Introduction to the Special Issue: Feminist Framings of Sexual Violence on College Campuses

• Author: Anisa Zvonkovic,Shannon E. Weaver,Elizabeth A. Sharp
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12242
• Published date: 01 February 2017
• Date: 01 February 2017

E A. S Texas Tech University

S E. W University of Connecticut

A Z Virginia Tech

Introduction to the Special Issue: Feminist Framings

of Sexual Violence on College Campuses

Brave.Resilient.Strong. These three words

describe survivors of sexual violence. This spe-

cial issue is dedicated to all survivors of sexual

violence, and especially to survivors on college

campuses. Sexual assault on college campuses

has been a widespread problem for decades

(see Haaken, 2017). Over the past few years,

a surge of national and international attention

has brought the issue to the forefront. Largely

a result of student activists (Krause, Miedema,

Woofter, & Yount, 2017) and commitment

from President Obama’s administration, there

is a growing movement in the United States

acknowledging the prevalence of gendered

sexual violence in society and on college cam-

puses. A particular spotlight has been directed

at institutions of higher education and their

systematic dismissal and improper handling

of sexual violence complaints. Feminist fam-

ily scholars possess specialized knowledge

that we believe can make substantive progress

toward eradicating sexual violence from college

campuses. Toward that end, this special issue

offers an accessible and expansive guide for

understanding, preventing, and intervening with

Department of Human Development and Family Studies,

Box 1230, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409

(elizabeth.sharp@ttu.edu).

the epidemic problem of gender-based sexual

violence on college campuses.

B   S I

This special issue grew out of discussions

among feminist family scholars who are mem-

bers of the National Council of Family Relations

(NCFR) Feminism and Family Studies (FFS)

section. Anisa began the discussion around the

time the Dear Colleague letter addressing sexual

violence in schools and on college campuses

was published (U.S. Department of Education,

2011). Her university had sent the letter to all

administrators in the early fall of 2011, and,

feeling a sense of the enormity of the changes it

invoked, she took the opportunity of the annual

meeting of NCFR to gather interested FFS

members to discuss it and its implications. At

that time, many institutions had not yet shared

the letter with faculty. Then, in 2014, Shannon,

Anisa, and Elizabeth formed the FFS Task

Force on Campus Sexual Violence. We invited

FFS members whose work focused on violence

to join. We interviewed task force members

about their research, asking them for incisive

recommendations to move forward. One rec-

ommendation, which we followed, was to host

a preconference workshop in 2015, “Feminist

Framings of Campus Sexual Violence.” The

workshop included 15 presentations and 80 par-

ticipants. According to attendee feedback, the

event was enormously successful; participants

Family Relations 66 (February 2017): 7–16 7

DOI:10.1111/fare.12242