gehr master thesis

8/8/2019 Gehr Master Thesis

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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



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



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



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



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?



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.



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.



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.



12

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.



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).



14

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.



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.



16

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



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).



18

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.



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).



20

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.



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.



22

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.



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.



24

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.



25 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Design | System Components

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



26

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.



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.



28

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.



29 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Design | Early Studies

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”?



30

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.



31 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Design | Early Studies

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.



32

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.



33 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Design | Photography Studies

Figure 5.1 | Examples of photography in

a poster campaign context



34

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.




Figure 5.3 | Photography posters on a

bulletin board on campus.



36

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




Figure 5.5 | The accordion format of the zine creates a visual

representation of collective action.



38

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.



40

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.



41

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.



42



43 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Design | Collective Action

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.



44

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



45 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Design | Patchwork Quilt

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.



46

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.




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).



48

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.




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.



50

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.



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?



53 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Bibliography

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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!



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/



60

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


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




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).


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?


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



62

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.


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




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


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



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



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



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



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.



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.



70

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




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



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




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.



74

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).



75 Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Appendices | Appendix D

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



76

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.




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?



78

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.




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?



80

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?




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.



82

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?




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?



84

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?



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.

Designing a System that Facilitates Storytelling in the Context of Female College-Aged Date Rape Survivors | Appendices | Appendix D 85




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



88

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?




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.



90

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.

||




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



92

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




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.



94

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’




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



96

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




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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