“It doesn’t matter if the victim was drinking, out at night alone, sexually exploited, on a date with the perpetrator, or how the victim was dressed. No one asks to be raped.”
Judge Marvin Zuker, Ontario Court Justice
“It doesn’t matter if the victim was drinking, out at night alone, sexually exploited, on a date with the perpetrator, or how the victim was dressed. No one asks to be raped.”
Judge Marvin Zuker, Ontario Court Justice
In the documentary we meet Audrie and Daisy, Paige, Delaney, Ella and Jada and family members Larry and Sheila Pott and Melinda and Charlie Coleman. We also hear from perpetrators John B. and John R. and watch law enforcement question others. We watch how schools and communities try to respond to sexual violence, sit with the tragedy of Audrie’s suicide and watch in disbelief as the juvenile justice system inadequately adjudicates the cases.
In Lesson One students will learn about the cultural influences in our society that perpetuate sexual violence and referred to as “rape culture.” Rape culture is is part of a complex set of beliefs that encourages male sexual aggression, supports violence against women and portrays violence as sexy and sexuality as violent in mass media and popular culture from music lyrics to fashion. In a rape culture women perceive and live with a continuum of threatened violence ranging from sexual remarks, to sexual touching to rape itself.
Students will critically examine long held stereotypes, beliefs and behaviors about growing up to be a “man” and a “woman” in America and how these ideas can foster certain behaviors and beliefs. Students will then be introduced and learn to identify elements in our culture that contribute to what is termed rape culture. It’s hard to understand the “culture of something” because it is in the air we breathe. We don’t notice it until we are forced to because it seems “normal,” part of who we are and how we relate to each other. Changing rape culture will not occur overnight, but beginning these conversations with our students earlier rather than later is a meaningful, and possibly lifesaving, first step.
Reflection and discussion exercises paired with a film segment from the documentary will deepen their understanding of the cultural influences that sustain rape culture and prepare students to answer the following question:
Before each lesson design and communicate a trigger warning. See “Open Communication with Parents” in the Getting Started part of this lesson for helpful information. Seek out school personnel for help in designing what is developmentally appropriate for your class.
Open the class with two writing exercises. Explain to students that they will have the opportunity to explore their beliefs about what it means to be a man and a women in society today and reflect on how they respond to specific scenarios that illustrate gender roles and stereotypes.
Reflect #1: Have students create a chart with two columns. Label one column Man, the other Woman and ask students to list words or phrases that describe each category. Have students share out their lists in small groups or as a class and invite discussion about the most frequently used terms.
Reflect #2: Ask students individually completing these sentence stems:
Discuss #1: Transition and organize students into small groups. Ask students to discuss their experience of completing the two assigned writing exercises.
Groups can use these prompts if helpful.
Engage #1: Introduce students to the idea that cultural influences exist in our society that reinforce male sexual aggression. Scholars and activists working in this field term these set of beliefs and practices as “rape culture.” Discuss with students what comes to mind when they hear this term?
To expand their understanding use this reference from the Women Against Violence Against Women website. Leave time to discuss and clarify terms and allow plenty of time for discussion.
Rape culture is the images, language, laws that we see and hear everyday that validate and perpetuate rape
Rape culture is the images, language, laws that we see and hear everyday that validate and perpetuate rape including jokes, TV, music, advertising, legal jargon, laws, words and imagery, that make violence against women and sexual coercion seem so normal that people believe that rape is inevitable. Rather than viewing the culture of rape as a problem to change, people in a rape culture think about the persistence of rape as “just the way things are” and, in turn, have become desensitized to its existence. Rape culture is when a society normalizes and accepts sexualized violence
Engage #2: Next students will practice skills of critical media literacy by closely reading several online sources and analyzing how each inform their understanding of rape culture. [Note the grade recommendations.]
Distribute the links if students have online access or print copies if necessary.
Ask students to engage with each article by using the following close reading protocol:
Transition to watching video segment. Begins with Robin Bourland discussing culture surrounding the case of Daisy Coleman and her daughter Paige Parkhurst and ends with Sheriff Darren White questioning who committed a crime. (1:57: 30:20 – 02:07:10.13.)
Transition from watching the short clip to responding to the following prompt in writing.
After learning and discussing cultural influences and beliefs that define rape culture and viewing one scene from Audrie & Daisy illustrating this topic, identify an example in your school, community, in the media or elsewhere that illustrates rape culture. Be sure to cite specific evidence that supports your analysis.