Stellenbosch University
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New website creates safe space to speak out about campus rape culture
Author: Sue Segar
Published: 11/10/2021

​While statistics are important when dealing with issues relating to campus rape culture, it is often women's own powerful stories and lived experiences that offer the most compelling insight into what it means to experience gender-based violence. This is the rationale behind an innovative new online exhibition and website launched by the Unit for Religion and Development Research (URDR) at Stellenbosch University (SU) on 30 September.

The project “Engaging with women's experiences of campus rape culture: What can we learn from one South African university campus?" showcases selected photographic and audio findings of a research study on female SU students' understanding and experience of the drivers of campus rape culture. Using PhotoVOICE 2.0 – a participatory research methodology – five female students collected and analysed audiovisual data from their own lives. “Using smartphones, they took photos within their everyday contexts that are relevant to the topic of campus rape culture and its drivers," explains Dr Elisabet le Roux, URDR research director. “They then shared their pictures with the research leads using WhatsApp, accompanied by a short voice note."

The student researchers subsequently analysed their own data using the group process called Photoboarding to identify the core drivers of campus rape culture, followed by a final analysis of the material by the project leads. The final pictures and voice notes were posted on a website in the form of an online exhibition, which will hopefully spark many conversations on campus rape culture, says Dr Le Roux, who jointly led the project along with the URDR's Dr Selina Palm. “The exhibition is part of the bigger conversation around the global issue of campus rape culture," Le Roux says. “It really is not only a Stellenbosch University or a South African issue."

The researchers had initially planned a real-life exhibition, campus-wide indabas, student meetings and interactive events, but COVID-19 put a spoke in the wheel, Le Roux adds. Switching to cyberspace to execute the project, the URDR collaborated with SU's Equality Unit, Transformation Office, Division of Student Affairs as well as the SU Anti-GBV Movement to plan and deliver the launch.

Dr Palm accompanied the audience on a “click-through" of the website during the launch event. She stressed the need for recording, listening and responding to women's real experiences, and the lived realities of those who are subjected to violence and victimisation. “The website invites you all into a similar experience. Listen to the voice notes, view the photos and journey with each student researcher through their different experiences as well as the common themes identified across their stories," she said. “Hopefully, these diverse snippets of deep stories encourage you to add your voices to our exhibition so that it can become an ongoing platform for change."

The key themes emerging from the project as a whole were residences, social norms, alcohol, masculinities, fear, and responses. On the “Action" page, suggestions are offered for how those visiting the site can help bring about change. The page includes resources to learn more and obtain support, as well as a comments section for feedback on the exhibition. Those visiting the website are also encouraged to share their own experiences on the “Add your voice" page.

Newly elected Students' Representative Council (SRC) chair Viwe Kobokana welcomed the website and pledged that the SRC would “interact with this platform so that its efforts are not in vain". She said that intentional steps are needed towards addressing campus rape culture. “I'm so excited about this website, as it will be the beginning of a realistic conversation of campus rape culture and a platform for students to add their own voices to the issue."

At the launch, Prof Amanda Gouws, professor of Political Science and the incumbent of SU's research chair in gender politics, gave an overview of the institutional work done during her tenure at SU to combat campus rape culture, including developing the institution's first sexual harassment policy. She described how, in the early 1990s, students would approach her to discuss “problems they had no name for", as “most students at the time thought that sexual assault and rape were the only types of sexual harassment".

Reactive policies and procedures dealing with sexual harassment are not enough to deal with rape culture, Gouws said. “We need a proactive way of dealing with rape culture. This website is an attempt to raise consciousness about what women students experience as rape culture, and the limited institutional response they experience. Other universities can learn from this."

Tshego Matsha, a member of the University's student-led Anti-GBV Movement, spoke poignantly about how the brutal murder of her classmate, Hannah Cornelius , in 2017 had affected her and spurred her to become actively involved.

The launch ended with pre-recorded voice notes from the five student researchers, articulating their hopes for what the website will achieve. “I hope it creates awareness and serves as a platform to speak about these issues in a more free and safe manner," one said. “And I hope people learn that this is not just a social media frenzy, but a crucial issue that needs to be addressed, and is actually okay to speak about."

 The website is live and available at www.campusrapeculture.co.za.​

​*The research was given ethical clearance by the University, while the project was also funded by the University.