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Submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree of MASTER OF GRAPHIC DESIGN
Department of Graphic DesignCollege of Design
North Carolina State University
Designing a System that
Facilitates Storytelling in theContext of Female College-AgedDate Rape Survivors
JERI-LYNN GEHR
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Denise Gonzales CrispCommittee Chair
Professor of Graphic Design
Submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree of MASTER OF GRAPHIC DESIGN
May 2015
Department of Graphic DesignCollege of Design
North Carolina State University
Committee Member
Assistant Professor of Graphic Design
Committee Member
Professor of Graphic Design
Deborah Littlejohn Meredith Davis
Designing a System that
Facilitates Storytelling in theContext of Female College-AgedDate Rape Survivors
JERI-LYNN GEHR
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Contents Abstract
Problem Statement
Thesis Direction
The Scope
Limitations
Assumptions
Justification
Background
Date Rape
Reporting
Support
Why Storytelling?
Participatory Design
Design
The System
System Components
Personas
Design Studies
Early Work
Photography
Collective Action
Patchwork Quilt
Conclusions and Future Work
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Appendices
A. Case Studies
B. Charts and Maps
Rape Trauma Disorder
Production Matrices
C. Literature Review
D. Interviews
3
5
7
9
11
21
51
53
57
59
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3 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Abstract
Abstract People have long used storytelling or narratives as a means of learning and
exercising agency, shaping identity, and motivating action. For instance, the
telling of a traumatic experience can not only help a survivor of sexual assault
make sense of an experience but can prompt others to share their own stories.
Date rape is one of the most underreported types of sexual assault afflicting
college campuses across the United States. Because date rape occurs between
two acquaintances, survivors often perceive the incident as “normal” or not
severe enough to report to the police or university, thus creating an endless
cycle of low reporting rates and perpetuated myths.
This investigation explores the potential for design intervention into system
that facilitates storytelling as a means of engaging and encouraging college
date rape survivors to share their experiences. The system employs methods
from Participatory Design practices, giving survivors the tools necessary
to tell their personal stories. The project explores the visual limitations and
opportunities for storytelling through various communication channels. In
these studies, I examine the importance of survivor control and anonymity, as
well as the impact various degrees of privacy have on the survivor’s decision to
share her story.
Keywords | Date Rape, College Females, Storytelling, Participatory Design, Rape Myths,
Co-Creation, Design
“It seems incredible, the ease
with which we sink through
books quite out of sight;
pass clamorous pages into
soundless dreams.”
— William Gass Fiction and Figures of Life
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5 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Problem Statement
Problem Statement Research Question
How can the design of a system that facilitatesstorytelling encourage college-aged femaleswho are survivors of date rape to record andshare their experiences?
Sub Questions
How can the story representation visually communicate that thesystem is survivor-centered?
How can the public display of date rape survivor stories encourageand motivate other date rape survivors to share their experiences?
How can the design of the system allow for and circulate variousdegrees of storytelling?
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7 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Thesis Direction
Thesis Direction I have always been passionate about advocating for survivors of sexual assault.
The recent explosion of public attention to the ever-increasing problem,
brought on by federal investigations of some 100 American universities that
mishandled rape cases in the past, made it clear that I should pursue a thesis
regarding rape on college campus. The complexity of the problem provided
me with several paths, one of which is the potential of preventative tools. My
biggest concern with investigating preventative tools was the overwhelming
dread that I would be promoting or condoning a culture that accepts rape as
an unavoidable phenomenon.
Our culture is saturated with basic safety guidelines for women to live by: be
mindful of your alcohol intake; never leave your drink unattended; do not
walk alone; avoid dangerous or risky situations in general; always have your
cell phone with you; and do not allow yourself to be isolated with someone
you do not trust. Even with knowledge of these guidelines, following them
can be difficult. Promoting safety as a basic means for prevention suggests
that rape is inevitable. The promotion of safety measures results in further
victim-blaming, due to the fact that the onus of prevention falls on females as
potential victims.
I cannot change the culture in one thesis project, however, I can investigate
tools or methods that support the survivors — tools that help create a
conversation around an issue that is not, but should be, talked about.
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9 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | The Scope | Limitations & Assumptions
The Scope Limitations
The following research is limited to college females who have survived date rape. Survivors
would interact with the proposed system at any point, as they encounter it on campus.
Interaction, whether it is viewing or producing content within the system, and the growth of
the system’s community, is limited by the interaction of survivors. Survivors must publicly
display their stories in order to motivate others to share theirs.
This investigation is limited to the scope of the studies that the research questions present.
The outcomes of the design studies do not take form of a completely designed and coded
system. For example, the investigation includes various and short explorations of the physical
representation of survivor stories and how that representation communicates survivor-
centeredness to the viewing survivor. Because most of the design outcomes represent short
bursts of investigations and renderings of ideas, the work is preliminary and ‘unfinished’. The
studies encourage speculation for future outcomes and projects.
The design of the system is limited to specific communication channels through which
survivors can tell their stories. The decision to limit the scope of the investigation to these
channels — poster campaign, zine, web archive, and monument project — was influenced
by research on the characteristics and effectiveness of each component individually and as a
connected system (SYSTEM COMPONENTS).
Assumptions
The basis for this investigation is the assumption that there are rape survivor advocates on
college campuses who want to tell their stories to inspire other rape survivors. The evolution ofdesign into a participatory culture exhibits a want or need from non-designers to create. The
most obvious demonstration of this demand is on the Internet, in personal websites and blogs
(Sanders, 28). The desire to create, combined with storytelling’s productive power to influence,
justify the assumption that rape survivor advocates will tell their stories of rape, if they are
given the tools to create, share, and inspire.
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11 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Justification | Background
Justification Background
The transition to college plays an important role in student life. Students
are introduced to an environment where they are required to think and
make decisions independently and where an increased opportunity for
peer interaction is present. Suddenly, college students are presented with
an abundance of social freedom and responsibility. This transitional
period requires students to define for themselves what “normal” alcohol
consumption, dating, and sexual activity are. Whether or not students develop
standards through experience in a pervasive environment—an environment
where everything seems to be established—or they enter college with their
own assumptions, the transition from high school to college usually marks
an increase in all three of these aforementioned activities, placing college
students in high-risk social situations.
Sexual assault is one of the most common and disturbing high-risk socialexperiences that occurs on college campuses across the United States. The
United States Department of Justice defines sexual assault as “any type of
sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the
recipient” (n. pag.). Although males are assaulted on college campuses, the
majority of sexual assault crimes occur between a male aggressor and a
female target. Research indicates that one in five women will be raped during
her first year of college (Eilperin, n. pag.). A large part of what makes women
so vulnerable on college campuses, as opposed to the general population
of women, relates to the increased opportunity for peer interaction. College
women interact with college men “in a variety of public and private settingsat various times on college campuses” (Fisher, Cullen, & Turner, 1). College
women date more and create more relationships with men than ever before in
their lives.
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Date Rape
In most cases, especially in the university context, a survivor’s attacker is
someone she knows. This investigation focuses solely on survivors of a
specific type of sexual assault referred to as “date rape”. Most sexual assaults
of college students occur during dating and often after some consensual
sexual activities, such as kissing. Date rape, a type of “acquaintance rape”, is
characterized by a familiar relationship between the victim and the offender,
ranging from a first date to an established romantic relationship (Kouta, Tolma,
& Pavlou, 39).
Ultimately, there is no guaranteed way to prevent an attack. Because date rape
occurs between a victim and assailant who know each other, it is difficult to
predict if or when an assault will occur. There is common confusion about
whether or not what happened was indeed rape, especially when the survivor
is faced with the reality that the person who raped was a friend or a date and
not a stranger in a mask. These preconceived notions of rape are called “rape
myths” and contribute to the overall concept of Rape Myth Acceptance (Egan &
Wilson, 345).
Rape myths are defined as “prejudicial, stereotyped, or false beliefs about rape,
rape victims, and rapists” (Egan & Wilson, 346). They include perceptions such
as women ask to be raped when they wear revealing clothing, and when the
victim has an established relationship with the assailant, especially if there was
sexual activity in the past, the assault is not rape. The function of rape myths,
according to some researchers, “is to deny or justify male sexual aggression
against women” (Egan & Wilson, 346). Rape myths justify this aggression
by promoting victim-blaming, the false assumption that the victim was
partially responsible, or even a contributor to her own assault. Knowing and
recognizing rape myths is crucial in understanding that a rape occurred.
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13 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Justification | Date Rape
Research indicates, “women who have been raped and have high Rape Myth
Acceptance are less likely to report the crime to the police” (Egan & Wilson,
346). The common misconception (or myth) about rape is that rapists are
‘criminal types’ and belong to specific classes and races. In reality, rapists
can be anyone from any background, race, or gender. Often when date rape
occurs, the victims do not perceive their offenders as rapists, because the
offenders do not fit into the stereotypical perceptions about rape. Instead of
identifying the rape as a crime, victims and offenders alike often see it simply
as ‘hooking up’ (Egan & Wilson, 346). In addition, due to the familiarity of
the assailant and possible established relationship, date rape victims often
sympathize with assailants and do not report the crime to avoid bringing
shame to assailants or their families.
Rape myths especially play a large part in date rapes where alcohol
consumption is involved. Studies show that “heavy drinking environments
present particularly high levels of risk for sexual victimization” (Todaro,
Johnson, & Kelley-Baker, 101). Alcohol is the most widely used date rape drug,
and alcohol incapacitation is the cause of 89 percent of date rape assaults
(Krebs, Lindquist, Warner, Bonnie S. Fisher, & Martin, xvi). When alcohol
is involved, survivors are less likely to report their assault, either in fear of
repercussions, especially in cases of underage drinking, or the common
misconception that the police or university will doubt or blame the survivor
for consuming too much alcohol. (Hammond, personal conversation).
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Reporting
A survivor can make the university aware of her rape through several campus
resources. The following chart ( Figure 1) illustrates the opportunities that
survivors of rape have for reporting. The consequences of the report vary;
depending on which services the survivor seeks. For example, if the survivor
reports her rape to the police, an investigation must immediately proceed, and
due to the Clery Act regulations, an anonymous report of the incident must
be immediately broadcasted to the student body (Ward & Mann, 146). The
Counseling Center is the only fully confidential campus resource available
to students.
Sexual assault is one of the most underreported social crimes on college
campuses in the United States, where less than 5 percent of rapes are reported
to campus police and university officials. (Fisher et al, 23). In a survey
administered by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), of the 66
percent of survivors who knew their offenders as a date or romantic partner,
95 percent did not report the crime to the police (Delaplane, 47).
Survivors do not publicly report their rapes for a variety of reasons, including:
guilt, shame, fear of retaliation from the offender, fear of being blamed or not
believed, or even simply not being ready to talk about or confront the incident.
Date rape survivors often feel they are surviving alone and that their family
and friends will be embarrassed, if they publicly report the incident. Another
common barrier that deters survivors from reporting, especially in incidents
involving alcohol—which dulls judgment and inhibition—is that the incidentdoes not seem important enough to report to the police. In some cases,
especially where sexual activity between the parties occurred in the
past, the incidents are even seen as ‘normal’, indicating that no crime
was actually committed.
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15 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Justification | Reporting
Figure 1 | The map illustrates a list of possible resources
available to rape survivors. A survivor’s decision to seek out a
specific resource depends on the desired outcome or service.
For example, a survivor seeking emotional support may go to
individual or group therapy at the Counseling Center, but one
seeking academic punishment for the offender will go to the
Office of Student Conduct.
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Lack of proof also deters survivors from reporting. Without physical evidence,
survivors have no way of proving that the incident ever occurred. These
victims may be concerned that they are bothering the police with an incident
that the police will not believe was serious enough. In a conversation with
a member of the North Carolina State University campus police, Sergeant
Timothy Hammonds emphasized the importance of reporting an incident
as soon as possible (usually within 72 hours of the assault), in order to
collect sufficient physical evidence. However, Hammonds also noted that
although after 72 hours little can be done regarding physical evidence,
behavioral evidence of the perpetrator can still be collected (Hammonds,
personal interview).
Historically, the difficulty of convicting offenders has deterred females from
publicly reporting the crime of rape. Research and “post-trial interviews with
jurors have indicated that juries are less likely to convict a defendant if the
female victim had used birth control, engaged in pre- or extra-marital sex,
had been acquainted with the defendant prior to the assault, wore sexually
provocative dress during or before the alleged rape, had a number of dating
and sexual intercourse partners, and engaged in drug and alcohol use”
(Chamblis, 73). Several of these factors are common characteristics of date
rape and contribute to the victims’ notions of fear, shame, retaliation of the
offender, and overall lack of severity. Due to historical lack of punishment for
the assailants, many survivors do not see a reason to report the crime.
Reporting rape to campus police and leaders on campus, such as Campus
Security Authorities (CSA), is an important step in raising awareness and
preventing date rape. Lack of reporting:
…leads to a number of consequences. First, the perpetrator is free to
rape again. Second, the victim is left with little access to ‘justice’. She
may live in fear that her rapist will rape her again. Third, knowledge
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17 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Justification | Support
of the offender’s behavior is unknown, limiting the generalizability
of research into sex offenders and their profiles. If the victim reports
the crime, there is a possibility of capturing the perpetrator. A more
accurate assessment of rape as a crime may be obtained. Furthermore,
with better knowledge about rapists and their victims, therapeutic
interventions and counseling services may be improved (Egan &
Wilson, 345-346).
Without reporting, the survivor cannot seek justice for what happened to
her, or prevent it from happening to someone else. Studies show that only
six percent of college men engage in sexual activity that meets the criteria of
rape or attempted rape, but two-thirds of that percentage are repeat offenders,
committing on average six assaults in their lifetime (Lisak and Miller, 79).
Support
Emotional and physical support is crucial in a college woman’s life and is
especially important before and after an assault. Emotional support of college
women generally comes from their circle of friends who look out for each
other’s safety as well as provide consoling conversation during an emotional
crisis. Without the emotional support of others, including friends, family,
and the university, date rape survivors are likely to keep silent about the
rape. Survivors often feel powerless, and the reporting process, specifically
regarding campus police and university, often gives the victim an even
stronger sense of helplessness through the lack of control in the aftermath ofdealing with the judicial system.
In addition to physical trauma, survivors of date rape often experience rage,
humiliation, and depression. Some survivors may withdraw from the public or
feel suicidal, often suffering from a disorder similar to Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder, referred to as Rape Trauma Syndrome (Sutherland & Scherl, 504).
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Survivors require support from friends, family, and the university, all of whom
need to be aware of these behaviors in order to assist survivors in getting the
physical and emotional help they need. Due to the under-reporting and lack of
awareness of the large number of college females suffering from the physical
and emotional consequences of date rape, universities are not able to provide
the proper amount of necessary support services.
Ultimately, survivors have the right to report or not report their rapes to
campus police or the university. Due to the lack of reporting and safe spaces
for survivors to share their experiences without fear of victim blaming, shame,
and doubt, the awareness of date rape as a large problem remains hidden
on campuses across America. The miniscule number of date rapes reported
to universities does not indicate a lack of incidents, but rather a lack of safe
spaces for survivors to share their experiences.
Why Storytelling?
According to Johnathan Gottschall, author of The Storytelling Animal, the
best way to emotionally connect with people is through storytelling. People
have long since used storytelling and narrative as a means of learning and
exercising agency, shaping identity, and motivating action. The telling of a
traumatic experience can not only help a sexual assault survivor make sense
of her experience, but it can encourage others to share their own stories. This
notion of encouragement in the context of sexual assault is seen in recent
allegations brought forward on Bill Cosby, a famous comedian and actor
who, over the years, has been accused of allegedly raping several women.
Although the allegations were surfacing for years prior, some leading to court
settlements, the recent attention surfaced new allegations regarding similar
behavior from older cases, encouraging other women to come forward and
share their experiences.
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19 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Justification | Participatory Design
The structure of a story allows individuals to “bring their own experiences and
beliefs to bear on a shared experience, enhancing it and growing it over time.
And in doing, so build communities in ways that don’t oversimplify or reduce
our experiences into a homogenized mediocrity” (Graham, n. pag.). Looking
at life as a narrative, people usually see themselves as the protagonist in their
own experiences. A date rape survivor often goes through various stagesof depression after the trauma, which is characterized by “an ‘incoherent
story,’ an ‘inadequate narrative account of oneself,’ or ‘a life story gone ‘awry’”
(Gottschall, 175). Talking through experiences has proven successful, maybe
even more than antidepressant drugs, in reflecting on one’s l ife story and
reimagining oneself as the protagonist of her experiences, once again.
In addition to helping the survivor make sense of her experiences, storytelling,
and the collection of stories, presents the opportunity to raise awareness of
the scale of the problem of date rape on college campuses. Public display of
survivor stories lets people know there is a problem but also tells survivors thatthey are not alone in their experiences.
Participatory Design
The notion of survivor-centered as related to giving control back to the
survivor is what motivated my investigation of a system based on the
principles of Participatory Design—a system that provides users with the tools
to generate content. Historically stemming from a modernist conception
of authorship, graphic design has been about control—“controlling what
the audience sees, controlling the typography of a piece, controlling its
concept” (Armstrong & Stojmirovic, 11). Evident in the explosion of creative
contribution and customization of blogs and websites like Flickr, Tumblr,
and YouTube, the traditional idea of a user as a consumer of messages is no
longer relevant. Elizabeth Sanders contributes this surge in user participation
to the previously unmet needs for creativity in the traditional graphic design
landscape (Sanders, 28-29).
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Participatory design provides the opportunity to address the changing
landscape of graphic design, because it:
…requires user content for completion. Rather than delivering clean,
finished products to a passive audience, participatory designers are
creating open-ended generative systems. Today audience is changing.Viewers have become users, and professional creative suddenly face a
newly activated public. No longer content to simply digest messages,
these users increasingly approach design with the expectation of
having to fill in the blanks and actively insert content (Armstrong &
Stojmirovic, 11).
Not only does giving survivors control over their own messages provide
potential for an increase in survivor storytelling, but also the output of the
user-generated content adds an element of familiarity and trust between the
survivors interacting with the system.
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21 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Design | The System
Design The System
To gain insight on the current structures, behaviors, and practices of North
Carolina State University’s (NCSU) reporting services, I conducted semi-
structured interviews with various leaders of the Women’s Center, the
Counseling Center, and the NCSU Police Department. An important question
with which I addressed each interview subject, revealed the importance, if at
all, of reporting rape cases to the police and university. Before the interviews,
all of my research pointed toward the tremendous importance of reporting.
Solving the problem of low reporting rates seemed to be the answer to
preventing date rape, diminishing rape myths, and raising awareness.
The practice of storytelling evolved from the discovery that reporting rape
to the police and university may not be the most important or productive
method in becoming part of a larger solution. Except in the case of Sergeant
Hammonds, whose job is to provide a safe environment by removing
criminals from the community, the main priority of the leaders in the
Women’s Center and the Counseling Center is to provide a survivor-centered
environment for date rape survivors. ‘Survivor-centered’ in this context means
providing a space, free of victim-blaming and doubt, where survivors feel
safe to talk about their experiences. In a traumatic event such as date rape,
where control is often seized from the survivor, survivor-centered means
allowing the survivor to decide if, when, or how she will tell her story. The lack
of control survivors feel in the aftermath of university reporting processes
often deters survivors from reporting at all. The system I propose in this
investigation, based on the principles of Participatory Design, provides a
space for survivors to share their experiences through different
communication channels as a means of communicating to each other,
“You are not alone,” while raising awareness to the university and public
about the scale of the problem.
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Personas
The following personas are based on the compilation three
variables, including: typical behaviors that date rape survivors
exhibit, which are similar to individuals suffering from
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ( APPENDIX B ); actual date rape
survivors stories represented in news articles and anonymous
survivor story blogs; an analysis of David Rose’s Idea
Receptivity Gradient ( Figure 2). Rose’s scale provides a range of
levels of participation, or engagement, starting at Not Ready
to Know and progressing to Ready to Advocate. Growth in
receptivity typically happens incrementally rather than all at
once.
I analyzed the characteristics of each user on the Receptivity
Gradient and, for the purpose of this study, divided theminto viewers and producers. Users who are Not Ready to
Know, Ready to Know, and Ready to Hold an Opinion are
likely to be viewers of messages that users who are Ready to
Figure 2 | Receptivity Gradient — Davis Rose
Davis, Personal Conversation, Fall 2014
Act and Ready to Advocate produce. The largest difference
between Ready to know and Ready to Hold an Opinion is an
information-seeking behavior. Users who are Ready to Know
are susceptible to messages targeted at them, while users who
are Ready to Hold an Opinion, actively seek out messages.
Users who are Ready to Act differ with those who are
advocates by the perceived level of stakes involved in telling
her story. Ready to Act users are likely to share their stories in
environments that offer higher degrees of privacy, such as the
web archive.
The purpose of this investigation is to design a system that
facilitates a user’s ability to move through Rose’s stages of
receptivity from Ready to Know to Ready to Advocate. Each
system component varies in the level of story complexity and
degree of public and private engagement, thereby influencing
the degree of user engagement and interaction.
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23 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Design | Personas
Brittany | Ready to Know“I told myself it wasn’t rape, because he said he loved me andwould never hurt me. I spent the last year pretending nothingwas wrong.”
Brittany is a sophomore at NCSU. Last year, she and her boyfriend of threeyears were hanging out in her dorm room, drinking alcohol. They started to
kiss, but Brittany did not feel well, so she told him she wanted to go to bed. Her
boyfriend ignored her wishes and forcibly raped her that night. Brittany knew
that he would never intentionally hurt her, so she kept the incident to herself
and fell into a deep depression. It took Ashley a year of counseling to accept
that she was raped. Brittany’s acceptance of the rape makes her susceptible to
messages about rape that are placed in her environment.
Ashley | Ready to Hold an Opinion“Why would anyone believe me? I was so wasted, I can hardlybelieve it myself.”
Ashley is a freshman at NCSU. She went to a house party with a friend she was
dating for a few weeks. While at the party, they had too much to drink, and
Ashley fell unconscious. When she regained consciousness, Ashley was in a
random bedroom with her date on top of her, raping her. Still slipping in and
out of consciousness, Ashley was unable to defend herself. She awoke the next
morning ashamed and confused and did not want to come forward publiclyabout the assault, afraid of the repercussions of underage drinking. She
realizes that what happened to her was wrong and not her fault, but she does
not want to tell the police. Ashley is likely to seek out the experiences of other
survivors, to learn what they did in her situation.
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Bethany | Ready to Act“It’s hard to imagine coming forward publicly, yet, but being ableto read other survivors’ stories and connect with people who havesimilar experiences to my own is encouraging.”
Bethany is a sophomore at NCSU and a new member of a popular sororityon campus. At a recent party, a senior from a brother fraternity forcibly raped
Bethany. Bethany’s entire life revolves around her sorority, where her only
friends are her sorority sisters. They discouraged her from reporting her
assault to the police or the university, warning that her reputation in the Greek
community will be ruined. Feeling alone and afraid to come forward publicly
with her experience, she was even hesitant to go to the Women’s Center on
campus. Bethany wishes she had someone to turn to; someone who knows
and understands what she is going through. Bethany is l ikely to reach out and
share her story in a less high stakes environment.
Jessica | Ready to Advocate“I’ve found inspiration in the willingness of rape survivors to talkabout their assaults even if it’s been years after the fact. I decidedit was time for me to do the same. It should never be too late.”
Jessica is a senior at NCSU and was raped by her boyfriend during her first
semester of freshman year. She reported the rape to campus police but felt
as though she was being blamed for what happened. After receiving almost
three years of counseling, as well as frequent participation in awareness and
education programs that the NCSU Women’s Center facilitates each semester,
Jessica is ready to inspire others as a leader and advocate for survivors of
date rape.
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System Components
The proposed system, one that facilitates storytelling, is essentially comprised
of separate ‘stages’ or platforms for users to share their stories ( Figure 3 ). The
system is cyclical in the sense that users who are Ready to Act and Advocate
share their stories, encouraging Ready to Know and Ready to Hold an Opinion
users to read them and share their own, thus moving them up through the
gradient. I propose that, due to the varied level of engagement the target
users possess, the components—a poster campaign, zine, web archive, and
monument project—are necessary as a system. Each entry point varies in
degree of privacy, interaction, and level of story complexity. The system, as a
whole, acts as a ‘net’ to ‘catch’ each user who varies in levels of engagement or
message receptivity.
Figure 3 | A map of the proposed system, containing different
platforms for storytelling.
“...today’s design audience
engages visual communication
both actively and passively,
uploading as well asdownloading media, authoring
content as well as consuming it”
— Ellen Lupton Participate: Designing for
User-Generated Content
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Poster Campaign
Posters were one of the earliest forms of mass communication, traditionally
making their main function a quick attraction of the viewer’s attention (Rivers,
8). The nature of the poster’s form allows for a low level of story complexity
and a high level of publicity. Posters function well as a means for increasing
levels of education and are likely to engage survivors who are Ready to Knowor ready to accept they were raped. (Konradi, 978).
Zine
Zines are self-published and self-circulated magazines, usually driven by
passion and the desire to express. They often give voices to marginalized
communities by eliminating the restrictions of publishers, editors, and
distributors. This elimination allows for high authorship and ownership of the
content. Zines can be produced individually or collaboratively and are usually
viewed privately, allowing for contemplation and reflection.
Usually circulated to limited audiences, zines offer a higher degree of privacy
for storytelling in the sense that they are distributed and traded amongst the
community members they represent. If the zine is a collaborative effort, it is
not unusual that only contributors receive copies. This restricted nature of
distribution fosters expressiveness amongst zine-makers, which allows for
various levels of story complexity. For example, contributors and creators
of zines often use the format to express their stories through photography,
poetry, or other art forms, but they may also use the zine as a journal, by
writing their stories in a linear narrative form. The visual representation of the
story allows for varying levels of interpretation from the viewer.
Brittany, who is Ready to Know, entered the systemthrough a poster campaign. The acceptance of her raperaised her awareness of messages containing contentabout rape and sexual assault. The posters were inpublic areas on campus where Brittany encounteredthem daily. Brittany’s engagement with the posterscaused her to seek more information on the webinterface, where she found a collection of survivorstories from women at NCSU. The move from poster tothe web setting advanced Brittany from Ready to Know to Ready to Hold an Opinion.
Bethany, who is Ready to Act, entered the systemthrough the zine. Bethany sought support from theCounseling Center on campus where the zine wassituated in a group therapy setting. The zine allowedBethany to tell her story to a limited audience, anaudience that she grew to trust over time. AfterBethany shared her experience in the zine, she felt
more comfortable talking about her rape to otherpeople. She and her group members felt compelled toshare their experiences in a more public setting, sothey created a poster campaign to inspire others tocome forward, thus elevating them from Ready to Act to Ready to Advocate.
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27 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Design | System Components
Ashley, who is Ready to Hold an Opinion, entered thesystem through the web archive, where she activelysearched for and read other date rape survivor storiesfrom women at NCSU. Ashley was inspired by the largenumber of collected stories in the archive and afterreading several, she decided to share her experience.Telling her story advanced Ashley from Ready to Holdan Opinion to Ready to Act.
Jessica, who is Ready to Advocate, entered thesystem through a monument project that shehelped facilitate on the quad on campus. With herstory, Jessica hoped to inspire other survivors andraise awareness to the general campus public about the
hidden problem of date rape at NCSU. She also sharedher story on the web archive and, throughout the year,created several posters to attract survivorsin lower levels of engagement.
Web Archive
A web archive is a collection of stories, which allows audiences to view stories
as part of a larger phenomenon. Individuals who tell personal stories through
web interfaces often perceive the telling experience as inward and intimate.
The medium allows them to tell their stories in their entirety while providing
a heightened sense of privacy, especially if the environment appeals to oris restricted to a specific public (Dimond, Dye, LaRose, & Bruckman, 3). The
reflective nature of storytelling in a web archive allows users to label, identify,
and even change how they perceive their experiences.
Monument Project
The term ‘monument project’ was influenced by a current crowd-sourced
installation called the Monument Quilt ( APPENDIX A ). Other than the Monument
Quilt, there is currently no monument dedicated to survivors of rape and
sexual violence. Monument projects, or installations, are projects that demand
large public spaces for individuals to tell their stories. The stories vary indegree of complexity, which is dependent on the form of the project. They
can vary from highly abstract and expressive to written in detail. The goal
of a monument project is to use scale to attract viewers to come closer and
potentially interact with it. Monument projects are extremely public and invite
a new viewer to the system: the campus community. They raise awareness
and promote dialogue amongst viewers outside of the survivor community.
The monument project’s public nature can deter users who are not Ready to
Advocate from telling their stories through the medium.
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Early Studies
Early in the process of my investigation, before I fully understood the scope
of the problem I was addressing (and in an effort to make something), my
design studies took the form of short bursts of visual explorations. Inspired by
the concept of ‘survivor-centered,’ I posed questions regarding its definitions
in this context. Some of these explorations addressed visualizing progression,
or growth and transformation, from a private state to a public one ( Figure 4.1).
At this stage in the process, I had not yet thoroughly conceived of a system
of communication with connected components. Though none of my early
studies connected systematically, they helped me to ask questions that lead
me to later studies.
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Figure 4.1 | Quick explorations that visualize progression,
growth, transformation, and clarity. These studies provided
insight into later studies that employed photography as a visual
means of communicating ‘survivor-centered.’
Figure 4.2 | A visualization of a web interface from the point of
view of the outside viewer. This representation made me aware
of the importance of the sensitivity of the subject matter. How
could I communicate, “You are not alone”, rather than “You are
just a statistic”?
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Figure 4.3 | Sound Familiar? is a poster campaign that
advertises the release of the survivor-generated zine, Loud.
The designs are created by cutting up the very zines they
are advertising, creating a new, collaborated story from the
combination of individual survivor stories.
Figure 4.4 | This Mad Libs approach to a poster campaign was
an exploration of how to engage users in storytelling through a
poster platform.
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Figure 4.5 | A Little Bit Louder Now logo. The visualization and
name came from the purpose of the proposed design system.As users tell their stories, they inspire others to tell their
stories, thus causing the audience to broaden and generating
more ‘noise.’
Figure 4.6 | Poster templates from A Little Bit Louder Now
A Little Bit Louder Now is an approach of a system of templates for survivors
to tell their stories. The templates are available online for users to print and
generate their stories in workshops facilitated my users who are Ready to
Advocate ( Figure 4.6). This exploration, like several of my early studies, is
grounded at the artifact level of the poster with no clear understanding yet of
the individual component’s connection to the system as a whole.
The overall visual representation does not communicate survivor-centered.
The language is shallow, and the branding reflects a corporate feel. This
corporate branding implies that an organization is involved with the system,
rather than a system that relies heavily on user-generated content. A system
that visually represents that it is run by survivors, for survivors, will build more
trust than one that relies on a corporate identity.
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Photography Studies
I explored the use of photography as a means of
communicating that the system is survivor-centered. For the
purpose of the documentation of this study, I protected the
privacy of my photography subjects by adding illustrations
over their images.
Photography is often used to create an identity for
marginalized communities. It puts a face to a statistic.
Photography adds a sense of vulnerability to the storyteller,
especially in stigmatized cases like sexual assault. Sharing
a rape experience is extremely courageous, and displaying
one’s face alongside that story is even braver. Photography,
when applied systematically, can communicate to date rape
survivors that the system is survivor-centered. The women’s’
willingness to physically identify themselves in company
with their stories, suggests that the system is free of victim-
blaming, judgment, and doubt.
The decision to illustrate the images of females into
photographs was not an easy one. After seeing their images
in context, some of the women I photographed for this
study felt uncomfortable being documented as date rape
survivors. The revelation of this was surprising but interesting.
It demonstrated the need for investigations like this. Rape is
such a stigmatized issue that even some non-survivors are
uncomfortable being labeled as survivors.
Regardless of the change of course, the illustrations provided
a new opportunity I did not foresee. They provide a sense of
identity paired with a level of anonymity that photography did
not provide. The illustrations project a sense of reflectiveness
in the sense that their faceless bodies could be anyone, just
like date rape can happen to anyone. They also broaden the
sense of privacy amongst the system components, offering
lower levels of engagement the opportunity to advance
more quickly. For example, Bethany, who is Ready to Act, is
encouraged to share her story through a poster, which is
generally seen as a higher stakes experience. The anonymity
of the figures appeals to her desire to share her experience in
a more private setting.
Poster Campaign
Users create the following poster campaign with software
similar to photo editing and personalization platforms like
Snapchat ( Figure 5.1). Users can upload their photos to the
platform, where they are given a set of tools to personalize
their messages. The tools include a limited number of
typefaces—a handwritten font, a bold san serif, and a serif.
Users are given the functions to resize, change the color, and
add a highlight to their text. The personalization function
adds a sense of control and expression to the story. This
aspect also allows the user to control how vulnerable or
visually exposed she wants to appear ( Figure 5.2).
Everyday, Brittany, a Ready to Know user, walks past a bulletin
board filled with posters of survivor stories ( Figure 5.3 ). She is
not ready to tell her story yet, but the varied sense of privacy
the poster designs propose, intrigue her. One day, she decides
to approach the bulletin board and examine the stories more
closely. The perceived option of privacy motivated Brittany to
stop and read the survivor stories, advancing her to Ready to
Hold an Opinion.
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Figure 5.1 | Examples of photography in
a poster campaign context
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Figure 5.2 | The personalization function of the poster-
generating software allows for control over how visually
exposed the user wants to appear on her poster.
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Figure 5.3 | Photography posters on a
bulletin board on campus.
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Zine
Rather than the standard saddle-stitched book-like format, I explored the
different forms a zine could take. I was inspired by the accordion format of the
zine. When collaboratively applied to an accordion booklet, photography and
stories sit side-by-side, demonstrating a sense of collective action
( Figure 5.4 & 5.5).
Figure 5.4 | Close-up of photography in
the accordian zine context
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Figure 5.5 | The accordion format of the zine creates a visual
representation of collective action.
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Figure 5.6 | In this sense, the photography allows for a sense
of authenticity in the storytelling. It also demands interpretation
from the viewer.
I also investigated the accordion’s potential to demonstrate how a story can
literally unfold. Zines often display stories in the form of artwork and poetry.
They are an intimate form of storytelling, limited to a restricted audience that
allows for reflection and inwardness. This reflection occurs in the making of
the zine and in the reading of others’.
The following study illustrates a zine created by an individual with the use of
photography to tell the story ( Figure 5.6). Bethany, a user who is Ready to Act,
trades zines with her fellow members of the support group she attends at the
Counseling Center. Bethany and her support group use a template provided
in the system’s online interface, to create their zines. They import personal
photos into the template where clear instructions are given regarding printing
and assembly.
Bethany tells her story through a series of photos that lays out her rape
chronologically, starting with an image of her attacker—her ex boyfriend.Although she has accepted the incident as rape, she still sympathizes with him
and is uncomfortable revealing his full identity. The zine template is restrictive
in size and proportion. Due to the proportions, the template ultimately crops
the photos Bethany uploads. She must make decisions about the visual
representation of her story. By contemplating on what is and is not important
in the telling of her story, Bethany is forced to reflect on her experience. She
prints enough copies to trade with her group therapy members.
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Monument Project
The following monument project is based on a current traveling memorial
installation called The Silent Witness Project. The Women’s Center hosts
this installation every year to raise awareness and education about victims
of domestic violence in our community (Forcella, personal interview). The
project consists of 10 red, life-size silhouettes, each with a plaque holding thestory of a person who was murdered because of domestic violence ( Figure 5.7 ).
Monuments are common storytelling platforms dedicated to victims, but what
about survivors who are still here to tell their stories? I see a potential to use
large format photography of survivors, replacing the ambiguous silhouette of
the Silent Witnesses.
Images can be printed from a plotter and wheat-pasted to plywood easels.
Instead of randomly placing the figures throughout campus, they would
have more collective influence if placed as a group (similar to Figure 5.7 )
in high traffic areas of campus, drawing attention to the amount andraising awareness to the university public about date rape on campus. The
photography will humanize the figures, making them more real and adding to
the idea that they are survivors, not victims.
Figure 5.7 | Silhouettes from the Silent Witness Project.
http://oied.ncsu.edu/Womens-Center/programs-and-events/
silent-witness-campaign/
Figure 5.8 | Proposed life-sized photographic images thatgive survivors a highly public space to tell their stories. The
illustrative characteristics of the figures provide a greater sense
of anonymity and reflectiveness.
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Collective Action
Designing system components for storytelling quickly revealed the
importance of community and collective action. A sense of community is
crucial in a survivor-centered environment. Community implies support,
and support, especially emotional, is key in motivating survivors to tell their
stories. The notion of community started with a sketch that explored a new
approach of the poster as a means of storytelling ( Figure 6.1). The interaction of
the posters becomes a form of storytelling in itself—all of the pieces, or posters,
must be laid out in order to finish the narrative.
Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Design | Collective Action
Figure 5.9 | An example of photography used as an entry
point in the web archive context. The different treatment to
eat photograph in size projects an image of individuality, while
drawing attention to the size of the problem by showing a
collection of images.
Figure 6.1 | A quick sketch illustrating what community might
look like in the context of the poster campaign.
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Figure 6.2 | Example of posters that interact with each
other, implying a sense of unity. This is more successful in
an illustrative form where the subjects are anonymous. The
original photographs illustrated a ‘monster-like’ feel.
Figure 6.3 & 6.4 | In order to clearly display the web archive
address to move survivors who are Ready to Know through
the system, the design of the posters requires at least four
producers to tell their stories. Advocates are especially
motivated by their desire to inspire others.
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Patchwork Quilt
Explorations of community and a collection or collective action metaphor
lead me to the idea of patchwork quilting as a means of storytelling. In the
following studies, the quilt metaphor is visually represented differently in each
system component, but the main outcomes are the same. These outcomes
include the ‘piecing together’ of individual stories that can be viewedseparately or as a collection that communicate a larger phenomenon or story.
Poster Campaign
In the context of a poster campaign, I drew inspiration from the relationships
between neighboring patches of a quilt. The design of the campaign
encourages collaborative storytelling from survivors by allowing for
conversation between the posters ( Figure 7.3 ). Similar to a quilt, the viewer and
producer can enter and exit the story or conversation at any point, causing
a different narrative for anyone who reads the posters as a whole ( Figure 7.1).
The form fosters a sense of collective engagement through the collaboration,but each user encounters the collected narrative individually based on her
personal experiences.
The posters also for a deeper level of engagement through a QR code. The
code leads to the web archive, where the unfinished story is written in its
entirety. Similar to a quilt, users have the option to view the campaign at
different levels of complexity.
Figure 7.1 | A quick concept sketch of posters that ‘talk’ to
each other
Figure 7.2 | A sketch of collaborative storytelling through tiles
or paper
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Monument Project
The monument project level of the system provides more opportunities for
collaborative storytelling but in a larger, more public space. The following
study is a quick exploration collective storytelling through the use of tiles
( Figure 7.4). In this scenario, the tiles are printed letters on paper that are pieced
together to form one giant story. The story began with Jessica, a Ready toAdvocate user, who printed the words “I was raped but I am not a victim.”
Other advocates contributed sentences based on their personal experiences.
The result was a large collected story that demanded public space, inviting
viewers from outside of the survivor community to view and discuss . Similar
to the talking poster campaign ( Figure 7.3 ), the form offers multiple entry point
of storytelling and reading ( Figure 7.5).
Figure 7.3 | Posters that ‘talk’ to each other. Each poster
contains a QR code that leads to the web archive, where a
viewer can read the story in its entirety.
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Figure 7.4 | Collaborative storytelling in the context of the
monument project
Figure 7.5 | Users can contribute to the collaborative story
from multiple entry points.
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47 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Design | Patchwork Quilt
Figure 7.6 | The Digital Quilt at 100%, representing how each
story represents an identity of date rape survivors.
Web Archive
I completed two explorations of a quilt metaphor in the context of the
web archive. Although story archives on the web, like blogs, are inherently
collections of stories, traditionally they are visually represented in a vertical,
linear format, which loses the overall impression of a collection. The
patchwork quilt as an interface metaphor offers the perfect opportunity fordisplaying stories as a collection, where users can view the collection in its
entirety or focus on the individual survivor stories.
The first digital quilt I investigated does just that. The largest view of the quilt,
when the user zooms out at 100%, presents an unfortunate overview of the
problem of the date rape on that campus ( Figure 7.6).
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This larger view can help the user connect her own experience to a larger
phenomenon, making her feel less ‘alone.’ Zooming in on the digital quilt
allows for intimate viewing of individual stories, allowing for reflection. The
user can zoom in and out at any time, connecting each story to a larger
phenomenon as a whole.
Figure 7.7 | Digital Quilt at 75%. Only a small amount of thestory is visible to the user.
Figure 7.8 | The closer the user gets to the quilt, the most
complex the store becomes.
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49 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Design | Patchwork Quilt
Similar to the conversation poster campaign ( Figure 7.3 ), the second study of the
quilt metaphor in a web archive context focused on the relationships between
the patches of a quilt and the path someone takes while viewing them ( Figure
7.2).
The interface prompts the user, Ashley (Ready to Know) to tell her story bymoving her in and out of the patches of the digital quilt, suggesting stories
she should read based on the ones she already read ( Figure 7.10). When Ashley
finishes a story, she is given the option to go to the next story, share her story,
or quit out of the story she is in, in order to deliberately choose another one.
The interface suggests stories that she is seemingly interested in, based on the
data collected from the stories she read in the past. The assumption is that she
is reading stories that are similar to her own experience, and the more stories
she reads, the more likely she will be to share her story.
Ashley finishes reading a survivor story about a woman whose boyfriend
raped her. Prior to this story, Ashley was directed by the interface to four
other stories very similar to this one. Reading the stories online helped Ashley
find the courage to share her story. When the interface prompts her to make
a decision at the end of the story, she shares her experience with the web
archive community. Once she shares her story, the quilt square she was
previously in, grows in size, making it more prominent on the digital quilt.
The prominence communicates to the owner of that square that she inspired
Ashley with her story, thereby deciding to share hers. The various sizes on the
quilt also communicates to users who are viewers that the system is survivorfriendly and provides a means for communicating emotional support to
one another.
Figure 7.9 | A second investigation of a digital quilt.
Figure 7.10 | When the user is finished reading a story, the
interface prompts her to either move forward with a similar
story or share her own.
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Figure 7.11 | When a user selects the option to share her story,
the quilt square she was previously in grows in size, making it
more prominent on the digital quilt. The growth in size indicates
that someone was inspired enough by the story to share her
own, thus illustrating a sense of emotional support amongst
the community.
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51 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Conclusion and Future Work
Conclusion andFuture Work
Due to privacy issues of the users of my investigation, I was not able to work
directly with sexual assault survivors. This made the investigation extremely
theoretical and somewhat difficult to predict how survivors might use the
tools and systems I designed to facilitate their storytelling. Because I was
speculating on the visual and textual outcomes of my design studies, the next
step is to implement parts of the system into a college environment to see ifand how survivors interact with it.
The framework through which I explored visual representation of survivor
stories presents opportunities for future work that involves sharing
experiences around stigmatized issues. These issues include, but are not
limited to individuals with mental health concerns, individuals suffering from
HIV and AIDS related illnesses, and victims larger audiences of domestic and
sexual violence. Each of these issues presents similar problems regarding the
importance of conversation within a community to raise awareness about
larger issues.
The investigation suggests opportunities to further examine the visual
representation of collective action as a means for communicating survivor-
centered and community, in general. The investigation also scratched
the surface of how designers can push the boundaries of communication
channels in terms of facilitating storytelling. For example, how can designers
offer survivors tools that turn a medium that is traditionally perceived as
highly public into one that feels safe?
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53 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Bibliography
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Hammonds, Timothy. Personal Conversation. 9 Feb. 2015.
Knaus, Christopher Stephen, Bruce E. Pinkleton, and Erica Weintraub Austin.
“The Ability of the AIDS Quilt to Motivate Information Seeking, Personal
Discussion, and Preventative Behavior as a Health Communication
Intervention.” Health Communication 12.3 (2000): 301-16. Web. 9 Apr.
2015.
Konradi, Amanda. “A Strategy for Increasing Postrape Medical Care and
Forensic Examination: Marketing Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners to
the College Population.” Violence Against Women 9.8 (2003): 955-88.Web. 9 Apr. 2015.
Kouta, C., E. L. Tolma, and S. E. Pavlou. “Date Rape among Cypriot Female
College Students: An Explorative Study.” Global Health Promotion 20.3
(2013): 38-46. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.
Krebs, Christopher P., Christine H. Lindquist, Tara D. Warner, Bonnie S. Fisher,
and Sandra L. Martin. National Institute of Justice. The Campus Sexual
Assault (CSA) Study . Dec. 2007. <https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/
grants/221153.pdf>.
Lisak, David, and Paul M. Miller. “Repeat Rape and Multiple Offending Among
Undetected Rapists.” Violence and Victims 17.1 (2002): 73-84.
Lupton, Ellen. Graphic Design Thinking: Beyond Brain Storming . 1st ed. New
York, New York: Princeton Architectural, 2011.
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55 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Bibliography
Lupton, Ellen. Indie Publishing: How to Design and Produce Your Own Book.
New York: Princeton Architectural, 2008. Print.
Klanten, Robert, Adeline Mollard, Matthias Hubner, and Soja Commentz.
Behind the Zines: Self-Publishing Culture. Berline: Die Gestalten Verlag,
2011. Print.
Rivers, Charlotte. Poster-art: Innovation in Poster Design. Mies: RotoVision,
2007. Print.
Rosen, Rebecca J. “A Map of Loss: The AIDS Quilt Goes Online.” The Atlantic.
Atlantic Media Company, 2012. Web. 9 Apr. 2015.
Sanders, Elizabeth. “Design Serviing People.” Cumulus Working Papers
Copenhagen. Ed. Yrjo Sotamaa. Helsinki: U of Art and Design Helsinki
UIAH, 2006. 28-33. Print.
Sanders, Elizabeth B.-N., and Pieter Jan Stappers. Convivial Toolbox:
Generative Research for the Front End of Design. Amsterdam: BIS,
2014. Print.
“StoryCorps: Mission.” StoryCorps. < http://storycorps.org/about/>.
Sutherland, Sandra, and Donald J. Scherl. “Patterns of Response Among
Victims of Rape.” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 40.3 (1970): 503-
511. PsycARTICLES. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.
Todaro Brooks, Alyssa, Mark Johnson, and Tara Kelley-Baker. “Adapting The
Safenights Intervention To College Campuses.” American Journal of
Health Studies 28.3 (2013): 101-108. Health Source: Nursing/Academic
Edition. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.
Ward, Diane, and Janice Lee. Mann. The Handbook for Campus Safety and
Security Reporting . Rockville, MD: Westat, 2011. Print.
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57 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements Thank you to everyone who has supported me through this crazy journey.
Graduate school was one of the most challenging experiences I have ever
encountered, and I would never have made it through the last two years
without the guidance and encouragement of the people around me. I never
thought I would learn and experience as much as I did, and I would do it all
again in a heartbeat.
Mom and Dad | Even though you still don’t ‘get’ what I do — which is okay,
because most of the time, I don’t either — I know that you’re proud of me.
It’s been a rough couple of years, but we made it through. Thanks for always
being there for me.
Denise Gonzales Crisp | I chose you as my chair, because I knew you would
push me to be a better designer, maker, and thinker. You taught me the
importance of confidence, and I promise to never again utter the words, “I
don’t know” when describing my work. Thank you for a challenging two years.I needed it. ELF YES.
Meredith Davis | The program will certainly not be the same without you.
Thank you for believing in me, even when I didn’t believe in myself.
Valen Lin | I can’t believe we made it this far, just the two of us. We made a
great team, and I know we will remain friends until the end. Thank you for all
of your encouragement; you would make an awesome motivational speaker.
Sean Gardner | I am so glad that I met you. You have become one of mybest friends. Thanks for being there at any time of the night when I needed
someone to listen to my freak outs.
Paul Morlier | You really are the best. Thanks for being there when I needed
to cry and holding back when I needed space. You love me even when I’m a
crazy person, and I like that. I love you!
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59 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Appendices | Appendix A
Appendices Appendix A | Case Studies
The following case studies are included as examples of systems or tools
that not only facilitate storytelling, but also include various degrees of user-
generated or contributed content. Each case is an example of a component that
is present in my investigation.
AmphetaZINE
AmphetaZINE, produced by Seattle based design studio Modern Dog, is
an HIV-prevention booklet that uses humor to diffuse the solemnity of a
stigmatized and complex subject matter. Modern Dog produced the booklets
for Seattle gay and bisexual men who inject methamphetamine. Research
indicated that although HIV is commonly transmitted through needle
injection, the new HIV cases in this particular population were caused
by risky sexual behaviors. Like the issue of alcohol in date rape situations,
methamphetamine causes increased libido and reduced concern about sexualsafety (AIGA Design Archives).
Modern Dog used the zine format to reach a population where HIV affected
half of the city’s inhabitants. Designing with member contributed content,
their approach “utilize[d] a ‘home grown’ feel; it appeal[ed] where more
traditional health pamphlets would fail” (AIGA Design Archives). AmphetaZINE
contained articles, which “[were] based on principles of harm reduction, health
promotion and withheld judgment” (ibid). Members of the target audience
submitted poetry, articles, artwork, and story ideas.
This example is an interesting approach in targeting audience members
who are Not Ready to Know about stigmatized issues like HIV. The designers
of AmphetaZINE use humor, and while the stance works for this targeted
reader, it is not a sensitive or relevant way to speak to rape survivors. The use
of humor can further trivialize rape, promoting rape culture and distancing
survivors instead of engaging them.
How this serves my study
AmphetaZINE acts not only as an example of how
stories can be told through a zine format, but it contains
elements of member-created content that informs the
visual design. Although Modern Dog designed and
produced the zine, the design approach of the ‘home
grown’ feel of end-user-generated messages serves as an
opportunity to systematically communicate to readers
that the system is survivor-centered.
Figure 8 | A spread from an issue of AmphetaZINE.
http://designarchives.aiga.org/
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Design to Empower
Design to Empower is a series of workshops conducted by designer Giselle
Lewis-Archibald for and with girls who live in a Baltimore residential
facility called Good Shepherd Center. The facility caters to young women
experiencing emotional and behavioral difficulties. The workshops consisted
of toolkits and design prompts that facilitated the expression of each girl’sinfluences, ideals, and hopes for the future (Lupton, 98). Lewis-Archibald
provided templates for the girls to create their content. The result was a zine
that solicited text and images from each participant, empowering her to
control her own life and future.
Developed by Elizabeth Sanders, “co-design, or co-creation is a form of design
research that engages end users in the process of building a product, platform,
publication, or environment” (Lupton, 98). The beauty of co-creation is that it
emphasizes user experience and understands that “users are experts in their
own domains” (ibid).
StoryCorps
StoryCorps is a nonprofit organization that collects stories told by Americans
of all backgrounds and beliefs by means of recording, preserving and
sharing. StoryCorps’ mission is to “remind one another of shared humanity,
to strengthen and build the connections between people, to teach the value
of listening, and to weave into fabric of our culture the understanding that
everyone’s story matters” (StoryCorps, n. pag.). The presence of people and
the sound of voices available through the StoryCorps website, conveyed usingphotographs and oral recordings, emphasize humanity and cultural identity.
This co-created human quality promotes empathy and connection to listeners
and readers.
StoryCorps gives users the tools necessary for users to share their experiences
and puts them in charge of their own documentation. This control allows
How this serves my study
Design to Empower is an example of a low-tech system
design that allows for the compilation of user-generated
content through the implementation of workshops
and template design. The case provides insight into
the opportunities for workshops as a means of creating
content by which to tell stories.
Figure 9 | Example of Design to Empower zine,
created by young women experiencing emotional and
behavioral difficulties
Graphic Design Thinking: Beyond Brain Storming.
Figure 10 | StoryCorps story booth.
www.storycorps.org
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61 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Appendices | Appendix A
users to ask questions and say things they may not have said otherwise. The
ability to listen in on what feels like a personal conversation promotes a feeling
of intimacy between the listener and storytellers. The interview techniques
employed by StoryCorps are beneficial in moving stories along and making
them more digestible to the listener instead of forcing the storyteller to come
up with a story on the spot.
Community-Activated Design
Community-activated design is a method in which collaborative design
methods provide opportunity to increase end users’ participation in the
input of messages targeted at them. Designer Clinton Carlson employed
community-activated design in a project regarding suicide prevention at
the University of Nebraska Kearney. Carlson ran a workshop with and for
students at the university, to create poster campaign on suicide prevention at
the university level. By providing a framework, including paint, stencils, andposter templates, he engaged students, who were target audience members,
to create posters containing suicide awareness and prevention messages. In
working on the campaign with the very messages targeted toward them, the
students’ awareness of the available resources regarding suicide prevention
greatly increased (Armstrong & Stojmirovic, 106).
How this serves my study
The design of StoryCorps provides potential for
investigation of the relationship between privacy and
the vulnerability of the storyteller through degrees
of exposure. The presence of user photographs and
oral recordings of stories seems to leave StoryCorps
storytellers exposed and vulnerable. This vulnerabilityaffects the intimacy of each story. Date rape survivor
stories are inherently intimate, but in what ways, and
how far can I (or should I) push the visual language of the
system in order to increase vulnerability of the survivors
who are telling their stories?
How this serves my study
The case study that employs community-activated
design is a clear example of a designer creating andproviding necessary components to audience who
aggregate messages through a poster campaign. In
the context of my study, community-activated design
is a valuable method for generating trust and empathy
between date rape survivors reading and telling their
stories. The method creates a level of involvement that
can potentially promote user engagement.
Figure 11 | Community-activated design
Participate: Designing for User-Generated Content,
Helen Armstrong
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Cowbird
Designer Jonathan Harris connects and engages people from all over the
world with his “public library of human experience” (Cowbird, n. pag.).
Cowbird is a platform where users can share life experiences, whether in a few
sentences or several paragraphs. The website creates connections through
shared experiences using functions l ike ‘sprout,’ where users explore stories
based on inspiration from another story. The site contains story prompts as
well as opportunities for open-ended storytelling. The purpose of the interface
is to build a small community through shared experiences, while allowing for
self-expression, or anonymity if one desires.
AIDS Memorial Quilt
Said to be the largest piece of community folk art in the world, the AIDS
Memorial Quilt is a monumental tapestry that pays tribute to nearly 94,000
individuals who died of AIDS related complications (Rosen, n. pag.). TheNAMES Project Foundation established the quilt in 1987, displaying it for the
first time on the Washington Mall. After 25 years of participation from friends
and families of those who have passed away due to AIDS related illnesses, the
enormous size of the Quilt is a testament to AIDS as a devastating killer. In fact,
the Quilt is so large, weighing in at 54 tons; the Washington Mall can no longer
hold it in its entirety.
Viewers can now see the AIDS Quilt in its entirety online. With the
collaborative efforts of several organizations, a zoomable ‘map’ of the Quilt
is available through Bing mapping technology. Similar to the nature ofstorytelling through quilts, the AIDS Quilt can be viewed at two scales—in
whole, as an enormous reminder of the disease’s destruction, creating a single
identity for this community, and in the singular panels that tell the stories of
the individuals.
How this serves my study
The largest influence Cowbird has on my study is its
‘sprout’ function. In the context of date rape survivors,
support is an influential factor in story-sharing.
Implementing visual structures, behaviors, or metaphors
that communicate to the storyteller that her story
inspired others is an opportunity to show support andpromote prolonged engagement and advocacy. The
public display of that inspiration also communicates
to readers that the system allows for the support of
members and is survivor-centered.
Figure 12 | Cowbird website
www.cowbird.com
Figure 13 | AIDS Memorial Quilt
www.aidsquilt.org
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63 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Appendices | Appendix A
Monument Quilt
Inspired by the AIDS Memorial Quilt as well as the realization that there is no
monument dedicated to rape and abuse survivors, the art activist organization
FORCE established the Monument Quilt. The Monument Quilt is a crowd-
sourced collection of rape and abuse survivor stories, stitched together, and
displayed in large public spaces, such as the Washington Mall. The shear size
of the Monument Quilt demands public space for survivors to heal and tell
their stories.
Similar to the AIDS Memorial Quilt, the Monument Quilt invites interaction
by attracting readers’ attention to the immense size of the quilt, drawing them
closer to view the complexity of the individual panels ( Figure 14}.
(2015)Quilt
In 2011, Inspired by the AIDS Memorial Quilt, organizations ONE and (RED)launched the (2015)QUILT, a digital quilt interface that encouraged people
from all over the world to design a quilt panel to express their support in
the fight against AIDS. The goal of the (2015)QUILT was to raise enough
awareness so that, by 2015, the world would be free of AIDS. With the help of
simple design tools and a template, users from all over the world can create a
personalized panel and gain a sense that they are a part of something larger
and important.
6
How this serves my study
The two memorial quilt projects, as monumentalplatforms for storytelling, directly influenced my
decision to propose a monument project as part of
my system of investigation. The shear sizes of these
particular monument projects encourage engagement
and interactivity. The demand for enormous amounts
of public space allows for a greater degree of publicity in
which survivor stories are told.
Although the overall structure of each of these case
studies described here implement literal interpretations
of the quilt as a storytelling platform and computer
interface metaphor, quilting as a means of storytelling is
an interesting framework to explore systematically as a
behavior and construction. The structure of a patchwork
quilt provides opportunity to explore the relationships
between storytellers in a survivor community.
Figure 14 | Monument Quilt
www.thinkprogress.org
Figure 15 | (2015)Quilt Interface
www.2015quilt.com
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65 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Appendices | Appendix B
Appendix B | Charts and MapsRape Trauma Syndrome Analysis
Figure 16 | Rape Trauma Sydrome Analysis
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66
READY TOADVOCATE
READY TO ACT
WHO
Ready to act &
Ready to advocate
Ready to advocate &
Ready to advocate
Ready to advocate &
Ready to act
Ready to act &
Ready to act
Ready to advocate &
Ready to hold opinion
Ready to act &
Ready to hold opinion
Ready to advocate &
Ready to know
Ready to act &
Ready to know
READY TO ACTREADY TO
HOLD OPINIONREADY TO KNOW
READY TOADVOCATE
INTERACTION
P R O D U C T I O N
Production and Interaction MatricesThe following matrix examples break down possible production/interaction relationships of each system component
Figure 17 | Typical user production to interaction relationships
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67 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Appendices | Appendix B
Figure 18 | Production and interaction analysis between Ready
to Advocate and Ready to Know.
READY TOADVOCATE
PUBLIC STORIES
TO ENCOURAGE
WEB INTERFACE
ON CAMPUS
Advocates producing
for Ready to KnowWho
Who What Why Where
What
Why
Where
Public stories for
Ready to Know
Encourage Ready to
Know to tell story
Web interface for
Ready to Know
Advocates producing/
Ready to Know
reading public stories
Public storiesproduced for Ready to
Know to read
Encourage sharing
through reading of
public stories
Public stories are
produced on web interface
Advocates producing/
Ready to Know
are succeptible
Public storiesfor succeptible
Ready to Know
RTK succeptible to output
from advocates
encouraging sharing
Produced on web
interface for
succeptible users
Advocates producing for
on campus viewing
Public stories produced
for on campus viewing
To encourge on campus
Web interface to public
places on campus
(digitally/print)
READY TO HOLDAN OPINION
PUBLIC STORIESEXPOSED/
SUCCEPTIBLE
INTERACTION
Opportunities — Posters (digital & print), monument projects (larger scale)
P R O D U C T I O N
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68
READYTO ACT
PUBLIC STORIES
SHAREEXPERIENCES
LOW STAKESENVIRONMENT
PRIVATELY
Ready to Act producing
for Ready to
Hold an Opinion
Who
Who What Why Where
What
Why
Where
Public stories for RTHO
Share experiences with RTHO
Low stakes environment for
Ready to Hold an Opinion
Ready to Act producing/
Ready to Hold an Opinion
reading public stories
Public stories produced for
RTHO to seek out and read
Share experiences
through stories
Public stories are produced
in low stakes environment
Ready to Act producing for
opportunity for shared
experiences
Public stories that present
opportunities for
shared experiences
Share experiences by
telling and listening/reading
Produce in low stakes
environment for shared
experiences by reading
Ready to Act producing
for private viewing
Public stories produced
for private viewing
Share experiences for
private viewing
Produced in low
stakes environment
for private viewing
READY TOHOLD OPINION
PUBLIC STORIESSHARE
EXPERIENCES
INTERACTION
Opportunities — Web archive
P R O D U C
T I O N
Figure 19 | Production and interaction analysis between Readyto Act and Ready to Hold an Opinion.
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69 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Appendices | Appendix C
Appendix C | Literature Review
A literature search allowed me to understand and narrow the territory of
my investigation. The scope of this review emphasized literature related to
reporting behaviors of date rape survivors, including statistical and factual
information, and existing studies of communication campaign strategies in
various contexts, including health promotion. The review also focused on the
evolution of design as a participatory culture where designers create tools and
systems for non-designers and end users to make their own messages and
designs. Understanding the importance of reporting or sharing experiences in
the context of date rape, as well as the obstacles that date rape survivors face
when deciding to come forward or not, is important in understanding how
and why to motivate a survivor to report or share her story. This recognition is
also important in understanding the scale of the problem as a whole.
The literature also provided an overview of the possibilities and opportunities
for design intervention that exist within the context of date rape on college
campus, including opportunities for prevention, awareness, support, and
reporting. This literature review is limited to opportunities regarding reporting.
Through the literature, I discovered that in order to engage all or most
users ranging from Ready to Know to Ready to Advocate, a system of
communication components was necessary. The literature I analyzed
assisted in solidifying the structure of the system by helping me to
thoroughly understand the necessities and potential for engagement of each
communication component in the system. Each component — the postercampaign, zine, web archive, and monument project — varies in degree of
story complexity, as well as degree of privacy in engagement, indicating that
all components must exist together, rather than separately, to engage multiple
users in different stages of message receptivity. The variables of complexity
and privacy affect the point of entry with which users engage the system,
whether they are viewing or telling a story.
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Armstrong, Helen, and Zvezdana Stojmirovic. Participate: Designing with
User-generated Content . New York: Princeton Architectural, 2011. Print.
Armstrong and Stojmirovic explored existing projects in which the evolution
of contemporary design into a participatory culture is evident. The authors
discussed historical and contemporary models of creating, models that moved
from designers generating artifacts to designers generating tools and open-
ended systems for non-designers to generate their own content. The intimate
nature of the user-generated stories represented in my investigation calls for a
system that provides tools necessary for rape survivors to generate their own
content. Generally, rape survivors avoid publicly sharing their stories due to
a lack of survivor-centered space to do so. An important aspect of survivor-
centeredness is trust. Investigating a system where users produce the content
is a viable way of communicating trust. User-generated content fosters an
overall feeling of ownership and eliminates a ‘middle man.’
Chambliss, William J. Crime and Criminal Behavior . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGEPublications, Inc., 2011. SAGE knowledge. Web. Key Issues in Crime
and Punishment. 13 Apr. 2015.
Chambliss defined and analyzed date rape, acknowledging it as a
phenomenon that affects society as a whole. Without using the exact
terminology, he described the presence of rape myths in the judicial process
of convicting date rape offenders. Historically, as evidence from post-trial
interviews with jurors, “juries are less likely to convict a defendant if the female
victim had used birth control, engaged in pre- or extra-marital sex, had been
acquainted with the defendant prior to the assault, wore sexually provocative
dress during or before the alleged rape, had a number of dating and sexualintercourse partners, and engaged in drug and alcohol use” (Chambliss 2011,
73). These are all examples of misconceptions, also known as rape myths,
that members of society often possess, which place blame on survivors
of date rape and sexual assault and therefore deter survivors from coming
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71 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Appendices | Appendix C
forward publicly with their experiences. Chambliss’s analysis of date rape was
necessary in understanding the specific obstacles that date rape survivors face
in the context of reporting.
Egan, Rachel, and Janet Clare Wilson. “Rape Victims’ Attitudes to Rape Myth
Acceptance.” Psychiatry, Psychology & Law 19.3 (2012): 345-357.
Academic Search Complete.
Egan and Wilson’s analysis on Rape Myth Acceptance provided an
overview regarding the effect that the lack of reporting rape cases has on
the perpetuation of rape myths. The authors’ argument supported publicly
reporting rape to the police, but Egan and Wilson acknowledge the many
obstacles that survivors encounter when faced with the decision to report.
These obstacles, such as rape myths and fear that a rapist will retaliate,
prevent and deter survivors from reporting, thus creating an endless cycle of
perpetuated rape myths and low reporting rates.
Konradi, Amanda. “A Strategy for Increasing Postrape Medical Care and
Forensic Examination: Marketing Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners to
the College Population.” Violence Against Women 9.8 (2003): 955-88.
Web. 9 Apr. 2015.
In the following study, Konradi implemented and tested the success of a print
advertising campaign at Ohio University. The objective was to directly provide
students, treated as potential victims and allies, with information regarding
Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) services on campus. The campaign
consisted of a low-tech message delivery method through posters placed in
dorm room toilet stalls and bulletin boards. In this particular case, successwas measured by the amount of students who saw the posters as well as the
amount of awareness raised and information retained as a result of the posters.
Konradi’s results indicate that increase in awareness is possible through a
poster campaign but raises questions about the effectiveness and opportunity
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72
of posters in message delivery in a college campus context. My study proposes
a system of communication components as a means of moving passed simply
raising awareness and, instead encouraging action.
Fisher, Bonnie S., Francis T. Cullen, and Michael G. Turner. The Sexual
Victimization of College Women. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Justice,
Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice, 2000. Web.
<https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/182369.pdf>.
Fisher, Cullen, and Turner explored the vulnerability of college women in
high-risk situations like sexual assault. The article provided various factual
and statistical information that supports the problem I addressed in my
investigation.
Knaus, Christopher Stephen, Bruce E. Pinkleton, and Erica Weintraub Austin.
“The Ability of the AIDS Quilt to Motivate Information Seeking, Personal
Discussion, and Preventative Behavior as a Health Communication
Intervention.” Health Communication 12.3 (2000): 301-16.
Web. 9 Apr. 2015.
The authors emphasized the necessity for increased user involvement in
design interventions to promote information-seeking behaviors, interpersonal
discussion, and subsequently, decrease risky behavior in the context of health-
related behaviors. In most cases, preventative health campaigns focus heavily
on the presentation of information in order to raise awareness and education
levels. Knaus, Pinkleton, and Austin define user involvement as design
intervention in the environment where target audiences live. In this particular
case, the authors referred to the AIDS Memorial Quilt, a giant tapestry, andexample of a monument project that is literally monumental in size and pays
tribute to thousands of people who died from AIDS related complications.
The quilt encourages audience involvement by demanding large amounts of
space and interactivity and reduces “the perceived social distance between
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73 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Appendices | Appendix C
the general public and those with AIDS” (Knaus, Pinkleton, & Austin, 302). The
authors discovered that those who viewed the AIDS Memorial Quilt were more
likely to actively seek out additional information and resources regarding AIDS,
allowing them to develop and/or change their opinions on the subject.
The authors also emphasized the importance of message relevance to the
target audience. This statement seems obvious, but a common reason many
mass-mediated campaigns fail to positively impact target audience behaviors
is not only due to the lack of user involvement, but the common misguided
assumption that the audience is interested in the messages that campaign
designers disperse. Knaus, Pinkleton, and Austin increased perceived
relevancy by priming the target audiences with prompts regarding AIDS via a
pretest, before sending the subjects to view the AIDS Quilt. A combination of
message relevancy and design intervention involvement proved to increase
the audience’s desire to seek out additional information on AIDS.
Similar to David Rose’s Idea Receptivity Gradient, the authors discussed The
State-of-Change model, in which people progress incrementally through
stages of engagement or acceptance when experiencing behavior change as
a result of health campaign influence (Knaus, Pinkleton, & Austin 2000, 304).
These stages include: Precontemplation, a lack of awareness; Contemplation,
a possibility of change is considered; Preparation, steps are taken to prepare
for a behavioral change; Action, behavior modification takes place; and
Maintenance, continuation of change. The stages, similarly to Rose’s
theory, divide the user into levels of engagement based on the impact of the
target messages. To my knowledge, there is little documentation regardingRose’s Idea Receptivity Gradient, therefore seeing similar user behaviors
and motivations in a different context was helpful in understanding the
motivations of the users in my investigation.
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Sutherland, Sandra, and Donald J. Scherl. “Patterns of Response Among
Victims of Rape.” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 40.3 (1970):
503-511. PsycARTICLES. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.
Sutherland and Scherl provided an in depth analysis of common behaviors
and reactions that victims and survivors of rape exhibit. The two authors
outlined the most common behaviors of sexual assault survivors into three
main phases of adjustment: 1. Acute Reaction, 2. Outward Adjustment, and 3.
Integration and Resolution. Similar to the trauma experienced after the death
of a loved one and in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the three phases that
Sutherland and Scherl described in their study belong to a common disorder
experienced by rape survivors referred to as Rape Trauma Syndrome (RTS).
The thorough analysis of RTS allowed me to better understand the behaviors
and cognitive processes of the users in my investigation. Research about RTS
was one of the factors that influenced the creation of my study’s personas
(Appendix B).
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Appendix D | Interviews
Sara Forcella | Basically I do most of the outreach for campus. So, working
with community partners to see what services that they provide, looking at
how can we interact with them and work with them to better talk about sexual
violence on campus. How can we get people that maybe don’t want to use
resources on campus to off campus and use those resources. And just a lot of
educational outreach. I teach a course, Sexual Violence Prevention, and that’s
taught every Fall. It looks at rape culture and masculinity. Just everything,
really. It’s really a broad brush stroke. It kind of overarching looks at basically
our rape culture that we live in, and how can we try to help survivors of sexual
violence, and then bystander intervention, things like that. Then, also I advise
The Movement, which is a group of peer educators. It’s a student group, and
they go out and do different facilitations and workshops with students. [The
peer educators] talk about things like sexual violence and masculinity, things
like that. It’s a lot of education. Then, also I oversee the Relationship and
Sexual Violence Phone line, which is going over to Counseling now, but for
the time being, I’m still the one that’s kind of overseeing that. I’m the person
that’s on call, if somebody needs somebody to go with them to the Solace
Center, just whatever it is they need. I’m kind of that back-up staff member
that’s on call.
SF | Yeah. So, really we try to work together as much as possible, but obviously
there’s that clear divide that they’re professional counselors, and we’re not.
Even though I know, for me, that’s something I’m interested in and I enjoy
doing, but I’m not trained to be a professional counselor. Really, their work
is doing that psychological emotional work with people that come in, if they
report as survivors as sexual violence. They’re kind of doing their
Jeri-lynn Gehr | What are your
responsibilities as NCSU’s Rape Prevention
Education Coordinator?
JG | Can you talk about what services the
Women’s Center provides that the Counseling
Center does not?
Interview #1
Sara Forcella, Rape Prevention Education Coordinator
North Carolina State University Women’s Center
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counseling thing. You know, sitting in one on one talking to them about it.
They also have different group counseling and workshops and things l ike
that. So, they’re doing that sort of professional piece of counseling. But really
they work closely with us to help students, because our role is doing a lot of
advocating on behalf of students, so we definitely do sit down with students
and talk to them, nut we’re just not trained professional counselors. We just
don’t have the training for that. That’s not what we do, but we definitely are
survivor focused and love to sit down with people and talk to them. And
whatever they want to tell us, you know, we’re willing to talk to them about.
But we really advocate on behalf on students. So, if a student needs to go get a
DNA collection in the middle of the night after a sexual assault, one of us from
the Women’s Center staff will be there to go with them, if they wanted us to —
to sit through the whole process with them.
We also do advocating for students, so, if students are dealing with sexual
assault, or they’re dealing with some kind of domestic violence at home, you
know, obviously their mind is not going to be there for class; it’s going to
be elsewhere. So we can talk to their professors, and say you know “‘This’ is
going on.” As much or as little, whatever the student wants us to let them
know. But, “Something is going on, and they need a little extra time, or the
student is going to be going home for a few days, because something has just
occurred, and they really need to collect themselves.” So, we’re really working
with other people on campus. We also will go to the Office of Student Conduct,
if a student is going there and are trying to, you know, hold somebody
accountable for whatever it is that happened. We can go with them and sit
through that process. We can go to the police station and sit through that
process. Really just being there for the survivor, acting as their supportive
person. That’s kind of the difference. The counseling center does that
counseling piece, and we’re just there to kind —whatever it is that the survivor
needs, we try to do. Also, we focus on education. The Women’s Center does a
lot of education outreach.
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SF | Well, what I have seen, and the reason we’re sort of switching over the
Relationship and Sexual Violence phone line to the Counseling Center is
because they also have a crisis line. So, we know that a lot of survivors were
calling into that crisis l ine, so it kind of made sense. But yeah, they definitely
have [survivors] that go there and never come here and vice versa. We’ll have
survivors that come here and never go there. [The Counseling Center is] just
like with any other office that we work really closely with on campus. We even
have people go to Legal Services, and Legal Services will try to connect them
with the Women’s Center. It’s really [the survivor’s] choice.
SF | Just to be totally honest with you, this is my first year in this position, so I
only have the past semester of experience in this position. But, I’m pretty sure
that they do talk about it [in orientation]. I know that this summer for up and
coming freshmen, we had to talk about sexual assault and sexual violence
prevention and bystander intervention, so I know that they heard about it
this semester — this group of incoming freshmen. I’m not sure about before
that, if they did. But really, hopefully students should hear about it through the
outreach that we do through things like Take Back the Night or These Hands
Don’t Hurt. We hope that the word gets out, and then just a lot of the staff
members will do programs with other classrooms, and try to talk about that
and hopefully word of mouth, also. We have a pretty good student base that
come in here and just hang out and enjoy being around us. So, hopefully it
gets out that way too.
SF | Yeah, so, These Hands Don’t Hurt is really focused on domestic violence
awareness month. It happens every October, and that’s really sort of a physical
pledge, where you can paint your hand, and put it up on a mural or a tarp,
and pledge that you will never act, you know, perpetrate an act of domestic
violence, and you’ll intervene if you see it happening. That you’ll educate
yourself on domestic violence. That’s our big event in October. We also have
our, I don’t know if you’ve seen them, our figurines that are outside. They’re
red, life-size figurines, and they’re part of that campaign also. They’re part
JG | Are people more likely to come to the
Women’s Center first and then go to the
Counseling Center or does it vary for
each case?
JG | How are students learning about the
services that are available to them, if they’ve
been sexually assaulted? Is it happening in
orientation?
JG | Can you elaborate a little bit more on the
programs that the Women’s Center facilitate?
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of domestic violence awareness month, and they represent students that
are around college-age—so 18 to 24, we’ve tried to get them all around that
age—that has been murdered in a domestic violence situation. They kind of
represent their stories and their person, and they represent that, you know,
that domestic violence really does affect us here in Raleigh. Those will rotate
throughout the year, actually, so they’re all over campus.
SF | You’ll probably see them, now that you’re aware of them.
SF | Our Take Back the Night event is more focused on sexual assault
awareness month. So, that happens in April. So, we’re still working on that
right now, what we’re going to do. But, that’s a lot of creating a space for
survivors to come and talk about their experiences, if they want to. And just
really the outreach to other people to make them aware.
SF | The Women’s Center as a whole is really survivor-focused. We really
believe that if we don’t change our culture then it’s really hard to change
other things, or at least I know that I [believe that]. So, I do a lot of focusing on
educational outreach and changing the rape culture that we live in, because
survivors don’t come forward, because they don’t feel comfortable, because we
live in a society where perpetrators are not held accountable and victims are
blamed. So, that’s one of the main reasons, honestly, why victims don’t come
forward, because they’re embarrassed, and they don’t feel comfortable, and
there’s that stigma that’s attached to [sexual assault].
SF | Yeah, that’s great. I think that just trying to make survivors feel
comfortable, and definitely on campus, getting them at least letting them
know what resources are available, because I think on campus a lot of times, I
know when I was an Undergrad, I had no clue what resources were available.
So, at least letting people know what is available on campus, and that’s, I
JG | Interesting. I’ve never seen them, but I
don’t really leave my ‘bubble’ in the College of
Design.
JG | Probably.
JG | How do you think you can get survivors
to become comfortable with talking about
their experiences?
JG | Yeah, I realized quickly that I’m not going
to change the culture with this one thesis, so
I’m trying to focus more on the empowering
aspects of talking about
rape experiences.
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think, one step to kind of bridge the gap, especially if they see somebody that’s
a friendly face who’s hopefully easily approachable, that is using survivor
supportive language and things like that; they’ll feel more comfortable.
SF | There really is no one way to report. So, I mean there are so many places
on campus that you could report a case of sexual violence. You could go to the
campus PD and never come to the Women’s Center and report it. So, really it’s
whatever that person feels comfortable going to, or, I guess, whatever in that
moment they decide they want to go to. And every situation is so different,
like the Women’s Center will handle reporting obviously a lot different than
the police department, because [the police department] really does that
investigative work. If somebody comes in and talks to [someone from the
Women’s Center] about something then we have to report it to the university,
because of the Campus SAVE Act. Because of the Clery Act and the Campus
SAVE Act, we have to report that a case of sexual violence has occurred.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean that the names and all of that kind of
information is going to get out; we just have to report that this case of sexual
violence has happened, and let the campus police department know about it.
And then really, we just try to work with other partners on campus to get
[survivors] the support that they need. And we don’t pressure them to go
to the police. We let them know that that’s a resource there if they wanted
to do that, but we really focus on whatever they feel comfortable doing at
that point and time. So they would just come in and talk to us about it, and
that would be a way to report. They could call the Relationship and Sexual
Violence phone line; that would be a way for them to report. Also just kind of
ciphering down from maybe they tell their RA about it, and their RA knows
to contact the Women’s Center. It really just depends. Maybe their professor
or something like that. Or they could just call us directly. The campus police
department, obviously they could call them and report. [The police] really do
that investigative piece of looking at what happened, collecting evidence, and
all of that. And the police on this campus are really good with dealing with
JG | Reporting rape in general can be very
traumatic and difficult. From what you know
about the process, why would a survivor go to
campus police vs the Women’s Center vs. any
other service on campus?
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sexual assault. Sometimes there’s that stigma attached to police department
that they’re not always the best at it, but I know here on campus, they’re
really good at dealing with it and trying to be as sensitive as possible because
[sexual assault is] really a traumatic experience and then to relive it in the
investigation and all of those things can be difficult. So that’s one way, you
can just go directly or call them. And [campus police] also ha[s] an anonymous
form online on their website under the forms tab, and you can report as much
and as little information. I know that some students use that as a kind of a ‘I
want to let somebody know that this has happened, but I don’t want to let
people know who this happened to or who did it,’ so that’s one way that I know
students will [report].
And then the Counseling Center also has that confidentiality piece. I’m not
exactly sure how the Counseling Center goes about reporting, but I do know
that there is that whole level of confidentiality that they’re obligated to. But I’m
not sure about how they handle reporting. And the Office of Student Conduct,
students can go report their incident, and [the Office of Student Conduct]
handles an investigation, but it’s not as thorough. Not thorough. It’s not the
same as the kind of investigation campus police does, so they’re not collecting
evidence. They’ll let the survivor share their story. They’ll let the alleged
perpetrator share their story, and they’ll kind of gather as much information as
they need to decide whether or not they want to act upon whatever is being
reported to them.
SF | Student Conduct can’t do anything like putting you in jail or anything like
that. They’re looking at the academic side of things, not the legal side of things
at all. That’s why I shouldn’t have said ‘more thorough.’ It’s just a different
process that the police go through and that the Office of Student Conduct will
go through. [Student Conduct’s] looking at things like possible suspension,
possibly expulsion, or lesser things than that. But really just holding people
accountable on campus so that that survivor feels safe, and so that we can
know that other people on campus are safe, as well.
JG | Depending on which resource the
survivors chooses to report the incident,
what are the differences consequences or
punishment for the perpetrator?
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SF | Oh, yeah, definitely. They are completely separate things all together. You
could report to every office on campus that this has happened. Every office
on campus is going to do things differently. So we’re not doing any of the
investigation, we’d just be focused on giving support. But, yeah, they are
completely different. So, you could just use the Office of Student Conduct, or
just use the campus PD, or you could use both. Because if you held that person
accountable on campus, and you want to have some legal action taken, then
yeah, definitely.
SF | I know that, and I haven’t dealt with a ton of cases, but I know that I’ve
tried to be as honest as possible, and I think that just as a whole [the members
of the Women’s Center] are trying to be honest about it. I’m not sure, though. I
know that it’s a problem. The police department has talked about that people
are not as willing to come forward because they know that those [university
alert messages] do go out. I know that a fear of a lot of survivors is that they
don’t want their name to get out.
SF | So, it’s not the simple answer at all, but really changing the culture that
we live in, and hopefully creating a space that’s more supportive of survivors.
Just on campus. If we could change the culture on campus, and make it more
supportive. But I think - recently, last week we did a lot for the It’s On Us
campaign.
SF | Yeah, so I think that’s a good step because people are becoming more
aware of [sexual assault on campus as a problem], and it’s coming not just
from the Women’s Center. It’s coming from President Obama and just these
really big figures in the media. I know last night I was watching a football
game, and there was a commercial with a bunch of football players talking
about ending sexual assault. So it’s starting be a bigger issue, and I think
that will help that we see that a lot of people are dealing with it, and that it’s
important to make survivors feel safe. So yeah, I think education, outreach,
and hopefully once somebody experiences something like that [an outreach
JG | Can a survivor report to multiple
resources regarding the same incident? For
example, if the offender has been expelled by
the Office of Student Conduct, can she then
go to the police and seek justice there?
JG | How aware are the students before they
report an act of sexual violence that, if they
report, the university must immediately
inform the campus community that an
incident has occurred?
JG | I know that education is key in raising
awareness and addressing low reporting rates.
Besides that, what do you think can be done
to address low reporting?
JG | I was going to ask you about that.
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event or program] they’d be able to tell other people that, you know, “[talking
about it] wasn’t as bad as I thought it was.” Especially, I know, coming to the
Women’s Center, we try to be really survivor-focused, so not blaming people
at all, obviously, and just trying to be supportive of them. So hopefully if
somebody has a good experience and people around them that are dealing
with the same things, they’ll feel more comfortable talking about it.
SF | Improved?
SF | I don’t know. It’s hard to say, because there are so many different places
for the survivor to report. I know that at NC State we’re really good about
communicating with other people to make sure we know what’s going on. So,
even though Legal Services has a case that someone’s working with them, we
know at least what’s going on. Though we can’t make that person come talk
to us, at least I think we know what’s going on. So we’re pretty aware of that,
and we’re definitely on a campus that cares about these things, and we have
a lot of offices that are survivor-focused and that are trying to hold people
accountable for their actions. It’s hard to know, I think that this whole campus
SAVE thing is definitely a learning process, and we’ll see if it kind of deters
people from reporting. I’m not really sure.
SF | So the Clery Act is basically an act that is part of the Violence Against
Women, part of Congress, and it’s an act. So a student — I think it was in the
80s — a woman was sexually assaulted and murdered on a college campus.
So, her parents came forward and were obviously upset about this, and they
felt like more needed to be done to hold colleges accountable for letting
people know when these kinds of violence are happening. So the Clery Act
was put in place, and that was really focusing on colleges had to report cases
like murder, sexual assault, vandalism. There’s a whole list of things that [the
university has] to report to let other people know what’s going on. So, this
Campus SAVE Act is really sort of going off of that in things like the Wolf Alert.
JG | Do you think that the reporting process,
at any point, can be improved somehow?
JG | Yes.
JG | Can you elaborate more on
Campus SAVE?
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So, really looking at what schools are doing to report, and having to report,
because we saw there are so many schools that people are reporting sexual
violence and nothing was being done about it. [Campus SAVE] is really looking
at [universities] have to deal with these things, and these are the best ways
that we can hopefully provide outreach for people that are dealing with sexual
violence, and looking at bystander intervention. So it’s kind of just going off
of that, but making sure that colleges are being accountable, and that when
somebody reports, that colleges are actually doing an investigation, and that
we’re letting other students know that this has happened on our campus. So,
the Wolf Alerts are a part of that. So as soon as the police department finds out
that something happened, they have to then spit that back out to the greater
population, so that if just happened at a party maybe other people won’t go to
that party.
SF | Right. It’s not that more [assaults] are happening, it’s that we’re actually
reporting them, and the idea is just to let people know that this is happening
on campus, to make people aware. These things can be found online too, like
how many sexual assaults happened last year. So there are reports from every
year that colleges have to keep, and we know that — I don’t actually remember
the number from last year, but it was a very low number, and we know that
that’s not the real number. That just because that’s the number of reports we’ve
gotten, we know that there are a lot more people dealing with sexual assault
on campus.
SF | I think that’s a really difficult question. I think it’s a really personal question,
because I know when I hear a story of a survivor, it really hits home to me.
But that’s also the work that I do, so you know it’s hard to say what a 21-year-
old boy would think listening to a survivor of sexual assault. It’s really hard to
know. But I do that there’s tons of people that know people that are sexually
assault, and they come into the Women’s Center to try to get that support, as
well, because it’s difficult for them also. I think that a survivor sharing a story
could be really powerful, but it could also be possibly triggering for that person,
JG | So, despite parents’ worry, it’s actually
somewhat of a good thing that universities
have been recently revealing higher numbers
of cases.
JG | How successful do you think telling your
story as a survivor is in regards of prevention
and also inspiring other survivors to report or
tell their stories?
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as well. They have to be in a place where they’re really ready to share that story.
I always feel when people do share their stories, even if it’s the smallest tid
bit, I appreciate it because I know it’s difficult. When somebody goes to report
to the police department, a lot of times that investigation can be really really
difficult, because usually they report pretty soon after it’s happened and they’re
recounting this horrible traumatic experience, so I know for a lot of survivors
that can be really retriggering, and that can be a really difficult thing to
get through.
SF | I know with the Office of Student Conduct, because they have to get a
certain amount of the same story [as the police], you know, they have to at
least know the background of whatever has happened. They need to know
some level of that, not every tiny detail, but as much as possible to create
a case to hold people accountable. I know that, for [the Office of Student
Conduct], survivors are able to write their story out if they want to or just go
about it in different ways, like have it prepared so that they can take time
and think about it, and write it out in their own space. I’m pretty sure, at
least. I would double check, but I know in our meetings, we’ve talked about
it before, and I’m pretty sure [survivors] are able to do that. I think kind of
giving survivors their own space where they can reflect is something that’s
really good, because, obviously, when you’re in the police department,
especially when most likely you’re dealing with other men, and most l ikely
that perpetrator was a man, that can be really difficult and retriggering. So I
think it really just depends on that person, too. There might be some survivors
who, maybe the day after [the assault], they’re wanting to share their story, but
some survivors never ever ever share their stories, so it really is just such an
individual thing. I’m thinking of the Columbia student who was carrying her
mattress. That was such a profound moment, not only for the university, but
really sexual assault awareness, as a whole. There was this sort of camaraderie
JG | How do you think, if at all, survivor
stories or storytelling could be implemented
on campus, maybe in outreach programs or
even into the reporting process of some sort?
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around this person that nobody knew. Other students from schools around
the nation were carrying their mattresses. That was a way for her to share her
story, but in an artistic manner, so it’s interesting. I think that having those
kinds of outlets, like the monument quilt also, are really good ways to tell your
story, if you don’t want to just come out and speak your story.
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Melissa Babb | Yeah, well. So, this is a brand new position at the Counseling
Center, and I actually just started working here back in December. All the way
back last month! So really, I guess, I’ve been working here for about a month.
But, I think the position is evolving, so we’re still really trying to figure out
exactly all the different responsibilities that I’ll have. But, I do know that my
primary responsibility is to IPV survivors of any sort, so not to say that I will
see every single person who has an IPV concern, but that’s my area of focus,
my area of specialty, and so I will see a large chunk of those people. So, that’s a
part of it.
I think the idea is that I will attend all of the IPV related meetings, like the
ASAP meetings, the Title IX meetings, and the case meetings, and then kind of
see what’s going on on campus, report it back to the Counseling Center, but
also be part of those meetings to give any kind of input from a psychological
perspective or something like that. And the other component is in kind
of outreach and prevention. To me, my understanding is that’s more of a
secondary piece of it, because we already do have other people on campus
that that’s their primary focus. But I may collaborate with some people on
different outreach kinds of things, and certainly if they make requests, or
if anybody on campus makes requests around IPV related matters to the
Counseling Center, then I would probably be the one to fulfill that request.
Jeri-lynn Gehr | Can you tell me a little bit
about what your responsibilities are as the
Interpersonal Violence Coordinator at
NC State?
Interview #2
Melissa Babb, Interpersonal Violence Coordinator
North Carolina State University Counseling Center
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MB | I think that one of the things that’s very, well the most unique thing is
that we do is provide ongoing counseling for survivors or for anybody. The
other thing that we do is we do have crisis services as well. That’s another
piece that we provide, but we can also help survivors get connected with
whatever resources may be most helpful for them whether that’s somewhere
else on campus, maybe like the Women’s Center. Or maybe that’s somehwere
in the community like reaching out to Interact and seeing what services they
have. In the future, my hope is that I will be able to have a group. The place
I worked at before I had like a trauma group which essentially was a lot of
IPV survivors. So, that’s sort of my hope is to have a group that’s around that
specific population.
MB | A therapy group, yeah. Which you mentioned like telling stories. People
have different perspectives on sharing stories of trauma in group, but the
group that I lead at the place I previously worked, which was
Appalachian State...
MB | Oh okay! Anyway, yeah. We had this group called Painful Pasts,
Promising Futures. It was a group that ran for a really long time. We did tell
stories of the trauma and things. It was just an amazing group. I would like to
bring something like that here.
MB | Yeah. I mean, I think that’s sort of the nature of counseling is that we
can’t really seek out our clients, because nobody would really want to be
forced into counseling. We do have people who come to us, and once we have
enough people around any general concern, it might be time to think about,
okay, do we need to create a specific group for these people. So, I think that’s
how things came about at App; we just noticed that there was a need, and so
the group was created.
JG | What kind of services does the
Counseling Center specifically provide for
survivors of sexual assault vs. other services
on campus, such as campus PD or the
Women’s Center?
JG | Like a counseling group?
JG | Oh, I did my undergrad there!
JG | Yeah. So, what I’m interested in is the idea
of people sharing their stories to inspire those
who maybe aren’t ready to tell theirs quite yet,
maybe due to fear of reliving the traumatic
experience. How did you deal with that in
that in your group? Did all of those individual
reach out to you?
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MB | I don’t think so...
MB | So, let me ask you...Because I think that’s another thing about counseling
is that this is a place where a survivor could come and tell their story and it
wouldn’t leave these walls. But, whereas like other places on campus, if they
tell what happened, it’s like okay well now Title XI requires me to make a report
on this whatever, but so, let me ask you about that. So the survivor can tell
their story...so it’s an online thing?
MB | Oh, so it would be a log of offenders?
JG | Are you aware the Callisto third party
reporting program? It’s a program that’s
under development.
JG | I haven’t met too many people who
have actually heard of it, but I think it’s still
pretty early in its development. It’s through
an organization called Sexual Health
Innovations. It’s a third party reporting
system where survivors can kind of disclose
their information, and it gives them more
control over whether or not the information
goes forward as a report, based on whether
or not other survivors are reporting about
misconduct from the same person. So it’s the
idea that you don’t have to go public in order
to receive justice for the incident. So, I didn’t
know if you had any thoughts about that.
JG | I believe that it’s going to be some
kind of interface where they document or
chronicle their experience, and they have the
decision to push it forward right away to the
authorities of their choice, or they can hold
onto it and are given the option to have it
reported automatically when someone else
reports misconduct from the same offender.
The idea is that the information regarding
offenders is more transparent to survivors.
It’s more about seeing who is committing
these crimes.
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MB | Exactly, yeah. I guess there’s two things I’m just thinking about that. First
of all, I think anything that gives that power to the survivor — that’s important.
It’s their story. They should feel in control of who hears it, who knows about it,
and yeah. So if it does have, and you might not be able to answer this, but if it
has a log of the offenders’ names and things, I’m just wondering at what point
the offenders’ names would get logged, because of due process kinds of things.
MB | Yeah, I’m not sure about all of that.
MB | Oh yeah.
JG | I would assume. I’m not sure if [Sexual
Health Innovations] even knows yet what
this will look like, because it’s so early in
its development. It’s based off of a sort of
snowball effect. So one person is sharing her
experience about a particular perpetrator,
and then several other women come forward
with similar experiences regarding that same
offender. So it’s similar to what’s happening
with the cases involving Bill Cosby right now,
but the idea is that you don’t have to tell
the whole world to let people know that
this is happening.
JG | Yeah, and I’m not sure about all of the
legal issues or even how much information
is being projected publicly, or at all, in terms
of Callisto. That’s something that I would
need to find more out about, as it becomes
available. I’m also going to be speaking with
campus PD regarding the privacy of
offenders and see if they can provide
some more information.
JG | Regarding control, I know that a lot of
survivors don’t come forward, because they
feel a lack of control over their experiences
or stories.
||
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MB | I guess it depends on who they do tell. So like I said, if it’s here in the
Counseling Center, they can tell us, and nothing will happen. Then they can
decide what to do after that. But if they tell other people on campus there are
certain legal requirements. They might have to be investigated, and other
people might have to know. In terms of going forward, it doesn’t necessarily
mean that the university will take the decision away from the student in
regards to whether or not they take it through the whole Conduct process or
deal with it in that way. Usually [the university] will still allow that survivor to
have some control over that. To be honest, actually, as I’m saying all of this,
this is how it worked at ASU, so I guess it could be a little different here [at NC
State]. I would imagine, though that it would be very similar to that. At ASU,
the only time that they would take that decision away from a survivor was if
the perpetrator or offender — or whatever you want to call them — had been
named in several cases, before. So, then it rises to a level of ‘this person’s a
danger to the campus community,’ and then they would proceed. But most
often, they left the decision of what to do to the survivor. Sometimes if it was
someone like an RA or someone who worked in Housing, then they had to
go through a whole different set of procedures, and that was a little different,
because it was an employee situation. So sometimes, in those cases, they had
to act in different ways...
MB | Well...I think...there...it is double edged sword! In an ideal world, yes, I
believe that these people should see justice. They need to know that it’s
not okay, the things that they’ve done, and that there should be clear swift
action taken against them. But it’s not ideal world, and I know that a lot cases
around sexual assault don’t go anywhere, and if we’re talking about a rape
getting a forensic examination, like a rape kit done is very invasive and can
be traumatic in and of itself. And if you’re putting yourself through that and
then it’s not, maybe your case, most cases don’t go to trial. And if they do,
most findings are not in favor of the survivor. So knowing that, I think, gosh,
that really makes it hard, and that’s something in society that’s just wrong
JG | So can you maybe expand a little on what
happens after survivors come forward with
their stories, to any service, and why you
think that is that they feel a lack of control?
JG | Do you think it’s important to report to
the police?
i h B I ill l h l i b d l l
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with our system. But, I will also say that not always is somebody completely
discouraged by that. Sometimes that feels empowering just to be like, “I stood
up, and I did something.” But for other people that’s too much to go through,
so it really comes down to being dependent on the person and what they want.
Any time I’m talking with somebody, I let them know options, but they are
making every decision because they’ve had so many taken away from them,
and I don’t want to be another person to do that.
MB | Yeah. Well, what control means to them. I think as far, on another level
of thinking about it, as far as the university goes, and me being a person
who works at this university, I just think about how important it is to know
what’s going on, on campus and how many sexual assaults are happening,
and all of that kind of stuff. So even if it’s just reported to the police, but it’s
not something of like taking further action, but they’ve made that initial step
of saying, “hey, this happened.” That could be just helpful information for
us to know what this problem looks like, how big it is, and how we need to
address it. Where is it happening? Are there populations that we need to target
with prevention messages or even just general information about healthy
relationships, and what that looks like.
MB | Yeah, which probably means that there were a lot more that weren’t
reported.
MB | And I think what happens is when there is a lot more outreach and just
messages out there informing students of what sexual assault is and what
healthy relationships look like, then what you do find is once they’re more
JG | So what I’m getting from talking to other
people and from what I’ve read, is that control
and giving control back to survivors is really
important. It’s not that reporting to the
police ISN’T important, but it’s really about
giving control back to someone who’s lost
that control.
JG | What is the university currently doing
to address that? For instance, when you go
online to look at the numbers from last year,
I think it says 5 or 6 assault or rape cases
happened last year, which is so low compared
to the statistics that you read.
JG | Yeah.
d t d th lik “Oh it Th t h d t ” A d th t t
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educated, they were like “Oh wait. That happened to me.” And then you start
getting more and more reports. That’s what we saw at App. What they’re doing
now on campus here is the Red Flag campaign, and that was sort of what
happened for App. We started in, or they I should say, now, started it in like
2010 and gradually saw an increase in the number of sexual assaults, which
was sort of a freak out on a different level. They were like “Oh my gosh! We
didn’t have this many last year!” and it’s like no, there’s probably always beenthe same, but now it’s a good thing that our numbers are getting higher,
because now people are feeling comfortable to come and say, “Hey this
happened.” But yeah, so they actually started the Red Flag campaign here. I
don’t know if you’ve seen any of those flags...
MB | Yep!
MB | So there’s mandatory or required trainings that every new student — and
these are kind of new regulations — but there’s now new required trainings for
every new students and also, new faculty and staff. So, everybody’s required to
have this training, and it happens during orientation. I think [the university]
just did the first ones this Fall.
MB | But I also think...I hate to keep referring to App.
JG | The red flags that are stuck in
the ground?
JG | I saw them on my way here! But it’s
funny that you mention that it started in 2010,
because I was a student [at ASU] in 2010, and
I have no recollection of ever seeing them.
But I’ve never had that experience before
of sexual assault, so I was just completely
unaware, probably. So my question is, how
do you think the university can, or are they
reaching out to people like me who don’t
HAVE that past experience and are maybe in
that mind frame that “this will never happen
to me,” so they aren’t really seeing
the messages?
JG | So, it’s more about education.
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MB | I think what they did was new at App. Everything was kind of in its
infancy. Now that I think about it, the Red Flag Campaign started a litt le later.
I don’t think it really kicked off until 2011. So, it wasn’t until 2011 when things
really started. But they brought, I don’t know if you’ve heard of Sex Signals?
MB | It’s a traveling kind of educational theater group. So, it’s fun to go to,
and it really is funny. It’s interactive. But they’re sending messages about
what consent is and what consent is not. And they kind of do a skit, and
the audience participates and says, “Hey why don’t you try to say this!” and
then see how that goes. And then “Oh wait - try this one!” And so it’s fun. But
having events too, things that are fun to go to, is important. Because I think
where you lose students is obviously a person, such as myself, standing up
and talking about “Hey, don’t do this. Hey, don’t do this. Don’t do this.” So I
think that’s an important thing is to have those really fun interactive events.
I think Residence Life also are getting on board with everything. They’re
required to have certain events in the residence halls, but to do things like
movie nights where perhaps they’re watching Twilight or something, and
maybe beforehand you talked about healthy relationships. So the students
hold up a red flag every time Edward’s doing something, let’s say putting Bella
down or, you know, whatever. And they hold a green flag, whenever. Or it
could be like music that you’re listening to. What are the messages that are
promoting this kind of culture, and what are the messages that are maybe
more positive that are not. But I would think that getting interaction on all
levels and all areas where you’re likely to hit large masses of students. I think
the red flag campaign is cool, because, well I guess they’ve started putting up
posters, but the way that it started was just with the flags in the ground and
nothing else. And so, students were like, “What the heck is this? What’s going
on?”. On the little flags it has the website, but the idea is that it’s creating this
curiosity around all of these red flags, and then the poster campaigns has
started this week, so I don’t even know where all the posters are, but there
JG | No, it’s fine.
JG | No.
should be some posters all around that kind of talk about different ‘red flags’
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should be some posters all around that kind of talk about different red flags
in relationships. Different IPV kinds of things. And there’s also the Women’s
Center. Sara probably told you about the different workshops that they’re
doing. But I do think we need more coordinated efforts to get things really
together.
MB | Right, yeah. So I’m seeing that starting, and I’m hoping that I cancontinue to be a part of it, and that we will have more things that hit the people
who are in their bubbles, because that’s how most students are.
MB | Yeah!
MB | No, but I think that that’s probably the experience of most students! Like,
you go to your classes, you stay in your little zone, and, I mean, I remember
when I was a student—granted my campus was a litt le different—but I wasn’t
aware of anything, ever. And even being a professional at App, there
JG | Yeah, and it’s kind of hard to reach out tothose who aren’t ready or who aren’t aware.
It looks like a big problem, and maybe I’m
biased, because I live in my own bubble
in the College of Design, but there’s a list
of resources online for survivors, and that
seems to be it. So how do we overcome that?
How do we make the knowledge of all of
these different resources more accessible to
students? If someone isn’t recognizing there’s
a problem, he or she wouldn’t be likely to
go online to see what kind of resources are
available. So I agree. I think these coordinated
events are interesting, and it seems like there
needs to be more of that.
JG | I’m so guilty of that. I’m so unaware of
anything going on outside of my department.
JG | A lot of the communication and outreach
that’s around the college is usually related
to the College of Design, so I think that’s
something that could be addressed. But, that’s
not really what this is about…
would be things that were going on and I was like “I wish I could have known
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would be things that were going on, and I was like, I wish I could have known
about that! That would have been a great time for me to, you know, talk about
Counseling Center stuff.”
MB | Absolutely.
MB | Actually I’ve talked with one of the doctoral interns here, and she was
talking about Tumblr. So, we’re trying to think about that, but I think that being
the Counseling Center, that it’s hard for us to do something like that. She was
saying she wanted to create a Tumblr account where people could tell their
stories to inspire others, and it could be managed through the Counseling
Center, but because we’re the Counseling Center and confidentiality is
number one, that makes it kind of impossible for us to manage. Also, if
someone were to ever use it in a way that was like “this is my goodbye to the
world,” yeah, that makes it hard, but we kind of talked about maybe we can
make a Tumblr account that was for survivors that talks about consent and
is uplifting and empowering and all that. But I mean if that were something
that the students were doing, or whoever, I don’t even know who would do
that, but I guess again the only thing we thought about was the names of the
perpetrators, what would happen there. But yeah, some sort of forum could be
a good idea. Another thing that they did several times at App was a ‘breaking
the silence’ kind of thing, where they had a panel of survivors sharing their
stories. And we’ve had people come to those, and we had a counselor kind of
in there. I’ve gone to those and afterwards, have had people come up to me
and be like, “Okay, I didn’t realize that I’ve been raped, and now I’m just now
realizing it from listening to these stories.” So, that’s a unique opportunity
to get that person help and to suggest they meet with a counselor to get
them some help. So those kind of events can be kind of empowering to the
survivors in hearing other people’s stories. Even if it’s not, “Oh, I’ve done that.”
JG | Yeah. I think the resident halls provide a
lot of opportunity for outreach, though. Like
those first year into second year students, theones who are most vulnerable.
JG | So, I’ve not been able to talk to actual
survivors because of privacy reasons, so what
I know about them is just what I’ve read and
researched online and through interviews
of resource staff, such as yourself. I did read
that there are a lot survivors out there who
are willing to share their experience as long
as they have a safe space to do that, so a lot
of survivors are going to places l ike Tumblr
where it’s anonymous, and I’m curious about
what kind of opportunities do those kinds of
things present to services on campus. What
are your thoughts on that?
It could be just “Wow okay This just clicked on a light bulb for me I didn’t
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It could be just, Wow okay. This just clicked on a light bulb for me. I didn t
realize those things were happening. I’ve never know anyone who’s gone
through something like that. My idea of someone who’s been sexual assaulted
was completely different than this.” So, it can just be enlightening.
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