Sexual Assault Prevention Dialectic

The topic for my contemporary dialectic will be bystander intervention in sexual assault prevention.  Basically, this is a relatively new approach being taken in the field and it attempts to shift the “rape culture.”  Instead of preventative efforts being aimed solely at helping people (mostly women, because most prevention measures are aimed toward female audiences) avoid becoming victims or even strategies that seek to dispel rape myths, bystander intervention strategies seek to engage a broader collective audience in preventing rape and sexual assault.  For example, this Make Your Move campaign has been heavily promoted and replicated nationwide with images such as this: 

The copy on the above ad reads: "I could tell she was asking for it . . . to stop. So I stepped in and told my buddy that was not way to treat a lady. And he backed off."

Especially on college campuses, stakeholders have become increasingly concerned with efficacious prevention strategies and several high-profile efforts have been launched, which I believe mark a significant shift in societal response to the issue.   (See Not Alone: The First Report of the White House Task Force to Protect Students From Sexual Assault and this PSA by male celebrities.) 

I’m still contemplating how I will present this as a dialectic in terms of what argument I will construct.  I believe I will pursue a line of reasoning that considers who is the appropriate target/audience for sexual assault prevention messaging (potential victim vs. bystanders).  Within this line of reasoning, I would invoke Perelman and, in particular, address the universal vs. particular audience, as well as the notions of convincing vs. persuading. 

Artes Dictaminis -- Revised Letter of Intent for Graduate School Admission

EDITED:  My original blog post was a less edited version of the actual letter I submitted for admission.  In considering the assignment, I had originally envisioned it as a modern application of ars dictaminis -- how the same conventions are applied in modern letter writing.  In reviewing my peers' blog posts, I see how I misconstrued the instructions and intent so I've revised my post, which is actually more comfortable since it felt awkward to have such personal information on the blog originally.

December 14, 2012  (Revised October 16, 2014)

RE: STATEMENT OF INTENT

[Salutation]

Dear Dr. Carter and Graduate Review Committee, by divine grace resplendent in Ciceronian Charm, Casey, inferior to her devoted learning, expresses the always obedient honorable service.

[Securing of Goodwill]

Your nobility and reputation as scholarly thought leaders, so esteemed in the field, is unparalleled.   

[Narration]

Having long-admired your impressive and impactful mark on the field of Rhetoric and Technical Communication, I could only hope to avail myself of your wisdom and generous teaching so that I could explore and expand your influence throughout the realm.   

[Petitio]

I appeal to your generosity, wisdom, and kindness to allow me, through your grace, to seek admission to your most noble and fine program.

[Conclusio]

Praise to your graces,

Casey Holland Akins

Home

I’m both intrigued and conflicted in trying to formulate my ideas about my notions of “home” and all that loaded word entails.  For me, I’ve had 16 major moves in my life, living in 13 different states.  The one place I call “home” is my grandmother’s house in Tucson, Arizona because I lived there at two different points in my life (once as a child and again as a young adult) and it was the only place I ever returned to visit.  My mother and father live in that house now and it holds so many memories that I feel almost a temporal shift when I walk through the door; I am both a child and adult concurrently.

Questions were posed about how home is related to identity, the concept of homelessness, and even what is it like to be an American.  Personally, these questions are all intertwined.  While not many people have moved as often as I have, I am not unique among Americans in moving away from my family of origin.  Many of my peers have moved several times and don’t live near family.  Perhaps it is an assertion of independence, but perhaps a simpler explanation is more accurate, such as following economic opportunities. 

I do find one thing particularly fascinating about America and our notion of home:  our obsession with the physical space of the home.  (I don’t know that it is uniquely American, perhaps other cultures experience this as well so I could be making a cultural assumption based on my limited knowledge.)   We have several television channels dedicated 24/7 to home improvement shows, hundreds of retail shops (large and small) dedicated to selling home improvement items and decorations.  We are a nation fascinated with nesting and creating the perfect home.  Part of our American dream is even stated to be buying a home with a white picket fence (though no homes seem to have white picket fences anymore).  We spend our weekdays at work and our weekends working on our homes and yards.   In full disclosure, I am a self-proclaimed do-it-yourselfer and take great pride in the fact that I have remodeled each of the homes I’ve owned.  Again, I don’t know if this is a uniquely American trait or not.

Some people have said that after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, our obsession with our homes really increased; that we longed for the comfort, stability, and security that “home” provided that was lost when such unexpected violence erupted in one of our major cities.  We felt so vulnerable and sought a balm to soothe our troubled souls in the form of the comforts of home.   Perhaps this is true. 

So while we are more transient, further away from family, and value our independence, we, or at least I, still crave the traditions, comforts, and stability of home.  And, if that means I have to build it myself, I guess I will.