Constructing rape: Feminism, change, and women's everyday understandings of sexual assault

The cultural and legal meaning of rape has changed dramatically over the pa st 30 years as the feminist movement has challenged traditional constructio ns of sexual violence and offered an alternative construction of the meanin g of rape. The transformation of rape into a social problem has brought inc reased attention to the subject in both popular and academic realms. Despit e the growing body of research and theory on sexual violence, little inquir y exists into women's everyday constructions of rape and the degree to whic h such constructions have been influenced by the feminist movement This art icle uses a constructionist framework to examine the everyday understanding s of rape held by a diverse sample of women. Data gathered through an open- ended survey instrument were analyzed to reveal both interesting similariti es and significant differences in the ways women of different ages, races, and personal histories define and interpret the phenomenon of rape. By exam ining these data, the extent to which the feminist reconstruction of rape h as influenced women's everyday assumptions is examined, and the role of dif ferences among women in perceptions of rape is explored. The findings prese nted in this article have implications for theories of social problems, for feminist discourse, and for the application of research on rape in applied settings.