Deconstructing Sexual Violence In Higher Education: A Conceptual Analysis

ASU Author/Contributor (non-ASU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Audrey L. Sherrill (Creator)
Institution
Appalachian State University (ASU )
Web Site: https://library.appstate.edu/
Advisor
Alecia Jackson

Abstract: This post-qualitative inquiry engaged the work of Gayatri Spivak in a two-part conceptual analysis of what is (not) happening with sexual violence prevention and investigations in higher education. Using poststructuralism as the theoretical foundation, part one of the analysis used Spivak’s deconstruction to trouble language and meaning in the 2011 Title IX “Dear Colleague” Letter, the 2014 White House Task Force Report “Not Alone,” and the 2014 Violence Against Women Act Final Rule. Part two of the analysis deconstructed margin/center politics and explored the production of marginality using sexual assault survivors’ narratives and the Office for Civil Rights Title IX Resolution Agreements. This conceptual analysis exposed paradoxes in the claims of safety, protection, and prevention, and revealed the privileging of post-sexual assault intervention strategies over pre-sexual assault prevention strategies. The analysis also revealed how the questionable actions of Title IX machines at higher education institutions work in opposition of safety, protection, and prevention to maintain sexual violence elimination as a condition of impossibility. In an effort to change that condition to one of possibility, recommendations for integrated prevention and intervention strategies and Title IX staff training are provided, as is the recommendation to explore Title IX Regional Investigation Centers.

Additional Information

Publication
Dissertation
Sherrill, A. (2018). "Deconstructing Sexual Violence In Higher Education: A Conceptual Analysis." Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. Appalachian State University, Boone, NC.
Language: English
Date: 2018
Keywords
Poststructuralism, Post-qualitative inquiry, Deconstruction, Marginality, Sexual violence in higher education

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