An Analysis Of Mechanical Solidarity

A Times article “Here Are All the Public Figures Who’ve Been Accused of Sexual Misconduct After Harvey Weinstein” list of 121 people who have been accused of sexual misconduct, all which were released with in a few months, this is still an enormous social issue. Harvey Weinstein’s victims stepped out of the shadows starting a movement; the “Me Too” movement has affected everything from Hollywood to Politics to everyday women. This is an important subject because even to this day it is seen as taboo to talk about rape or even sexual assault. Even when Harvey Weinstein’s news broke people were questioning the women on whether it was their fault. Although once all the women came out most believed it because of the shear number and then the number of actors who confirmed the stories.

Sexual assault always has and always will be a serious problem in society. Despite the fact that, according to sources like the RAINN organization, the amount of reported sexual assault cases in the United States has dropped by more than half since 1993, sexual assault itself remains a problem in the United States. Just very recently, eight women have now come forward and accused longtime news anchor Charlie Rose of sexual misconduct in the workplace. This latest incident is one of many that have been reported within the recent months against those of a high socioeconomic standing in society, entertainers and politicians who abused their positions of power in order to harass and harm their female colleagues. These victims waited until now to report these incidents due to the fear that they will not be believed and that justice will not be delivered against those in such powerful positions. They only now come forward due to the unity they have found in each other against these abusers. To understand the uncertainty these women faced in their decision, this issue must be looked upon sociologically, using each of the three sociological perspectives of functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism to overview the various factors like race, gender, and social class that played a part in delaying their decision and explain why and how the justice system has failed in this way.

In the riveting documentary Audrie & Daisy, husband and wife director team Bonnie Cohen and Jon Shenk retrace the events leading up to the harrowing sexual assaults of three teenage girls; Audrie Pott, Daisy Coleman, and Paige Parkhurst, and expose the agonizing after effects and exploitation of the assaults. Subsequent interviews with family members, friends and law enforcement officials give important details about the aftermath of the events, and introduce viewers to possibly the biggest villain of all, Sherriff Darren White of Maryville, Missouri. Throughout the documentary White appears smug when he states that “as County Sheriff, “the buck stops here” (Darren White), and when asked about the crimes committed by Maryville’s football star, he rebuts with “was there a crime?” (Darren White). As the film moves through the twists and turns of the cases, the settings, conflicts, and tragedies are enhanced by the use of montage, long and subjective shots, close-ups and personal sketches that submerge the audience into the victim’s point of view. At the conclusion of the film, the viewer is left to decide what constitutes sexual assault and rape, and if society and law enforcement are to blame for today’s ‘rape culture’ acceptance and the continued victimization of young girls. It also reveals how much can be hidden from parents, and how disconnected they can become from their children in a social media world.

Sexual assault and violence is increasing due to advertisements misinforming people into believing that such behavior is acceptable. “In the 1960’s Kilbourne found that she received more recognition for her looks rather than her intelligence” (Grean and Lidinisky, 490). Perhaps this is why Kilbourne wrote her book, Deadly Persuasion, analyzing this problem. Kilbourne found herself in the environment bubble the media is creating where the objective analysis of people is acceptable. Kilbourne’s book is an attempt to bring awareness towards how much harm the media’s portrayal of people is generating. Kilbourne’s book is mainly targeted towards women, and is trying to spur them towards action in an attempt to change the world and, more

The first is the stigmatisation of sexual assault victims,. In the documentary we see how Audrie Pott was sexually assaulted, and how pictures of the crime were were circulated on social media. She committed suicide after being harassed, and even blamed for her own assault. Victim-blaming is shockingly common in modern society and its impacts are exacerbated by the capabilities of social media. Within our piece we explore this through a video of Sierra being raped being circulated online, receiving over 100,000 views on Facebook. Comments on the video also depict a culture of character assassination by viewers, ‘look at this slut, she’s probably got an STD’. One audience member reflected on the portrayal of social media within our piece, ‘it was amusing at times and also realistic, especially the victim-blaming comments.’ Overall, we were happy with how the social media scene reflected the realities of stigmatisation, however we also reflected on how to

On October 15th of this year, actress Alyssa Milano, started a trend on twitter for women to write “me too,” in order to reflect the extent of sexual assault. This became a trend taking over all social media, showing the vast majority of women who have had a sexual assault experience. In response to this, writer, journalist, and LGBTQ activist, Benjamin Law wrote on twitter, “Guys, it’s our turn. After yesterday’s endless #MeToo stories of women being abused, assaulted and harassed, today we say #HowIWillChange.” To which he followed up with ways in which he will help be an ally to women, like reporting his friends for sexual assault if it came up. Benjamin Law is an example of someone who understands that the solution to this issue is not blaming other men, but to focus on how he could

There are different notions that the society has towards both Brock Turner and the victim, but whether good or bad, this case has sparked many new perspectives and conversations about situations such as this. The article proposes that this is only the first step to developing a culture that does not tolerate sexual violence in any form and a judicial system that deals appropriately with cases that involve sexual assault.

Sexual assault is a big problem in the eyes of the media and towards the public. Rape is the commonly known name for sexual assault but it is more publicly appropriate for it now to be called sexual assault as influenced by the media. The media always presents a sexual assault story to the public as soon as they occur, most rape cases that we hear of from the media is the same similar story. Majority of cases involve 2 major crimes, at the least, rape then murder or even can included abduction as a woman is walking home late at night. Feminists seemed to draw the attention to sexual assault around the 1970’s and it grasped the definition of a crime committed by men attacking women in dark alley ways, homes, and work places (AIC, 2001). The media gives an idea to the public that the crime rate for sexual assault is high and making the Gold Coast a highly dangerous place for someone to live, especially for parents with children. The statistics for the Gold coast are not widely different from other

On January 7, 2018, a new movement began at the Golden Globe Awards. “‘Time’s Up!’” That was the message at last night’s Golden Globes ceremony in Hollywood, where the actors embraced the #MeToo movement and called for gender and racial justice in the post-Harvey Weinstein era” (Goodman). “Me too” has begun to evolve, and more movements are coming from it. The revolution is only beginning and big steps have already been taken. The women of the Golden Globes have made a statement that will continue to grow until sexual predators are finally held accountable. Finally, men and women all over the world are talking about the issue of sexual

In the early days of the battered women’s movement, feminists wanted to establish new forms of structural organization by distancing themselves from the hierarchy of mainstream institutions. However, one of the problems radical feminists had was the funding of their autonomous institutions. Feminists faced the challenge of creating autonomous institutions that would engage with mainstream institutions (Reinelt and Ferree, 73). While liberal feminists wanted to reform existing political institutions, radical feminists were in favor of organizing alternative autonomous institutions. Although more battered women’s shelters started to form due to the support of local and state governments, radical activists feared that these shelters would become

In the riveting documentary Audrie & Daisy, husband and wife director team Bonnie Cohen and Jon Shenk retrace the events leading up to the harrowing sexual assaults of three teenaged girls; Audrie Pott, Daisy Coleman, and Paige Parkhurst, and expose the agonizing after effects and exploitation of the assaults. Subsequent interviews with family members, friends and law enforcement officials give important details about the aftermath of the events, and introduce viewers to possibly the biggest villain of all, Sherriff Darren White of Maryville, Missouri. Throughout the documentary White appears smug while he states that “as County Sheriff, “the buck stops here” (Darren White), and when asked about the crimes committed by Maryville’s football star, he rebuts with “was there a crime?” (Darren White) As the film moves through the twists and turns of the cases, the settings, conflicts, and tragedies are enhanced by the use of montage, long and subjective shots, close-ups and personal sketches that submerge the audience into the victim’s point of view. At the conclusion of the film, the viewer is left to decide what constitutes sexual assault and rape, and if society and law enforcement are to blame for the today’s ‘rape culture’ acceptance and the continued victimization of young girls. It also reveals how much can be hidden from parents, and how disconnected parents become from their children in a social media world.

Also, “Feminist researchers have criticised the above approaches, suggesting that examining victims’ behaviour for its role in the perpetration of a crime may constitute blaming the victim, thereby holding them responsible for their plight.” (Spalek, B 2006). Feminist would also criticize the way in which the positivist approach uses victim perception to address rape victims. They would argue that this leads to victim blaming and lack of trust within the criminal justice system, this could then results in secondary victimisation.

third world feminists, proposes a structure of “oppositional (or differential) consciousness” onto which all forms of oppositional consciousness can be mapped. Differential consciousness, she argues, implies a new kind of subjectivity developed under conditions of multiple oppression. This new subjectivity, dynamic and self-consciously mobile, manifests itself in the political practices of U.S. third world feminists. Because nonwhite women have long been oppressed in multiple ways, as part of their political coming to consciousness they have had to learn to highlight (or obscure) different aspects of themselves to be able to work effectively within political organizations. For example, if a U.S. third world feminist wants to work effectively or feel comfortable in a group organized on the basis of race, she will have to highlight the racialized aspects of her personal identity and deemphasize the gendered ones. Conversely, if she wants to work effectively or feel included in white feminist organizations, she will have to deemphasize or ignore the interests generated from the racialized aspect of her identity. As a result of having to continually privilege or deemphasize different aspects of themselves in different situations, Sandoval says, U.S. third world feminists have become practiced at shifting their ideologies and identities in response to different configurations of

As reported by, feminist criminologists, their perspective of rape and sexual assault differ between liberal and radical feminists. Liberal feminists’ viewpoint in regards of rape as a gender-neutral assault on a persons’ autonomy and mainly focusing on the harm that rape can do to an individual. In contrast, radical feminists describe rape as a subject to be recognised and understood as a major pillar of patriarchy; a social system in which men claim the positions of dominance and control of the central norms and values that are linked with masculinity (Johnson, 2005: p. 4-15). The radical feminists believe that rape is a patriarchal structure within male power, thus displaying the harms that rape can do to an individual and as a group of women. Furthermore, the radical feminists approach view rape as male have the control and authority over the use of women’s bodies, which involves the sexual and reproductive. Hence, this is the core element of patriarchy, Radical feminist believe that rape is one of many forms that connects men’s sexual exploitation and violence, as well as, reinforcing women’s oppression (Whisnant, 2013).

Harvey Weinstein has to this day eighty-four accusers’ claiming sexual harassment and/or rape by him for decades. Weinstein scandal brought light to an issue that woman all around the world have been suffering yet still is often overlooked (Woody Allen) or even excused (Trump), Harvey is an exception but since he still had been on trial all might change. By understanding rape dynamics, rape perspectives, rape culture and patriarchy is possible to see that rape is all about power and control, not about ‘uncontrollable lust’ or even sex.