Synopses & Reviews
The fear of campus sexual assault has become an inextricable part of the college experience. Research has shown that by the time they graduate, as many as one in three women and almost one in six men will have been sexually assaulted. But why is sexual assault such a common feature of college life? And what can be done to prevent it? Drawing on the Sexual Health Initiative to Foster Transformation (SHIFT) at Columbia University, the most comprehensive study of sexual assault on a campus to date, Jennifer S. Hirsch and Shamus Khan present an entirely new framework that emphasizes sexual assault's social roots — transcending current debates about consent, predators in a "hunting ground," and the dangers of hooking up.
Sexual Citizens is based on years of research interviewing and observing college life — with students of different races, genders, sexual orientations, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Hirsch and Khan's landmark study reveals the social ecosystem that makes sexual assault so predictable, explaining how physical spaces, alcohol, peer groups, and cultural norms influence young people's experiences and interpretations of both sex and sexual assault. Through the powerful concepts of "sexual projects," "sexual citizenship," and "sexual geographies," the authors offer a new and widely-accessible language for understanding the forces that shape young people's sexual relationships. Empathetic, insightful, and far-ranging, Sexual Citizens transforms our understanding of sexual assault and offers a roadmap for how to address it.
Review
"This extraordinary book situates campus sexual assault in context. It teaches us how any particular sexual encounter is shaped as much by the people involved as it is by the history and prior education of the participants, by economic inequality, by the physical and social geography in which they are living. All of us with a responsibility for creating the campus spaces that can generate — or harm — health need to read this book." Sandro Galea, Dean and Robert A. Knox Professor, School of Public Health, Boston University
Review
"Hirsch and Khan make a strong case that solutions to campus sexual assault must involve educating students about their right to sexual autonomy, and the right of others to the same. This detailed, practical inquiry should be mandatory reading for college administrators and parents of college-age children." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Taking into account gender, sexuality, and race, Hirsch and Khan do an excellent job of exploring the complexities of sexual assault and how to make campuses safer for all students." Booklist
About the Author
Jennifer S. Hirsch is a professor of sociomedical sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, and codirects SHIFT, the Sexual Health Initiative to Foster Transformation, at Columbia University.
Shamus Khan is a professor and chair of sociology at Columbia University, and coheads the ethnographic team of SHIFT, the Sexual Health Initiative to Foster Transformation, at Columbia University