09 Dec 2019 A Disorting Mirror: Educational Trajectory After College Sexual Assault
Claire Raymond and Sarah Corse
Feminist Studies Vol. 44, No. 2, Doctoral Degrees in W/G/S/F Studies: Taking Stock (2018), pp. 464-490
My scholarly training and publications are in the fields of critical theory, aesthetic theory, poetics, and cultural theory, but I am also the lead author on this qualitative social science study regarding how surviving college sexual assault impacts a survivor’s trajectory as a student in college. Developing and conducting this study meant as much to me as the writing of any book. For the study, I spoke at length with an extraordinary group of young people- student-survivors of college sexual assault- their words, which are represented in this study, have stayed with me. I learned, from these study participants, that surviving college sexual assault has a profound impact on a student’s ability to engage in the work of being a student-studying, taking exams, writing papers. I am deeply grateful to all the participants in the study, and hope that my writing, describing, analyzing and theorizing the study results, gives clarity to this insidious problem in colleges.