By Hannah Williamson 4/30/2014 Connie Douglas English 1102

Preface My multi-genre project is based on my line of inquiry, who contributes to society viewing gender violence as a womens issue, and what can be done to stop that? I came up with this idea because last semester I took a gender studies course and it was my favorite class. It was scary to learn the amount of gender violence in our country, but it also interested me to gain more knowledge in the subject and possibly one day help in some way with an end to gender violence. My topic is important because of the excessive amount of gender violence occurring in the United States. What I learned about my topic is how much viewing gender violence as a womens issue becomes a problem because it causes victim blaming, where women are blamed for their rape because they did something wrong such as walk a dangerous route home, or have too much to drink. My theme that will be carried throughout my genres is the word equality. I feel a huge cause of gender violence is that still to this day women are not treated equal to men. In my project I have placed the word equality in each genre to show an easy solution, working on viewing men and women as equals.

The Man We were raised, Raised to know better. Watch who youre with, and watch what you wear. Dont be branded with a Scarlet Letter. But mistakes happen, Its hard to focus all the time. Why didnt anyone stop the man? What monster does such a crime? I feared the hallways come Monday morning. Who knew? What things would they say? Though when I got blamed I was left confused. Why were they saying I would pay? Why wouldnt I charge the man? The man who will haunt me every night. The man that changed my life for the worst, Who took advantage when I couldnt fight. The man had no right to do that. No, I wasnt asking for it. You werent there, how would you know? Weeks go by, the man still wont admit Ill drop the charges and the man will be free Forever Ill carry the damage that made me not me Im not the same because of what the man had done But I just couldnt take that along with the shun I see theres no equality between me and the man Because the man will be okay, and Im not sure that I can

CONSENSUAL SEXUAL INTERCOURSE AGREEMENT

This AGREEMENT of CONSENSUAL SEXUAL INTERCOURSE is made as of _______________ (insert date), by and between _______________ (partner ones name printed) and _______________ (partner twos name printed)

I. Formation
The undersigned hereby form an agreement of consensual sexual intercourse in, and in accordance with the laws of, the State of _______________ (insert state).

II. Term
The Partnership shall occur on _______________ (insert date) and shall continue until _______________ (insert date) unless earlier terminated.

III. Purpose
The purpose of this consensual sexual intercourse shall be for pleasure purposes.

IV. Termination of Partnership of Consensual Sexual Intercourse

The partnership of consensual sexual intercourse may be terminated by agreement of the Partners. It will be documented that the partnership has discontinued.

V. Forbidden Acts
No partner of this consensual sexual intercourse shall: Have the right or authority to accuse one another of non-consensual intercourse Be under the influence of any sort as that would not be legitimate consent to have sexual intercourse. Question equality of the other partner,

This Agreement of Consensual Sexual Intercourse shall be binding between the two given partners. The partners have caused this Agreement of Consensual Sexual Intercourse to be executed and effective on the dates given above.
___________________________ ______________________ Partner ones name printed ___________________________ ______________________ Partner twos name printed _______________________________ Partner ones signature _______________________________ Partner twos signature

Date signed

Date signed

Genre #1: Visual with Words Poster Gender Violence is NOT just a Womens Issue

What this genre tells about my topic is the basis of the problem and the idea that society views that needs to be changed. That idea is that gender violence is a womens issue only, when in reality it is a mens issue too since they are often the perpetrators in the crimes. I chose this genre because the poster is supposed to spread the word, which is one solution I found might be helpful. In my research I learned that one issue within the problem is that some men dont understand the definition of rape, which is why knowledge about gender violence is so important. This poster shows what I feel is the biggest problem. Since men dont feel its their issue, they tune it out when they should be listening. I have included the theme equality in the picture I drew at the top left and right corners, showing the men and women bathroom symbols with equality underneath them. The sources used for this genre would be a Ted video by Jackson Katz, where he first introduced me to the problem of viewing gender violence as womens issues and why we shouldnt. I also used piktochart.com to make this poster.

Genre # 2: Creative Writing Poem The Man

What this genre tells about my topic is the problems that come with viewing gender violence as a womens issue. In this poem, the character talks about how we, or women, are raised to prevent being sexually assaulted. However, its hard to focus all the time and the character is raped by a man at her school. She is nervous to go to school because she doesnt want to talk about it and she doesnt know what people are going to say. She is shocked when people are blaming her for getting the guy in trouble though. The character eventually ends up dropping the charges and the man is set free, because she is sick of being shunned at school.

My rationale for selecting this genre is that I felt a poem would help capture the pain some women have to go through after they experience this sort of trauma, and the unnecessary things they sometimes have to encounter afterwards as a result of our society not understanding rape isnt always preventable. I agree, there are cases where a woman shouldnt have taken that shortcut through the ally to get home, or another woman really didnt need that extra drink. What everyone needs to see though is the ally didnt rape the woman, nor did the drink. A thinking, breathing, human being raped the woman, and thats the problem. I showed the theme of equality in the second to last line, I see theres no equality between me and the man. Because the man will be okay, and Im not sure that I can. I did not use any specific sources for this genre.

Genre #3: Structured Contract

Consensual Sexual Intercourse Agreement

I chose this genre to present information because when in my gender studies when defining rape we talked about consent, and how neither partner can give consent if under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. This then brings a problem because people can technically accuse each other of rape even if they had one drink, were barely drunk, and had sex. We talked about ways to prevent getting accused of rape and one student jokingly brought up making a contract to sign every time you have sex with someone. We laughed about how that might be a mood kill but it got me thinking, what if society actually comes to that? Technically if contracts like these existed, the people who are accused of rape when they didnt actually do so would benefit greatly. However, it also saddened me that it crossed a students mind. What if someday it comes to having to make these contracts? What this genre tells about my topic is that gender violence issues need to be discussed more, and rape caused from too much alcohol has to stop. I dont want my future to consist of formal written unromantic documents. The sources I used for this genre was word processors template for a contract.

Conclusion Since researching this topic I have learned a great deal. My perspective changed in that I stopped only blaming men for gender violence. I saw how women effect gender violence as well if they dont report or press charges. Media also effects gender violence by diminishing women and sexualizing violence. Overall I learned how much men, women, and the media do things that lead to gender violence, and ways to help stop it. Men need to be well educated on gender violence and willing to listen. One of the issues caused by society viewing gender violence as a womens only issue is that men tune out all talk of rape and sexual and physical assault towards women because they arent the guys who would rape a women. However, it still happens. Men need to be educated, and more men with higher power need to speak up about it. It will have a better chance of being heard by men if it is said by men. Again, women need to report more crimes. Men cant be getting away with these things, and more men should be behind bars for what they do to women. Lastly, media has to discontinue airing things offensive towards females. It shows society that its okay to say and show these things when it most certainly is not, I enjoyed doing a multi-genre project to present my information. I feel it gave me a chance to be creative with my topic to help my audience understand. I hope my audience learns how much my topic is a problem and I hope it would make them want to help in the effort to stop gender violence.

Works Cited Katz, Jackson. Violence against Women- It's a Men's Issue. Ted.com. N.p., Nov. 2012. Web. 22 Mar. 2014.