In her writing from the journal Gender and Society (Volume 28,) Heather R. Hlavka, an assistant professor in the Social and Cultural Sciences Department at Marquette University, offers readers a salient, sorrowful and urgent examination of young girls’ testimonies that substantiates how objectification and sexual harassment are not only firmly established and a systemic epidemic, but how the aforementioned concepts and even (and especially) violence are manifested in the fabric of young women’s lives. Normalizing Sexual Violence: Young Women Account for Harassment and Abuse provides harrowing accounts that emphasize how fundamental shifts in public education- specifically in terms of sexual relations and sexual abuse- must be implemented in order to counter the hegemonic reality of “why many regard violence a normal part of life.”
Hlavka poignantly asserts that there are considerable confines for victims in the arena(s) of law and policy; and, the systems in place often do not allow for or encourage women to represent themselves as individuals with desire and intention, but- rather- merely as passive objects. Furthermore, the author astutely contends that one of the most troublesome implications to be drawn from the interviewees pertains to how sexually aggressive conduct demonstrated by boys and men is widely perceived as “normal behavior” within male sexual drive discourse. Also, a critical deconstruction of the testimonies in the piece reveals a common denominator between many of the girls’ reported experiences: relational dynamics drift at the crux of the issue of what prevents so many young victims from reporting sexual violence or harassment to authorities.
If we will succeed in uprooting these enigmas, if violence is to be perceived as abnormal, and if we want systemic tragedies to reverse course… adept education, legitimate empathy and a collective interest in the collective are the pillars of change; and, these ideas could be the crucial variables within the equation of how the next generations might move us toward a brighter, more just future. Regrettably, American society has a long, long way to go in terms of the realization of equality. There is certainly a “glass ceiling” that lingers on and enshrouds the experience of women; this is evidenced by our most recent Presidential election. If young women (and men and gender fluid folks alike) continue to be subjected to leadership, judges or otherwise prominent role models that pardon actions by individuals like Brock Turner, perpetuate sex crimes in venues like Hollywood and/or normalize “grabbing someone by the pussy,” then the tempering of sexual aggression is nowhere to be seen.
