MASCULINITY AND SEXUAL
A S S A U LT C U LT U R E
SARAH
GERARD
I N T H I S P R E S E N TAT ION I O N LY TA L K A B O U T
GENDER IN A BINARY FORM AND SEX FROM A
HETEROSEXUAL PERSPECTIVE. I KNOW THAT
PEOPLE DO NOT OPERATE THROUGH THESE
STRICT BOUNDARIES, AND THAT SEXUAL
ASSAULT CAN OCCUR NO MATTER WHAT
GENDER OR SEXUAL IDENTITY YOU CHOSE TO
IDENTIFY WITH.
COLLEGE FRATERNITIES PERPETUATE A CULTURE
OF RAPE DUE TO THEIR ENCOURAGEMENT OF A
CULTURE OF HYPERMASCULINITY AND
ENFORCEMENT OF THE IDEAL THAT BEING IN
A N Y WAY U N M A N LY I S S H A M E F U L . T H I S A L L L E A D S
BACK TO HAZING AND THE HUMILIATING
PRACTICES THAT TAKES PLACE, SO BY
ELIMINATION HAZING YOU WOULD ELIMINATE A
CONTRIBUTOR OF RAPE CULTURE.
• Problem: How Hazing leads to sexual
assault culture within Fraternities
• Solution: Implementation of more
feministic leadership qualities and a
changing of culture within fraternities
MOBILIZING MASCULINITY AND
RAPE
• “Qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of men” (Britannica)
• Strength, toughness
• “stresses competition, athleticism, dominance, winning, conflict, wealth, material
possessions, willingness to drink alcohol, and sexual prowess vis-a-vis women” (Martin
4)
• Cultural reinforcement of stereotypes
• “reinforce women’s sexual subordination to men” (Hlavka 339)
• Heterosexual violence within relationships
• “male violence against women is both a reflection of their sociopolitical domination over
women at the same time,… another way of establishing control, maintaining it, or both”
(Bowker 79).
“IDENTITY DILEMMAS”
• Men “position themselves as “good guys” who don’t rape”
• Sexual Assault as Failure (Pascoe)
• Men demeaning other men who “need” to rape women
• Abstinence and Masculinity
• Concealment of systematic power (Drapeau)
P E R P E T U AT I O N O F
MASCULINITIES
THROUGH
PREVENTION
• My Strength Is Not for Hurting campaign
(Masters)
• Compulsory heterosexuality
• Differences in definition for different binary
genders
• Men have the power
WORK CITED
Hlavka, Heather R. “Normalizing Sexual Violence: Young Women Account for Harassment and Abuse.” Gender & Society, vol. 28,
no. 3, June 2014, pp. 337–58. SAGE Journals, https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243214526468.
Masters, N. Tatiana. “‘My Strength Is Not for Hurting’: Men’s Anti-Rape Websites and Their Construction of Masculinity and Male
Sexuality.” Sexualities, vol. 13, no. 1, Feb. 2010, pp. 33–46. SAGE Journals, https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460709346115.
Pascoe, C. J., and Jocelyn A. Hollander. “Good Guys Don’t Rape: Gender, Domination, and Mobilizing Rape.” Gender & Society,
vol. 30, no. 1, Feb. 2016, pp. 67–79. SAGE Journals, https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243215612707.
Bowker, Lee H. Masculinities and Violence. SAGE Publications, 1997. ProQuest Ebook Central,
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/bayloru/detail.action?docID=1995568.
Drapeau, Robert F. Attitudes of Undergraduate Fraternity and Non -Fraternity Males Regarding Acquaintance Rape and Sexual
Aggression. Boston College. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/docview/305343062/abstract/31B1926F771D4B2CPQ/1.
Accessed 11 Apr. 2022.
Martin, Patricia Yancey, and Robert A. Hummer. “Fraternities and Rape on Campus.” Gender and Society, vol. 3, no. 4, 1989, pp.
457–73.
“‘My Strength Is Not for Hurting.’” Cinderella in Combat Boots, 16 Feb. 2012,
https://cinderellaincombatboots.wordpress.com/2012/01/08/my-strength-is-not-for-hurting/.