#myantirapeface

Last month a  presentation entitled Haven – Understanding Sexual Assault, led by Cory Rosenkranz, coordinator of Substance Abuse & Violence PreventionatRampao CollegeinNew Jersey caused a lot of controversy.

Why?

Because during her hour-long presentation Rosenkranz told the students that women need to be self-aware of actions that could invite sexual assault. Those included:

- how they dress

- how they interact with other people

-how much they drink

- how their body language could be interpreted

- how their facial expressions could be interpreted

“[Cory] started the presentation by talking about preventative measures…but then it became kind of peculiar, the extent she was taking it to. She was saying that women need to watch their body language and that women should practice how they articulate their face [in a social setting] by practicing in the mirror”, said Brandon Molina, who is a returning peer facilitator.

So if women have to create an anti-rape face, does that make all other facial expressions invitations-to-rape faces? Does that then mean that rapists can be acquitted based on the fact that their victim wasn’t displaying an anti-rape expression in the first moments of contact, but just a regular facial expression? 

Rosenkrantz’ talk greatly upset many of the students at Rampao College as her suggestions of how to prevent rape placed the responsibility on the targets of sexual assault, rather than the perpetrators. Instead of encouraging a debate and addressing the actual issue - perceived male entitlement to female bodies - Rosenkranz shamed rape survivors, excused rapists and didn’t recognize sexual violence as a sociocultural problem that can be solved. 

The contents of this talk were greatly criticised and mocked on social media, which lead to the creation of the hashtag #MyAntiRapeFace.