Representing Rape: Language and sexual consent

by Susan Ehrlich

Representing Rape is the first feminist analysis of the language of sexual assault trials from the perspective of linguists. Susan Ehrlich argues that language is central to all legal settings - specifically sexual harassment and acquaintance rape hearings where linguistic descriptions of the events are often the only type of evidence available. Language does not simply reflect but helps to construct the character of the people and events under investigation.
The book is based around a case study of the trial of a male student accused of two instances of sexual assault in two different a university tribunal and a criminal trial. This case is situated within international studies on rape trials and is relevant to the legal systems of the US, Canada, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. She shows how culturally-dominant notions about rape percolate through the talk of sexual assault cases in a variety of settings and ultimately shape their outcome. Ehrlich hopes that to understand rape trials in this way is to recognize their capacity for change. By highlighting the underlying preconceptions and prejudices in the language of courtrooms today, this important book paves the way towards a fairer judicial system for the future.

184 pages, Hardcover

First published January 25, 2001

About the author

Susan Ehrlich is a Professor of Linguistics in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics at York University, Toronto, Canada. She has been involved in many ESL teacher training programmes and has taught ESL at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. Her areas of interest include second language acquisition and discourse analysis.

Reviews

[Noémie · Rating 4 out of 5]

j'aurais du le lire (vraiment) y a 3 ans. mais pretty good. too bad Ehlrich est devenue border de ouf...

[Jessie]

A fascinating, if grim, analysis. Recommended for anyone wanting to better understand how language constructs reality, especially in the courtroom, and especially for victims of sexual assault.

[Celeste · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ehrlich examines the transcripts from a York University disciplinary tribunal and a criminal court trial dealing with the same instance of sexual assault in which two women accused the same man. She argues that certain ideological frames, like the paradigm of utmost resistance, serve to limit the ways in which the women accusing the man can articulate their experiences. This leads to a reformulating of the assault as consensual sex by the defense--a reformulation that is partially accepted by the legal and extra-legal bodies involved.