Sexual Violence on Campus: Power-Conscious Approaches to Awareness, Prevention, and Response

by Chris Linder

Activists have been working to call attention to the problem of campus sexual violence for decades, and in recent years, policymakers, campus administrators, and researchers have begun to make serious efforts to address this issue. Despite this increase in attention, many campus leaders still struggle to effectively address campus sexual violence, often over-relying on policy to address sexual violence after it happens, rather than working to prevent it from occurring in the first place. Moreover, rates of sexual victimization on college campuses have not changed in 60 years, highlighting the need for a change in action, training and behaviour. The root of sexual violence is power oppression, yet most policies and practices are based on identity- and power-neutral perspectives. Well-intended prevention efforts frequently focus on teaching potential victims how not to get raped, rather than teaching potential perpetrators not to rape. Further, most policies, practices, and research focus on only one type of victim of sexual a white cisgender heterosexual college woman. Strategies that fail to account for the ways sexual violence and power intersect cannot deliver effective solutions. Based on a wide-ranging review of research, combined with her 10 years’ of experience as an educator and co-ordinator of services for survivors of campus sexual violence, Chris Linder advances a power-conscious lens to challenge student activists, administrators, educators, and policy makers to develop more nuanced approaches to sexual violence awareness, response, and prevention on college campuses.

180 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 21, 2018

Reviews

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Chris Linder does a thorough and accessible review of how current awareness, prevention, and response practices surrounding sexual assault on college campuses do not move us in a healthier direction. Using the power-conscious approach, Linder challenges many tightly held assumptions of this work and then provides avenues for more equitable opportunities.

[Maddie Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my ideal world, Linder’s book is required reading for every college student. It flips the script on the way we think about sexual violence. Linder teaches us to position SV within a framework of power — to analyze prevention, awareness, and response efforts within the context of their regard for people who hold socially marginalized identities. Linder’s underlying thesis posits that SV perpetration arises from a desire to act upon and retain social hierarchy and dominance. The logical conclusion to prevent SV, then, is not to ask potential victims to reduce their risk or to focus solely on bystander intervention, but to interrupt patterns of perpetration. I highly recommend this read to all who wish to dismantle victim blaming and analyze SV within a historically-sound and socially-aware framework. 4/5 stars only because I think the argument resonates with those who are already inclined to agree but lacks the data necessary to convert those inclined towards victim blaming. Still - this is meant as a short primer rather than a deep-dive, and it’s brevity makes it accessible while sacrificing depth of evidentiary support.