Beyond Blurred Lines: Rape Culture in Popular Media

by Nickie D. Phillips

From its origins in academic discourse in the 1970s to our collective imagination today, the concept of “rape culture” has resonated in a variety of spheres, including television, gaming, comic book culture, and college campuses. Beyond Blurred Lines traces ways that sexual violence is collectively processed, mediated, negotiated, and contested by exploring public reactions to high-profile incidents and rape narratives in popular culture.

The concept of rape culture was initially embraced in popular media – mass media, social media, and popular culture – and contributed to a social understanding of sexual violence that mirrored feminist concerns about the persistence of rape myths and victim-blaming. However, it was later challenged by skeptics who framed the concept as a moral panic. Nickie D. Phillips documents how the conversation shifted from substantiating claims of a rape culture toward growing scrutiny of the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses. This, in turn, renewed attention toward false allegations, and away from how college enforcement policies fail victims to how they endanger accused young men.

Ultimately, she successfully lends insight into how the debates around rape culture, including microaggressions, gendered harassment and so-called political correctness, inform our collective imaginations and shape our attitudes toward criminal justice and policy responses to sexual violence.

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction

306 pages, Hardcover

First published October 19, 2016

Reviews

[Maggie Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent review of the evolution of rape culture over the past decade with great care to explore "low culture". Would have liked a bit more theory, but this is quite an accessible read for an academic book, and it makes sure to reference a lot of the web incidents it covers.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beyond Blurred Lines reads like it is the author's sociology thesis printed as a book, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Each chapter approaches a specific part of rape culture (such as gaming, comics, and college campuses) by clearly stating the what the chapter will cover in detail, goes on to detail a narrative of events (not just including major media sources like the New York Times or CNN, but also including tweets and comments to illustrate the wider response of otherwise 'inconsequential' individuals), fully explains the narrative of events in the context of rape culture, and explains why and how the narrative (including anti-rape culture movements/commentary and backlash from those entrenched in the 'traditional' culture) speaks to rape culture on a wider scale. Beyond Blurred Lines was very informative, and I particularly appreciated how Phillips avoided the use of an emotional narrative as the primary medium of topic discussion. While the text can be a bit dry at times, it is worth it to maintain academic credibility (as the author herself tacitly acknowledges during the chapter about sexual violence on college campuses, focusing on an individual, emotive narrative to forge emotional investment in your audience can be hazardous). Plus, the 'take a step back' approach that Beyond Blurred Lines has in its approach to the history and popular acceptance rape culture forces an increased reliance on academic findings and other evidence, rather than individual, compelling narratives. Individual narratives have their place in discussions of rape culture and sexual violence as they give faces to victims and allow for the empathic response that quantitative evidence doesn't typically provoke, but individual narratives cannot and should not be the sole focus of discussions about sexual violence. Overall, I felt that Phillips did an excellent job in the breadth and depth of her coverage of rape culture, especially with her choice of focusing on the comics and gaming subcultures to illustrate with stark clarity how rape culture and its backlash from entrenched ideologues can play out. Additionally, her presentation of evidence and individual narrative where appropriate to create a well fact-based, compelling, and overall well-rounded account of rape culture in the public sphere.

[Kimberly Pinzon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good and interesting read. Especially with lines like, "Criminal law never functions independently of the culture in which it's set." I definitely learned some new things and it is thought provoking.

However.

This was not an unbiased or balanced view of this topic. If you are looking for something that will simply reinforce the idea that rape culture is pervasive and every man is out to rape women, then this is it. Even when the book put forth statistics or facts that directly contradicted its thesis, the author immediately followed up with dismissive statements or tried to downplay those statistics with others (which sounds like what the book was fighting against in regards to rape culture vs. women).

This book includes such likes as "All men keep all women in a state of fear" and that the patriarchy oppresses women so all women are at risk of sexual violence. The first thing you learn in any good research or statistics class is that this all or nothing viewpoint is rarely matched with good scientific evidence.

It discusses rape as being on a continuum which includes something called "mini rape" which was never fully explored. It sounds like when some says "I'm a little pregnant." No, you're either pregnant or you're not.

Then there is the wholesale shaming of the video game, television, film, and comic industry for subjugating/oppressing/violating/and degrading women which makes it easier for men to do it in real life. (Because it hasn't been disproved enough that all of these things are not linked to actual increases in violent behavior, but we'll conveniently ignore that.) This makes me think of the uproar over the recent X-Men ad where the villain (a male) was choking Mystique (a female) and how this perpetuates violence against women. Well, no, she's a superhero and if women are going to be superheros they're going to get beat up just like the male characters. This isn't violence against women, it's violence against "good". Please go sit down.

Not to say there hasn't been, or isn't still, a problem with female representation in gaming, comics, and other media. But to say that it encourages an atmosphere of rape culture and fear against women seems inaccurate and alarmist.

There is also no mention of how this affects the LGBTQ community, and nothing about the incidences of men being raped. (Though, those numbers are probably inconsequential because there's no way to link their rape as being part of the systematic oppression of the patriarchy.)

Overall, interesting but only in as far as it is taken with a grain of salt and your own research done on the side.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really thought-provoking read, though it was mostly a literature review. I liked how the term "rape culture" was traced from its origins to its current use.

[Teddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

solid literature review, would have benefitted from more grounding in theory i think

[Mills College Library]

362.883 P5624 2017