Media's Impact on Campus Rape Culture

The term ‘rape culture’ was coined in the 1970s by American feminists, to describe a culture of intimidation whereby male aggression toward women is both normalized and encouraged (Buchwald, Fletcher, & Roth, 1993). This honours project explores rape culture transmitted via an online medium at a Canadian university campus. Despite over 40 years of addressing sexual assault in Canada, research continues to show that approximately 20%-28.5% of Canadian undergraduate females are sexually assaulted during their four-year degree (Krebs, Lindquist, Warner, Fisher & Martin, 2009, p.643; Newton-Taylor, DeWit, & Gliksman, 1998, p. 156; Suran, 2014, p. 274). This is especially concerning since, in comparison, police reporting of sexual assault was at 5% in 2014 (Perreault, 2015, p. 25) and on-campus reporting consisted of only 700 documented cases from 87 Canadian universities and major colleges, between 2009 and 2013 (CBC News, 2015). Only since 2014 have universities and colleges begun to openly acknowledge the need for such policies and protocols (Mathieu, 2014, para. 6). The focus of this Honours project is to examine the student-led Facebook page “MRU Confessions” that is directed towards Mount Royal University students in Calgary, Alberta. Using a content analysis approach, the aim is to examine how, and to what extent media facilitates or challenges campus rape culture. Although this project is exploratory in nature and focuses on only one Canadian campus, it provides a basis from which other studies exploring rape culture on university campuses can emerge. Ultimately, this project aims to invoke discussion and increase awareness concerning rape culture while providing commentary to the development of a national framework that universities can use in shaping policy, programs, and education.