How did date rape shift from a "shockingly frequent... outrage," as Newsweek once called it, to a controversy over "crying rape," as New York magazine later labeled it? Susan Faludi, bell hooks, Mary Koss, Katha Pollitt, Neil Malamuth, and others, analyze a classical case study in media "backlash."
By the early 1990s, solid research and overwhelming evidence had prompted a growing awareness of the epidemic nature of date rape, especially on college campuses. But, starting in 1993, the media used the anecdotal comments of one young woman, Katie Roiphe, to undermine efforts to stop this continuing crime against women. How did this happen? Academy Award Winning- screenwriter Callie Khouri (
Thelma & Louise) hosts a lively discussion by researchers, journalists, and authors.
Sections: Conservative Origins | Creation of a Controversy | "Bad Sex?" | The Attack on Mary Koss | The Research Record | The Research on Males | Male Hysteria & the Backlash | Effects of the Date Rape Backlash
Duration: 57 min
ISBN: 1-893521-44-3
Date Produced: 1994
TranscriptFilmmaker InfoProducer, Editor, Writer: Sut Jhally
Associate Producer: Robert Dinozzi
Script Editor: Patricia Mangan
Camera: Paul Yglesuis, Robert Dinozzi, Jeffrey Graham
Music: Joe Bartone
Graphics: Rick Bragg
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"A revealing expose of the mainstream media's role in trivializing the national epidemic of sexual violence against women. Especially good at exploring how and why the media love - and use - anti-feminist women (as surrogates for conservative men) to try to dismiss and marginalize feminism."
- Susan Douglas | Author of Where the Girls Are
