Speaker: Dr Nikkie Phillips
This presentation traces how, in recent years, the concept of rape culture emerged as a framework in popular media to understand and explain a variety of high-profile cases, gender-based microaggressions, harassment, and other forms of sexual violence. I demonstrate the emergence of the concept in a variety of domains and the subsequent backlash against its usage including commentary proclaiming rape culture “debunked” and claims of moral panic and witch hunts. Through an analysis of how the concept flowed through popular media, I examine how sensitivity to sexual violence was reframed as a social problem and ultimately viewed as a form of overreaching political correctness, a threat to free speech, and to the broader culture-at-large.