Sex and Power on Campus

Abstract

Hirsch and Khan suggest that preexisting vulnerabilities - such as loneliness or isolation - can exacerbate the harm of a sexual assault, while status - particularly as a cis white man - can be protective. The concept of sexual citizenship assisted Hirsch and Khan in arriving at an analysis more attentive to intersectionality than much previous work on campus sexual assault. In many studies of sexual assault, researchers separate assault from sex, arguing that rape has nothing to do with desire or pleasure, as it is about power and control. Hirsch and Khan use it, and other similar accounts, to build the case that individualistic sexual projects lay the "groundwork for assault" (p. 112). [Extracted from the article]