Answer questions

Using the 12th edition of Language Awareness, complete the following assignment:

After reading Roxane Gay’s “The Careless Language of Sexual Violence,” in Language Awareness, answer the following questions:

1. Gay opens with the line, “There are crimes and then there are crimes and then there are atrocities.”  What does she mean by this?  Where do you think she would draw the line between a crime and an atrocity?

1. Gay says, “We live in a culture that is very permissive where rape is concerned.”  What causes her to make that claim?  Do you agree with her statement?  Why or why not?

1. In paragraph 4, Gay writes, we “have also, perhaps, become immune to the horror of rape because we see it so often and discuss it so often. . . .  We have appropriated the language of rape for all manner of violations, great and small.”  Why do you think Gay focuses on the seemingly joking uses of words like “rape”?  How is such usage different from using a word like “kill” or “murder” as hyperbole?

1. Gay mentions a number of television shows in which rape is depicted (Beverly Hills 90210, Private Practice, General Hospital).  In your opinion, what responsibilities, if any, does television have in the representation of rape?  Consider that the audience for television can be much bigger than for many other types of media.  Who is affected by television portrayals of rape, and how?  What ideas do viewers take away from such portrayals?

1. Gay brings up the term “rape culture,” which she defines as “a culture where we are inundated, in different ways, by the idea that male aggression and violence toward women is acceptable and often inevitable.”  Where do you see examples of rape culture?  How do small instances of aggression (sometimes called micro-aggressions) connect to physical and sexual violence?

1. Starting in 2017 with the accusations against Hollywood film mogul, Harvey Weinstein, the accusations of sexual misconduct against famous people have exploded.  Resulting from these accusations have been two movements: the #MeToo Movement and the #TimesUp Movement.  Please read the article at this website: https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/01/beyond-metoo-can-times-up-effect-real-change/549482/

1. After reading the Language Awareness article and the linked article from The Atlantic, discuss your personal opinion concerning whether the two new movements (#MeToo and #TimesUp) will have any real impact on the “rape culture in the united states