Hear Our Stories: Campus Sexual Violence, Intersectionality,...

Despite focused efforts to stop the perpetration of campus sexual violence, the statistic that one in four college women will experience such violence has remained steady over the last sixty years. The number of higher education institutions under federal Title IX investigation for mishandling sexual violence cases also continues to grow.

In Hear Our Stories, Jessica Harris demonstrates how preventive efforts often fall short because they lack intersectional perspectives, and often obscure how sexual violence is imbued with racial significance. Drawing on interviews with Women of Color student survivors, staff, and documents from three different universities, this book analyzes sexual violence on the college campus from an intersectional lens, centering the stories of Women of Color. Harris explores the intersectional realities of campus sexual violence, including survivors' racialized and gendered experiences with campus rape culture, institutional betrayal, prevention programming, reporting and disclosing, and feminist and anti-racist movements.

Hear Our Stories challenges dominant approaches to campus sexual violence that too-often stall the implementation of more effective sexual violence prevention and response efforts that could offer transformative outcomes for all students.

About the author

Jessica C. Harris is Associate Professor of Higher Education and Organizational Change at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"In Hear Our Stories, Dr. Jessica Harris rightfully places Women of Color in the epistemic center as they share their wisdom on the intra-racial politics of campus sexual violence, providing Women of Color a much-needed mirror of ourselves. From Hear Our Stories, universities can create intersectional policies that serve Women of Color survivors, while moving into a present that promotes peace, equality, justice, and healing on college campuses."

—Jennifer M. Gómez, Boston University

"In centering the voices of survivors of color, Jessica Harris demonstrates how adopting an intersectional perspective shines a fresh light on campus sexual assault. Harris expertly weaves together survivor stories and highlights how three unique campus contexts shaped those survivors' experiences. She then invites us all to (re)imagine our role in transforming campus climates, making this an essential read."

—Carrie Moylan, Michigan State University

"Sexual violence on college campuses remains prevalent, yet the discourse is woefully incomplete and typically absent of the voices and experiences of Women of Color survivors. In Hear Our Stories, Dr. Jessica Harris thoughtfully situates sexual violence through an intersectional lens that is not simply about naming intersectional failures rooted in sexual violence and prevention, but also considering the possibilities when we listen to and center the voices of Women of Color survivors."

—Lori Patton Davis, The Ohio State University