Neoliberalism Goes to School: Neoliberalism's Influence on Responses to Sexual Violence in Higher Education Institutions

Authors

Naomi Strait, Macalester CollegeFollow

Abstract

This paper will begin by tracing the historical relationship between sexual violence and race, and then describe how neoliberalism compounded upon this history to create a carceral feminist response to sexual violence. After outlining the neoliberal trends present in national responses to sexual violence, I will narrow my focus to responses within higher education and attempt to demonstrate the parallels between them. I will focus on the commonalities of punitive responses and individualization, which result in a culture of compliance in higher education. I will conclude by describing alternatives to the current way higher education executes Title IX policy.

Author Biography

Naomi Strait (she/her/hers) is a senior at Macalester College majoring in American Studies with a minor in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. In the future she hopes to work with incarcerated or formerly incarcerated populations, specifically focusing on using restorative justice to resolve conflict and build trust within and across communities. Naomi is passionate about prison abolition and eradicating sexual violence, and the tension between the mainstream movements for both of these is what led her to research carceral feminism for this project. She thanks everyone who helped her throughout her educational career, which made this project possible.

Recommended Citation

Strait, Naomi (2020) "Neoliberalism Goes to School: Neoliberalism's Influence on Responses to Sexual Violence in Higher Education Institutions," Tapestries: Interwoven voices of local and global identities: Vol. 9: Iss. 1, Article 8.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/tapestries/vol9/iss1/8

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.