Gender Violence

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Gendered violence is something that is overshadowed, in my opinion, on most college campuses and throughout the population. Alice Sebold encompassed this idea when writing her memoir entitled Lucky: A Memoir. She explained her first-hand experience with rape and the process it takes the victim throughout their lives. My intent with this analysis paper is to delve into these first-hand experiences and connect them with ideas given to us in class.
Sebold goes into abundant detail throughout the entire novel trying to connect each reader with her story. Throughout history, women were not protected under laws and police seemed to judge women who were victims of rape. “I took each reprimand for what it was: an awareness that the specificity of my rape did not matter, but only how and if it conformed to an established charge. Rape 1, Sodomy 1, etc. How he twisted my breasts or shoved his fist inside me, my virginity: inconsequential” (Sebold 31). In this quote, Sebold is referring to when the police did not care about her experience. All the police needed to know was enough detail to slap a charge onto the perpetrator. Police effort within many gendered violence cases has been the same. They don’t expect the victim to pursue the case nor do they think they will ever arrest the assailant, let alone convict. This statement is also evident within Sebold’s statement “In rape cases, it was almost expected that the victim would drop out of the process even if she originally initiated it” (Sebold 160). This fact claims that what Sebold did was something of rarity. She stood alone against her rapist. She had her friends and family, but they could not change anything. Alice had to stand up and fight against her rapist and fight. Her actions co...

... middle of paper ...

...sses the struggle she went through as a victim and how she overcame that struggle. My intent with this analysis paper was to delve into these first-hand experiences and connect them with ideas given to us in class. Alice is one of many survivors, but one of few victorious survivors.

Works Cited

“Civil Disobedience”. The Politics of Protest. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Web.
Davidson, Carl. The New Radicals in the Multiversity and other SDS writings on Student
Syndicalism. Chicago: Charles H Kerr Publishing Company, 1990. Web.
"Making Our Lives Count." Soul of a Citizen. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 15-16. Web.
North Country. Dir. Niki Caro. Prod. Nick Wechsler. By Michael Seitzman. Perf. Charlize Theron, Frances
McDormand, Sean Bean, and Richard Jenkins. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2005. DVD.
On Human Dignity. N.p.:n.p., n.d. Web.
Sebold, Alice. Lucky. New York: Scribner, 1999. Print.

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