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Mohamed Emlemdi

Professor Beckelhimer

Advanced Composition

20 October 2017

Sexual Assault Genre Analysis

There are many genres involved in the campus sexual assault discourse community. From

court hearings and first-person accounts to news articles and statistical figures, many groups and

genres are involved in discussions of this topic. The genre I chose to discuss is personal accounts

and first-person stories. I feel that this genre will give an adequate representation of the

discussions taking place in this discourse because these are the people who are most closely

affected by sexual assault and it is important that their voices are being heard in the discussion.

Some common characteristics found in first-person accounts are emotional/charged

rhetoric, opinionated statements, and biased information specific to the individual. I feel that

first-person accounts are many times the most accurate because you are hearing the information

from the source. That being said, you must watch out for the bias because theres no way to

really fact check what someone is saying. An example of a charged statement from an

anonymous female student from Southern Illinois is, I was under the influence with people I

thought I could trust. This quote to me holds a lot of weight because it implies that people

whom she trusted were the ones who either committed the heinous act or were the ones who

allowed for it to happen. Another charged quote from a female student from Texarkana College:

I didnt report him. To me, I grew up in a conservative family so it was like, you fight your own

battles (Germain). This gives insight into how hard it could be for a victim of sexual assault to

come forward and talk about it. No other genre in this discourse community can give the exact
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reason as to why somebody may not want to report something like this; but this quote from the

student gives a reason that only she could completely understand. Therefore, its important that

these voices are added to the discussion in the discourse.

The conversation personal accounts add to this discourse community can be both civil

and uncivil. There are times when victims are able to compose themselves and speak rationally

about the situation but there are also other times when emotions can get the best of a person and

their contribution to the discussion can be uncivil. Much of the discussion Ive been able to find

has been civil as the people have been in a rational and stable enough state to report what has

happened. However, there are times still when the victims can be flustered and confused about

what happened like when a student from the University of Pittsburgh said, I woke up the next

morning without any recollection. These students cannot recollect much, if not any, of what

happened so whatever discussion they add to the discourse may not always be accurate or civil.

Even so, thats no reason to not have their voices heard in the conversation.

First-person accounts add an honest viewpoint and authenticity to the discourse

community that articles, videos, court hearings and websites cannot. The voices heard from these

first-person perspectives come with real experiences that are important to be heard and

understood in the discussion. I feel that personal accounts can be the most blunt and truthful

genre in the discourse community. However, there are can be times when the personal accounts

arent always the best source of information due to a lack of recollection or knowledge from the

source. There can also be bias from first-person accounts that detract from the discourse

community by adding misinformation. Regardless, the conversation added by first-person

accounts, both civil and uncivil, are important and must be heard in the discourse community

because it comes straight from the source of people most closely affected by these situations.

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