Interpreting Title IX: A feminist legal geography of sexual assault prevention on U.S. college campuses

Abstract

This article uses questions and tools from feminist legal geography to explore the uneven institutional and discursive landscapes of sexual assault prevention on U.S. college campuses under the auspices of Title IX. College campuses in the United States remain landscapes of risk and fear, felt most strongly by women and non-binary students, despite decades of campus interventions to prevent assault, support survivors, and hold perpetrators accountable. Passed in 1972, Title IX represents the most important federal legislation addressing gender discrimination on campus, one that has evolved over several decades at the intersection of litigation, administrative rule-making, and feminist activism to broaden the scope of what “gender discrimination” means. Our analysis highlights the variability in how universities interpret Title IX as it pertains to sexual assault, which can profoundly shape the effectiveness of prevention and support services. Some universities narrowly interpret Title IX, leading to “law and order” approaches and policies that individualize the problem and side-step communal responsibility. Others, however, go beyond checking the box of Title IX by instituting comprehensive and trauma-informed narratives and services that tackle sexual violence as a question of power and patriarchy. While the tensions between these paradigms have been explored in extant literature, our qualitative discursive analysis represents a unique entry point for assessing the specific institutional contexts that can lead to distinct approaches.