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Authors

Emily Marchese

Abstract

This paper is a discursive analysis of men’s anti-rape organizations that exclude women, either from physically attending meeting or presentations, or representationally, in that women’s perspectives about rape and sexual assault are absent from the material. The discursive framings that result from this exclusion often subvert and preclude helpful anti-rape work. Women’s points of view are often excluded from the material or entirely misrepresented leading to the communication of dangerously inaccurate information. Positive anti-rape work is often derailed in the literature as the organizations become entangled in unreflexive rhetorical battles. By examining the discourses, as well as what the discourses exclude, we can understand some of the problems that are foundational to these organizations. The stated purpose of these anti-rape groups is to fundamentally change violence against women in this society and therefore they have the potential to profoundly impact men’s and women’s lives. Due to this possibility, problems within the literature must be taken extremely seriously, analyzed, and, hopefully, reformed. The exclusion of women creates a variety of problems that demonstrate the necessity for a higher standard of accountability and responsibility for men’s anti-rape organizations.

Author Biography

Emily Marchese completed this essay while undertaking postgraduate study at the Gender Institute at the London School of Economics.

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