Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Beyond Survival: Embodied Rhetoric And Resistance To Campus Sexual Violence, Logan Rae Gomez

Theses - ALL

Seeking to understand the culture of rape in the U.S., this project centers the stories of women of color on college campuses. In particular, I analyze Emma Sulkowicz’s Mattress Performance and the past, present, and future activist projects of Wagatwe Wanjuki. Positioning Sulkowicz and Wanjuki in the center of the conversation on sexual violence reminds us of the historical reality of rape for women of color. Collectively, Emma Sulkowicz and Wagatwe Wanjuki create discursive spaces for what Lisa Flores calls a “rhetoric of difference” and via Cherríe Moraga’s “theory in the flesh.” Throughout, I argue that we must analyze the …