[Gala-l] Call for IGALA panel abstracts - sexual violence and legal settings

[Ann Weatherall]

Call for contributions to a panel within the International Gender and Language Conference, IGALA 19th-21st May, 2016 City University of Hong Kong

Panel title: Constituting sexual violence in legal settings.

Convened by:  Ann Weatherall (Victoria University of Wellington)

Panel Theme:  This panel will bring together researchers conducting linguistic investigations into the ways sexual violence is constituted and managed within a variety of legal settings (e.g., police interviews, courtroom trials, etc.).  High levels of sexual violence against women is a worldwide problem.  Despite rape being recognised as a serious crime there are significant problems in its policing and prosecution. In Anglo-American societies, at least, there is a culture of minimising and downplaying the significance of sexual violence and rape, especially when women are raped by men they know and have trusted.  The number of women who report rape is still a very small proportion of those assaulted and once sexual violence cases enter the criminal justice system, they fall away in large numbers at every stage of the process (Jordan, 2013; Lea et. al. 2003). Previous research has demonstrated that the legal system is a site where rape victims experience revictimization (Lees 1996), where normative conceptions of heterosexuality construct rape as 'just sex' (Gavey 2005) and where culturally-ideal victim types form the backdrop against which complainants in rape cases are evaluated (Anderson and Doherty 2008).  The papers in this panel will explore such trends (among others), further developing understandings of the important roles that discursive, interactional and textual realities have in their realization.  Contributors will be encouraged to consider the ways linguistic research can inform and support positive changes in the treatment of sexual violence by legal institutions.

Submission:  Please e-mail me expressions of interests.  Abstracts of 500 words due to me by 19th October.
Ann.Weatherall at vuw.ac.nz

References:
Anderson, I. and Doherty, K. (2008) Accounting for Rape: Psychology, Feminism and Discourse Analysis in the Study of Sexual Violence, London: Routledge.

Gavey, N. (2005) Just Sex?: The Cultural Scaffolding of Rape, London and New York: Routledge.

Jordan, J, (2013) From victim to survivor - and from survivor to victim: Reconceptualising the survivor journey'<http://search.informit.com.au/fullText;dn=832896370790754;res=IELHEA>, Sexual Abuse in Australia and New Zealand, 5 (2), 48-57.
Lea, S. J., Lanvers U. and Shaw, S. (2003) "Attrition in Rape Cases: Developing a Profile and Identifying Relevant Factors." British Journal of Criminology 43: 577-593.
Lees, S. (1996) Carnal Knowledge: Rape on Trial, London: H. Hamilton.
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