Author: Grace Carmack | Major: Journalism (News/Editorial) | Semester: Fall 2023

***Trigger warning: Mentions of Sexual Violence, Rape

My name is Grace Carmack, and I am an honors student in the Fulbright college where I study news/editorial journalism with minors in political science and international/global studies. My thesis director is Dr. Lucy M. Brown (JOUR Ad/PR) who has been a tremendous help throughout my research process. I am entering my final semester of research which, for journalism students, is a two-year project that begins the first semester of junior year – or earlier for those who are ahead of the game.

As a first semester junior, I was not in any way ahead of the game. I had no idea what I wanted to investigate for my research, and nothing was really getting me excited about the process, at first. I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to write a thesis to do something meaningful — and not just choose a topic that I wasn’t necessarily interested in. At that time, I was studying abroad at the UARK Rome Center and taking a class that explored the juvenile justice system in Italy and its reintegration aspect that differed distinctively from the justice system in the United States. I began an annotated bibliography on Italian juvenile justice, the mafia, and the differences between organized crime and punishment in the U.S with the intention of creating a cross cultural comparison between the two country’s approaches to justice. Somewhere around my last source and annotation, I realized I had done exactly what I told myself I wouldn’t do — I chose a topic that, while sparked curiosity and interest, was in no way something that excited me, made me feel like I was doing something potentially impactful.

So, I began again. I started rethinking my approach. I asked myself questions like: What is a social issue I have observed throughout my college experience that I could investigate? How might I do something about that issue through research? Why is this topic and social issue important to others, to me? Is there a realistic solution that could be found? Who knows until I try, right? I found myself constantly circling back to the prevalence of sexual violence (SV) in society but more specifically on college campuses where a sub-culture of partying, substance abuse, and sexual assault manifests to be a pervasive public health issue that disproportionately affects undergraduate female students. There was a moment where I thought: I am an undergraduate female student; SV is a problem that disrupts the lives of countless students every year, and I have the opportunity to try to do something about it through research. A few days before my annotated bibliography was due, I started from scratch on a completely different topic than I had planned on, months before.

I read literature about sexual violence on college campuses like the University of Arkansas, attempting to identify who the victims and perpetrators tend to be, what conditions and social scenes create a dangerous environment for women, what happens when sexually violent crimes do and do not get reported by victims, how the aftermath unfolds for both perpetrators and victims, as well as the protocols and initiatives that universities have in place, if any, to combat SV within their respective territories. I was bombarded with disappointment — finding many Band-Aid-type initiatives at universities that proved unproductive, maybe counterproductive, in dismantling a culture of SV that is consumed with silence. Although numerous studies have shown that sexual assault, rape, coercion, etc. are all crimes that take place on campuses with a sense of normality, sometimes even encouragement in specific hyper-masculine spaces, the issue of SV is still considered taboo, something awkward, uncomfortable to talk about. So, while sexual violence often disrupts the physical and mental health of students of all gender performances and causes real harm, there is a lack of solutions for victims due to the reality that people and institutions – in general – are reluctant to talk about it, address it, sit with it, and try to understand why SV occurs and how it might can be prevented. Doing so means accepting that sexual violence happens, which comes with consequences and accountability that most would rather avoid, right? I started to think that the first step in transforming the culture of silence that sexual violence is consumed in is by normalizing the concept of simply talking about it. And not just talking about the fact that it occurs at an accelerated rate during individuals’ college years, but also listening to those who choose to speak about the violence inflicted upon them. Listening to someone’s story ignites empathy, which is a key ingredient for understanding and change. I decided I wanted to investigate the impact of storytelling, by victims, on students’ understanding of sexual violence, specifically looking at how their acceptance to rape myths changes upon reading a narrative from a victim of SV.

Within a detailed survey, I have incorporated three different personal narratives from University of Arkansas students who chose to anonymously share their experience with SV to be published on the University of Arkansas’ chapter of Sexual Violence Prevention Association’s Instagram account. I read each narrative that had been published on their social media account, choosing three that differ in detail and graphic description, but all describe a rape. I wanted the narratives to be real accounts of violence, not artificial for the sake of “perfect” manipulation of detail, but with the preservation of raw, realistic storytelling in mind. Participants are tested for rape myth acceptance before and after reading a narrative, with the goal of studying the change that takes place. Additionally, the detail of each narrative will be investigated to determine which narrative is most effective in igniting empathy within the reader – the narrative that does this most successfully will be considered the most productive type of storytelling, which is useful information moving forward in the fight for a future free of SV on college campuses and beyond. As victims are better equipped with the knowledge of how to write stories to share on social media, even anonymously, to provoke understanding and change among readers, we will begin to see more effective advocacy.

The study I have today, Storytelling for Social Change: Using Personal Narratives on Social Media to Disrupt Rape Myth Acceptance and Sexual Violence on College Campuses, is still a work in progress and undergoing changes every day. It would not be possible without the support, guidance, and encouragement I have received from my thesis director, Dr. Lucy M. Brown. Also, the Honors College has been an enormous source of support as this study was generously funded by an Honors College Research Grant. Having a foundation of encouragement for, and interest in, this research has made it much more than a requirement to graduate, but a real opportunity to do meaningful work within my community.