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Engaging F‐words to create change: Rape, representation, and performance
Author(s) -
Trinch Shonna,
Cassidy Barbara
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
feminist anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2643-7961
DOI - 10.1002/fea2.12005
Subject(s) - taboo , appropriation , silence , context (archaeology) , feminism , sociology , representation (politics) , public relations , media studies , aesthetics , linguistics , political science , gender studies , history , art , law , philosophy , archaeology , politics , anthropology
This essay, inspired by feminism, examines a program of engaged public anthropology through student‐led theater that uses what is often considered to be ‘bad language’ in U.S. colleges and universities. We suggest that the appropriation of taboo language varieties and taboo words in plays written by student‐playwrights and performed by professional actors in front of professors, administrators and student peers creates a powerful context for breaking the silence surrounding rape that then puts students at risk. Critical attention to the student‐playwrights' use of the f‐word in the public production of Seeing Rape suggests there is a place for it on campus.