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Carrie A. Rentschler | |
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Alma mater | University of Minnesota, B.A. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, M.A. and PhD |
Occupation(s) | professor, scholar, author |
Part of a series on |
Feminism |
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Carrie A. Rentschler is a scholar of feminist media studies and associate professor at McGill University located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. [1] Rentschler's work focuses on how media produces culture and its effects on women's lives and the reproduction of rape culture. She advocates anti-violence through the production of media to reduce violent crime.
Carrie A. Rentschler is a William Dawson Scholar in Feminist Media studies. She was the director of the Institute for Gender, Sexuality and Feminist studies at McGill University from 2011 to 2015. [1] [2] [3] At the Institute, Rentschler teaches courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. These courses include feminist media studies, media and the politics of emotion and affect, cultural studies of news, crime/media/culture, and feminist theories and methods. [1] Rentschler earned her BA magna cum laude in Humanities from the University of Minnesota in 1994, she received both her MA and PhD in Communications from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1998 and 2002 respectively. [1]
Rentschler's research interests center around media, pertaining to media as a cultural producer in representations of physical victimization and psychological trauma, and how these representations serve to inform viewers opinions about war, terrorism, citizenship and crime. [1] She pays particular focus as to how these issues specifically impact women's lives. Several examples of Rentschler conducting feminist research include, the disproportionate criminalization and incarceration of women of colour in the justice system, [1] as well as her research into using social media as a tool to inform, empower women and expose the perpetrators of rape culture, in an effort to halt the perpetuation of rape culture. [4] Rentschler also believes that women may feel more empowered by engaging in self-defense strategies. [1]
Rentschler's 2014 article called "Rape Culture and the Feminist Politics of Social Media" provides an overview of how a younger generation of feminists is combating rape culture primarily through social media. According to the paper, this movement has given more attention to street harassment, rape jokes and in some cases sexual assault than what is often present in reports by the police, mainstream news media and school authorities. [5] Rentschler notes that some women are posting pictures of their harassers, often taken with their cell phones, out of solidarity and so that other women can be forewarned. She goes on to argue that such practices can reduce the feelings of victimization and helplessness. This leads to the statement that younger women are more likely to rely on their cell phones as personal devices of safety than pepper spray and whistles. [4]
In 2019, Rentschler provided testimony in support of the Nova Scotia Registrar of Motor Vehicles and their previous decision to revoke a license plate bearing the last name of its owner Lorne Grabher. She said "as someone seeing this licence plate, you would have no idea this is a name" and argued that its approval would lead to conditions that are conducive to sexual harassment. [6] [7]
Rentschler's first book called Second Wounds: Victim's Rights and the Media in the U.S. was published by Duke University Press in 2011. [1] Second Wounds focuses on sensationalized reports that cover crime stories in a way that is alienating toward victims. Examples of this include stories that give undue publicity to the perpetrator. [8] Rentschler's work explores this in the context of secondary victimization in which survivors of sexual assault can have their trauma exacerbated by institutional neglect on the part of police and court officers. [9] Her second book, Girlhood and the Politics of Place was released in 2016 under a Creative Commons license. [10] In between the two publications, Rentschler discussed the 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese as a topic for upcoming work about the bystander effect. [1]
Rentschler advocates for an anti-violence rather than a crime control model in reducing crime. This means that people can learn about the sources of certain social problems and the necessary social steps for prevention, to reduce the chances of the crime occurring in the first place. One example is feminist intervention in domestic violence; by using media such as television commercials, and posters on college campuses offering help for those in need, people may be more likely to seek assistance and become more informed of the issues, which can be a step forward in reducing its overall incidence. [9]
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Some victims of rape or other sexual violence incidents are male. Historically, rape was thought to be, and defined as, a crime committed solely against females. This belief is still held in some parts of the world, but rape of males is now commonly criminalized and has been subject to more discussion than in the past.
Sex-positive feminism, also known as pro-sex feminism, sex-radical feminism, or sexually liberal feminism, is a feminist movement centering on the idea that sexual freedom is an essential component of women's freedom. They oppose legal or social efforts to control sexual activities between consenting adults, whether they are initiated by the government, other feminists, opponents of feminism, or any other institution. They embrace sexual minority groups, endorsing the value of coalition-building with marginalized groups. Sex-positive feminism is connected with the sex-positive movement. Sex-positive feminism brings together anti-censorship activists, LGBT activists, feminist scholars, producers of pornography and erotica, among others. Sex-positive feminists believe that prostitution can be a positive experience if workers are treated with respect, and agree that sex work should not be criminalized.
Sexual violence is any harmful or unwanted sexual act—or attempt to obtain a sexual act through violence or coercion—or an act directed against a person's sexuality without their consent, by any individual regardless of their relationship to the victim. This includes forced engagement in sexual acts, attempted or completed, and may be physical, psychological, or verbal. It occurs in times of peace and armed conflict situations, is widespread, and is considered to be one of the most traumatic, pervasive, and most common human rights violations.
Bitch was an independent, quarterly alternative magazine published in Portland, Oregon. Its tagline described it as a "feminist response to pop culture", and it was described in 2008 by Columbia Journalism Review as "a respected journal of cultural discourse". As a feminist publication, it took an intersectional approach.
Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional, or philosophical discourse. It aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. It examines women's and men's social roles, experiences, interests, chores, and feminist politics in a variety of fields, such as anthropology and sociology, communication, media studies, psychoanalysis, political theory, home economics, literature, education, and philosophy.
Victim blaming occurs when the victim of a crime or any wrongful act is held entirely or partially at fault for the harm that befell them. There is historical and current prejudice against the victims of domestic violence and sex crimes, such as the greater tendency to blame victims of rape than victims of robbery if victims and perpetrators knew each other prior to the commission of the crime. The Gay Panic Defense has also been used to justify violence against LGBTQ people.
Pro-feminism refers to support of the cause of feminism without implying that the supporter is a member of the feminist movement. The term is most often used in reference to men who actively support feminism and its efforts to bring about the political, economic, cultural, personal, and social equality of women with men. A number of pro-feminist men are involved in political activism, most often in the areas of gender equality, women's rights, and ending violence against women.
Diana E. H. Russell was a feminist writer and activist. Born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, she moved to England in 1957, and then to the United States in 1961. For the past 45 years she was engaged in research on sexual violence against women and girls. She wrote numerous books and articles on rape, including marital rape, femicide, incest, misogynist murders of women, and pornography. For The Secret Trauma, she was co-recipient of the 1986 C. Wright Mills Award. She was also the recipient of the 2001 Humanist Heroine Award from the American Humanist Association. She was also an organizer of the First International Tribunal on Crimes against Women, in Brussels in March 1976.
Rape culture is a setting, as described by some sociological theories, in which rape is pervasive and normalized due to that setting's attitudes about gender and sexuality. Behaviors commonly associated with rape culture include victim blaming, slut-shaming, sexual objectification, trivializing rape, denial of widespread rape, refusing to acknowledge the harm caused by sexual violence, or some combination of these. It has been used to describe and explain behavior within social groups, including prison rape and in conflict areas where war rape is used as psychological warfare. Entire societies have been alleged to be rape cultures.
Date rape is a form of acquaintance rape and dating violence. The two phrases are often used interchangeably, but date rape specifically refers to a rape in which there has been some sort of romantic or potentially sexual relationship between the two parties. Acquaintance rape also includes rapes in which the victim and perpetrator have been in a non-romantic, non-sexual relationship, for example as co-workers or neighbors.
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Kim Sawchuk is a professor in the Department of Communication Studies, Research Chair in Mobile Media Studies, and Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies at Concordia University in Montreal Canada. A feminist media studies scholar, Sawchuk's research spans the fields of art, gender, and culture, examining the intersection of technology into peoples lives and how that changes as one ages.
Rape schedule is a concept in feminist theory used to describe the notion that women are conditioned to place restrictions on and/or make alterations to their daily lifestyles and behaviours as a result of constant fear of sexual assault. These altered behaviours may occur consciously or unconsciously.
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Rape myths are prejudicial, stereotyped, and false beliefs about sexual assaults, rapists, and rape victims. They often serve to excuse sexual aggression, create hostility toward victims, and bias criminal prosecution.
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Cybersex trafficking, live streaming sexual abuse, webcam sex tourism/abuse or ICTs -facilitated sexual exploitation is a cybercrime involving sex trafficking and the live streaming of coerced sexual acts and/or rape on webcam.