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Abstract
The analysis of rape representations in literature must be grounded in criminological research. The benefits of this approach, which should be offered to college and high school students, are numerous. Not only would readers better understand the insidious implications that are often interlocked with rape representations, but they would also be compelled to openly investigate their own standpoint in regards to consent and rape myths, the key concepts to rape. This, in turn, would contribute to fostering a meaningful conversation about rape among a population where peer pressure for sexual intercourse and alcohol abuse often result in sexual encounters where the lines of consent are blurred. In this paper, I will briefly draw on the reasons why rape representations are problematic, then I will review relevant criminological findings and proceed to analyse Louise O'Neill's Asking For It, a 2015 novel focused on the gang-rape of teenage Emma O'Donovan. I have chosen a contemporary text, but the framework and methodology that I propose can be applied to analyse rape representations from different epochs.
Introduction
The literary representations of rape that we offer to college or high school students are often problematic in that the female body has consistently been reduced to a mere "plot space" for male potency (Haraway, 1989; de Lauretis, 1987; Jardine, 1985). Biblical and classical discourses, for example, represent rape as a model for marriage and endorse the rapist's right to ownership of the raped (Dworkin, 1976; Brownmiller, 1976). The cross-disciplinary power of these representations constitutes an issue because it "cuts across boundaries of juridical, diplomatic, political and literary discourses" (Higgins & Silver 1991: 1). Arguably, religious and legal texts have long-established the boundaries of women's lives, thus playing a key role in the construction and maintenance of patriarchy (Franiuk & Shain 2011, de Beauvoir 1949).
Presenting these rape representations to students in an over-simplified or normalised perspective can be detrimental for their education. Rabinowitz (2011) argues that we need to be "cautious" because "both the text and our reading of it do things to readers" (p. 6, emphasis in the original). Similarly, Tanner (1994) suggests that the experience of reading rape involves negotiating acceptance or rejection of the assumptions present in the text about the dynamics of violence. She defines...