Sentencing Narrative V. Innocence of Whiteness & the Production of Dangerous Individuals 33 a. Super-Predators and Racialized Youth b. “Brock Turner is Not a Rapist” c. “Goodbye to the Olympics” VI. The Catch-22 for Victims 41 a. The Bind b. The Path to Trial c. Secondary Victimization d. Verdict versus Sentence e. The Recall: Carceral Feminism versus Carceral Reform f. Whose Accountability? VII. Interests of Justice 50 a. Community Justice i. Stanford and the Role of a University ii. Obligations iii. Stanford’s Response b. Victim’s Justice c. Perpetrator’s Justice VIII. Afterword 66 IX. Acknowledgements 70 X. References 71 Moffatt 4 “When you say, ‘What would we do without prisons?’ what you are really saying is: ‘What would we do without civil death, exploitation, and state-sanctioned violence?’ That is an old question and the answer remains the same: Whatever it takes to build a society that does not continuously rearrange the trappings of annihilation and bondage while calling itself ‘free.’” -Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba, 2018.
    [Show full text]
  • Online Shaming
    ONLINE SHAMING Ethical Tools for Human-Computer Interaction Designers Erik Campano Department of Informatics Magister thesis, 15 hp Master’s Program in Human-Computer Interaction and Social Media SPM 2020.13 Dedication to Kathleen Content Warning This paper discusses the topics of racism, transphobia, and gender-based-violence. Abstract A set of tools – concepts, guidelines, and engineering solutions – are proposed to help human-computer interaction designers build systems that are ethical with regards to online shaming. Online shaming’s ethics are unsolved in the literature, and the phenomenon can have devastating consequences, as well as serve social justice. Kantian ethics, as interpreted by Christine Korsgaard, provide our analytical methodology. Her meta-ethics invokes Wittgenstein’s private language argument, which also models relevant concepts in human-computer interaction theory. Empirical studies and other ethicists’ views on online shaming are presented. Korsgaard’s Kantian methodology is used to evaluate the other ethicists’ views’ moral acceptability, and guidelines are drawn from that analysis. These guidelines permit shaming, with strong constraints. Technical engineering solutions to ethical problems in online shaming are discussed. All these results are situated in the public dialogue on online shaming, and future research from other ethical traditions is suggested. Keywords: online shaming, ethics, human-computer interaction 1. Introduction 1.1 Three Examples of Online Shaming We begin with three examples of online shaming. I will be using these examples throughout this paper. Justine Sacco: Justine Sacco was an American communications executive at a large media and internet holding company. She had a history of fighting for causes endorsing racial equality.
    [Show full text]
  • Blondie Bandleader Faces the Music Chanel Miller to Be Midwinter Closing Speaker Webinar on the 2020 Census
    American Libraries talks to Debbie Harry about music, art, and libraries. American Library Association • November 22, 2019 For daily ALA and library news, check the American Libraries website or subscribe to our RSS feed. Blondie bandleader faces the music Amy Carlton writes: “Debbie Harry (right)—actor, activist, and leader of punk stalwarts Blondie for more than 45 years—released Face It (Dey Street Books) in October. In it, she describes her life and career in matter-of-fact detail, from rising through New York’s art and alternative music scenes through global stardom, bankruptcy, addiction, personal tragedies, and the breakup and eventual reunion of her band. American Libraries spoke with her about music, art, libraries, and how climate activism is the new punk.”... American Libraries Newsmaker, Nov. 21 Chanel Miller to be Midwinter closing speaker Author and artist Chanel Miller (right) will be the closing speaker on January 27 at the 2020 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia. Miller first came into prominence anonymously after she was sexually assaulted on the Stanford University campus in 2015. She wrote and read a 7,137-word victim impact statement at the sentencing hearing of her assailant in 2016, which went viral after it was published in Buzzfeed. In September 2019, Miller relinquished her anonymity and was interviewed on 60 Minutes. She has published a memoir titled Know My Name (Viking Press). Miller hopes the book will forever transform the way we think about sexual assault.... ALA Conference Services, Nov. 21 Webinar on the 2020 Census On December 16, ALA will hold a free webinar for library staff, “Library Programs and Partnerships in the 2020 Census.” Strategies for libraries to reach groups at risk of being undercounted in the 2020 Census will be emphasized.
    [Show full text]
  • One City One Book: San Francisco Reads Is Here!
    SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY PRESENTS “When I listened to her, I understood: You have to hold out to see how your life unfolds, because it is most likely beyond One City One Book 2021 what you can imagine... Good things and bad things come from the universe holding hands. Wait for the good things to come.” One City One Book: San Francisco Reads Is Here! fter so much time apart, it’s time for the City to come together Chanel Miller about her book, art and her personal for everyone’s favorite literary event: One City One Book: experience with sexual trauma and the California San Francisco Reads, which encourages everyone to read the court system. In celebration of their new title, Guerrilla same book at the same time and join in lively discussions through Girls: The Art of Behaving Badly, Guerrilla Girls Frida a variety of public programs. We are rolling out the red carpet for Kahlo and Käthe Kollwitz discuss the book and their Bay Area native Chanel Miller, critically acclaimed author of Know legacy, followed by a Q&A session. We will feature a AMy Name: A Memoir (Penguin Random House). This year’s program coincides with dynamic panel of fierce women artists titled "Feel, the Library’s annual Asian/Pacific Islander American Heritage Celebration and What I Felt," which was a post-it quote Miller wrote Sexual Assault Awareness Month—a cause championed by Miller. Start reading and kept as inspiration during the writing of her and join us in community this spring. memoir, referenced in an interview with The Daily One City One Book (OCOB) is SFPL’s largest literary event of the year, and Show’s Trevor Noah.
    [Show full text]
  • Courses of Instruction 2021-2022
    2021-22 PHILLIPS EXETER ACADEMY OUR MISSION UNITE GOODNESS AND KNOWLEDGE AND INSPIRE YOUTH FROM EVERY QUARTER TO LEAD PURPOSEFUL LIVES OUR VALUES Knowledge and Goodness Youth Is the Important Period “Above all, it is expected that the attention of The “time of youth is the important period” to instill instructors to the disposition of the minds and a lasting capacity to nurture one’s self, develop morals of the youth under their charge will exceed a sense of one’s own potential and consider one’s every other care; well considering that though place in the larger whole. Our residential community goodness without knowledge is weak and feeble, encourages students to explore emerging interests yet knowledge without goodness is dangerous, — academic, artistic, athletic and extracurricular — and that both united form the noblest character, with similarly motivated peers and in the process and lay the surest foundation of usefulness to develop their values and passions and the agency [hu]mankind.” Exeter today continues the needed to carry these forward. commitment to unite knowledge and goodness. The challenges that students meet at Exeter and Non Sibi the support they receive have a common objective: to stimulate their development as individuals Non Sibi, or Not For Oneself, inscribed on Exeter’s and prepare them to lead purposeful lives. seal, attests to the philosophy that wisdom gained here should be used for others as well as for oneself. Exonians are motivated by this philosophy to face Academic Excellence the challenges of their day. Teaching and living Academic excellence is a signature strength of the principles of a just and sustainable society — Phillips Exeter Academy.
    [Show full text]
  • Book Review Feminist Scripts for Punishment
    BOOK REVIEW FEMINIST SCRIPTS FOR PUNISHMENT THE FEMINIST WAR ON CRIME: THE UNEXPECTED ROLE OF WOMEN’S LIBERATION IN MASS INCARCERATION. By Aya Gruber. Oakland, C.A.: University of California Press. 2020. Pp. xii, 288. $29.95. ∗ Reviewed by I. India Thusi In her new book, The Feminist War on Crime, Professor Aya Gruber provides a critique of feminists, who have sought political vindication through a governance of punishment.1 Professor Elizabeth Bernstein coined the term “carceral feminism” to describe the feminist commit- ment to “a law and order agenda and . a drift from the welfare state to the carceral state as the enforcement apparatus for feminist goals.”2 While feminist movements have expanded the opportunities available to women and girls, too often their means for achieving these accom- plishments have been paved on a path of the privileges of feminist elites.3 These privileges are immune from the pressures of multiple forms of subordination that form the interstitial web of inequality that many other women encounter.4 These other women are also Other5 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ∗ Associate Professor of Law, Delaware Law School. I am grateful to Jamelia N. Morgan and Ngozi Okidegbe for thoughtful comments on an earlier draft, and to Marisa Piccareto for careful research assistance. 1 See Aya Gruber, Rape, Feminism, and the War on Crime, 84 WASH. L. REV. 581, 582 (2009) (“Some feminist scholars have begun to express grave concern that ‘a punitive, retribution-driven agenda’ now constitutes ‘the most publicly accessible face of the women’s movement.’” (quoting Dianne L. Martin, Retribution Revisited: A Reconsideration of Feminist Criminal Law Reform Strategies, 36 OSGOODE HALL L.J.
    [Show full text]
  • Chanel Miller and Her Desire to Control the Narrative
    Arcadia University ScholarWorks@Arcadia Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works Undergraduate Research Fall 11-30-2019 Chanel Miller and Her Desire to Control the Narrative Raymond Ha Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.arcadia.edu/undergrad_works Recommended Citation Ha, Raymond, "Chanel Miller and Her Desire to Control the Narrative" (2019). Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works. 65. https://scholarworks.arcadia.edu/undergrad_works/65 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Undergraduate Research at ScholarWorks@Arcadia. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@Arcadia. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Running Head: Chanel Miller and Her Desire to Control the Narrative 1 Chanel Miller and Her Desire to Control the Narrative Raymond Ha Backwards and in Heels: Gender Inequity November 30, 2019 Chanel Miller and Her Desire to Control the Narrative 2 Abstract After four years of bitter silence, Emily Doe, a young woman known across media only as the victim of a Stanford sexual assault incident, shed her false persona and reclaimed her true identity as the compelling Chanel Miller in her riveting memoir: Know my name. Though quiet ​ ​ in terms of personality, Miller possesses a tremendous writer’s voice that has allowed her to vividly depict the traumatizing situation that occurred and how she was impacted by the events that followed. Since then, her name has become synonymous with resilience and her figure an upstanding symbol of the #MeToo movement. Her powerful story brought forth waves of support and criticism alike, and continue to evoke response from many today.
    [Show full text]
  • Impact Statements: Giving a Voice to Sexual Assault Survivors
    University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class Volume 19 Issue 2 Article 6 Impact Statements: Giving a Voice to Sexual Assault Survivors Anamika Roy Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/rrgc Part of the Human Rights Law Commons, Law and Gender Commons, Law and Society Commons, and the Sexuality and the Law Commons Recommended Citation Anamika Roy, Impact Statements: Giving a Voice to Sexual Assault Survivors, 19 U. Md. L.J. Race Relig. Gender & Class 370 (2020). Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/rrgc/vol19/iss2/6 This Notes & Comments is brought to you for free and open access by the Academic Journals at DigitalCommons@UM Carey Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@UM Carey Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ROY IMPACT STATEMENTS: GIVING A VOICE TO SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS * BY ANAMIKA ROY As a result of the #MeToo movement and heightened media at- tention on high-profile sexual assault cases, victims’ voices are being heard outside of a sentencing hearing in a courtroom.1 Victim impact statements (VISs) are being streamed on the internet, circulated online, and helping other victims open up about their own experiences.2 In a criminal proceeding, VISs are often the sole opportunity offered to crime victims to talk about the harm they suffered and can provide a form of healing for victims.3 That opportunity
    [Show full text]