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Denim Day - Polytechnic Campus

Materials in the Library

Denim Day at ASU

Denim Day is an international event to raise awareness about sexual violence. The resources included here are sensitive in nature and may cause uncomfortable feelings or be triggering. Please visit sexualviolenceprevention.asu.edu should you wish to connect with University or community resources.

Learn more at ASU Denim Day.

Denim Day books & videos

ABC of Domestic and Sexual Violence (ebook)

ABC of Domestic and Sexual Violence is a practical guide for all health care professionals who are looking after abused individuals (whether knowingly or not) and who wish to learn more in order to help their patients. It employs a positive and hands on approach, emphasising simple history taking skills and clinical 'tips' and pitfalls to help demystify what is often considered a sensitive or difficult subject area. This new ABC title covers background and epidemiology, including: international and cultural perspectives, common presentations, how to identify abuse, and guidance on subsequent acute and longer-term medical and psychosocial interventions. 

Becoming Unbecoming

This extraordinary graphic novel is a powerful denunciation of sexual violence against women. As seen through the eyes of a twelve-year-old girl named Una, it takes place in northern England in 1977, as the Yorkshire Ripper, a serial killer of prostitutes, is on the loose and creating panic among the townspeople. As the police struggle in their clumsy attempts to find the killer, and the headlines in the local paper become more urgent, a once self-confident Una teaches herself to "lower her gaze" in order to deflect attention from boys. After she is "slut-shamed" at school for having birth control pills, Una herself is the subject of violent acts for which she comes to blame herself. But as the police finally catch up with and identify the killer, Una grapples with the patterns of behaviour that led her to believe she was to blame. Becoming Unbecoming combines various styles, press clippings, photo-based illustrations, and splashes of colour to convey young Una's sense of confusion and rage, as well as sobering statistics on sexual violence against women. The book is a no-holds-barred indictment of sexual violence against women and the shame and blame of its victims that also celebrates the empowerment of those able to gain control over their selves and their bodies.

The Beginning and End of Rape (ebook)

Despite what major media sources say, violence against Native women is not an epidemic. An epidemic is biological and blameless. Violence against Native women is historical and political, bounded by oppression and colonial violence. This book, like all of Sarah Deer's work, is aimed at engaging the problem head-on--and ending it. The Beginning and End of Rape collects and expands the powerful writings in which Deer, who played a crucial role in the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act in 2013, has advocated for cultural and legal reforms to protect Native women from endemic sexual violence and abuse. Deer provides a clear historical overview of rape and sex trafficking in North America, paying particular attention to the gendered legacy of colonialism in tribal nations--a truth largely overlooked or minimized by Native and non-Native observers. 

Confronting Sexual Harrassment (ebook)

Examining the relationship between law and social change in the context of employees' everyday problems with sexual harassment, this volume elaborates a framework for studying the role of law in everyday acts of resistance - what the author calls the legal consciousness of injustice. The framework situates the analysis in the context of a specific social problem and its related legal domain. It de-centres the law by accounting for the way that social movements, counter-movements, policy makers and powerful institutions frame the debate surrounding the social problem. Drawing on frame analysis developed in social movement studies, this aspect of the approach specifically incorporates other schema and shows how law supports both oppositional and dominant interpretations of experience. Following the stages of a dispute, the framework then examines the way that people use frames to make sense of their experiences.

Framing the Rape Victim (ebook)

Winner of the 2016 Nonfiction Category from The Authors' Zone In recent years, members of legal, law enforcement, media and academic circles have portrayed rape as a special kind of crime distinct from other forms of violence. In Framing the Rape Victim, Carine M. Mardorossian argues that this differential treatment of rape has exacerbated the ghettoizing of sexual violence along gendered lines and has repeatedly led to women's being accused of triggering, if not causing, rape through immodest behavior, comportment, passivity, or weakness. Contesting the notion that rape is the result of deviant behaviors of victims or perpetrators, Mardorossian argues that rape saturates our culture and defines masculinity's relation to femininity, both of which are structural positions rather than biologically derived ones. 

Missoula (ebook)

From bestselling author Jon Krakauer, a stark, powerful, meticulously reported narrative about a series of sexual assaults at the University of Montana ­-- stories that illuminate the human drama behind the national plague of campus rape. Missoula, Montana, is a typical college town, with a highly regarded state university, bucolic surroundings, a lively social scene, and an excellent football team -- the Grizzlies -- with a rabid fan base. The Department of Justice investigated 350 sexual assaults reported to the Missoula police between January 2008 and May 2012. Few of these assaults were properly handled by either the university or local authorities. In this, Missoula is also typical. A DOJ report released in December of 2014 estimates 110,000 women between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four are raped each year. Krakauer's devastating narrative of what happened in Missoula makes clear why rape is so prevalent on American campuses, and why rape victims are so reluctant to report assault. Acquaintance rape is a crime like no other. 

A Natural History of Rape (ebook)

In this controversial book, Randy Thornhill and Craig Palmer use evolutionary biology to explain the causes of rape and to recommend new approaches to its prevention. According to Thornhill and Palmer, evolved adaptation of some sort gives rise to rape; the main evolutionary question is whether rape is an adaptation itself or a by-product of other adaptations. Regardless of the answer, Thornhill and Palmer note, rape circumvents a central feature of women's reproductive strategy: mate choice. This is a primary reason why rape is devastating to its victims, especially young women. Thornhill and Palmer address, and claim to demolish scientifically, many myths about rape bred by social science theory over the past twenty-five years. The popular contention that rapists are not motivated by sexual desire is, they argue, scientifically inaccurate. Although they argue that rape is biological, Thornhill and Palmer do not view it as inevitable. 

Redefining Rape (ebook)

The uproar over "legitimate rape" during the 2012 U.S. elections confirms that rape remains a word in flux, subject to political power and social privilege. Redefining Rape describes the forces that have shaped the meaning of sexual violence in the U.S., through the experiences of accusers, assailants, and advocates for change.

Injustice in Indian Country: jurisdiction, American law, and sexual violence against native women (ebook)

Living at the intersection of multiple identities in the United States can be dangerous. This is especially true for Native women who live on the more than 56 million acres that comprise America's Indian Country - the legal term for American Indian reservations and other land held in trust for Native people. Today, due to a complicated system of criminal jurisdiction, non-Native Americans can commit crimes against American Indians in much of Indian Country with virtual impunity. This has created what some call a modern day "hunting ground" in which Native women are specifically targeted by non-Native men for sexual violence. In this urgent and timely book, author Amy L. Casselman exposes the shameful truth of how the American government has systematically divested Native nations of the basic right to protect the people in their own communities. A problem over 200 years in the making, 

Rape in Art Cinema (ebook)

Art cinema has always had an aura of the erotic, with the term being at times a euphemism for European films that were more explicit than their American counterparts. This focus on sexuality, whether buried or explicit, has meant a recurrence of the theme of rape, nearly as ubiquitous as in mainstream film. This anthology explores the representation of rape in art cinema. Its aim is to highlight the prevalence and multiple functions of rape in this prestigious mode of filmmaking as well as to question the meaning of its ubiquity and versatility. Rape in Art Cinema takes an interdisciplinary approach, bringing together recognized figures such as historian Joanna Burke, philosopher Ann J. Cahill, and film scholars Martin Barker, Tanya Horeck and Scott Mackenzie alongside emerging voices. It is international in scope, with contributors from Canada, the U.S. and Britain coming together to investigate the representation of rape in some of cinema's most cherished films.

Securitization of Rape (ebook)

This book uniquely applies securitization theory to the mass sexual violence atrocities committed during the Bosnia war and the Rwandan genocide. Examining the inherent links between rape, war and global security, Hirschauer analyses the complexities of conflict related sexual violence.

Sex and the Office (ebook)

In this engaging book--the first to historicize our understanding of sexual harassment in the workplace--Julie Berebitsky explores how Americans' attitudes toward sexuality and gender in the office have changed since the 1860s, when women first took jobs as clerks in the U.S. Treasury office.   Berebitsky recounts the actual experiences of female and male office workers; draws on archival sources ranging from the records of investigators looking for waste in government offices during World War II to the personal papers of Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown and Ms. magazine founder Gloria Steinem; and explores how popular sources--including cartoons, advertisements, advice guides, and a wide array of fictional accounts--have represented wanted and unwelcome romantic and sexual advances. This range of evidence and the study's long scope expose both notable transformations and startling continuities in the interplay of gender, power and desire at work.

Boyhood shadows a documentary (DVD)

Part. 1. People don't want to know (ca. 25 min.) -- part 2. Stabbed in the brain (ca. 26 min.) -- part 3. Retribution, myths and recovery (ca. 26 min.).
Boyhood shadows is the gripping story of young boys who were molested ... the dark secret they carry for the rest of their lives ... and how they cope.

Legacies of the Comfort Women of World War II

The stories of the former comfort women have galvanized both Asian and non-Asian intellectuals working in a variety of fields. Scholars of Asian history and politics, feminists, human rights activists, documentary filmmakers, visual artists, and novelists have begun to address the subject of the comfort system; to take up the cause of the surviving comfort women's sturggles; to call attention to sexual violence against women, especially during wartime; to consider the links among militarism, racism, imperialism, and sexism; and to include this history into 20th-century political history. This volume contains a cross-section of responses to the issues raised by the former comfort women and their new visibility on the international stage. Its focus is on how theorists, historians, researchers, activists, and artists have been preserving, interpreting, and disseminating the legacies of the comfort women and also drawing lessons from these. The essays consider the impact and influence of the comfort women's stories on a wide variety of fields and describe how those stories are now being heard or read and used in Asian and in the West.

Forensic and Medico-Legal Aspects of Sexual Crimes and Unusual Sexual Practices

From sexual abuse and fetishism to necrophilia and sadomasochism, this unique volume identifies fourteen classifications of unusual sexual pathologies. Emphasizing the physical and psychological aspects of sexuality itself, the book presents detailed comparisons of legal and medical definitions, historical aspects, current incidence, and geographical prevalence of these offenses. It also explores the potential causes, discussing etiological theories and reviewing psychopathology. Highlighting the cross-cultural nature of the forensic aspects of human sexuality, the book examines various case studies in the context of international legislation. It also covers minor aberrant behavior such as coprolalia and troilism.

In an Abusive State

In an Abusive State puts forth a powerful argument: that the feminist campaign to stop sexual violence has entered into a problematic alliance with the neoliberal state. Kristin Bumiller chronicles the evolution of this alliance by examining the history of the anti-violence campaign, the production of cultural images about sexual violence, professional discourses on intimate violence, and the everyday lives of battered women. She also scrutinizes the rhetoric of high-profile rape trials and the expansion of feminist concerns about sexual violence into the international human-rights arena. 

Male Rape

Focusing on male-on-male rape, this book looks at the common myths surrounding this taboo issue, including the idea that 'men who rape other men must be homosexual' and that 'real men can't be raped'. It also reveals that men are not only raped in prison, as is commonly believed, and that they suffer similar trauma to female survivors of rape.

No! (DVD)

Introduction & devastation of date rape -- Weapon of history: slavery, freedom, sexploitation -- Survivors silenced (Who is a race traitor?) -- Civil rights & wrongs -- Raping the next generation (Impact on girls) -- Holding men accountable: campus, clergy & community -- Unequal justice under law -- Healing, faith, & hope.
Through intimate testimonies from Black women victim/survivors, commentaries from acclaimed African-American scholars and community leaders, impacting archival footage, spirited music, dance, and performance poetry, NO! unveils the reality of rape, other forms of sexual violence, and healing in African-American communities.

Rape within the ranks the enemy within (DVD)

This documentary explores the issue of sexual harrassment of women in the United States military.

Rethinking Rape Law

Rethinking Rape Lawprovides a comprehensive and critical analysis of contemporary rape laws, across a range of jurisdictions. In a context in which there has been considerable legal reform of sexual offences, Rethinking Rape Lawengages with developments spanning national, regional and international frameworks. It is only when we fully understand the differences between the law of rape in times of war and in times of peace, between common law and continental jurisdictions, between societies in transition and societies long inured to feminist activism, that we are able to understand and evaluate current practices, with a view to change and a better future for victims of sexual crimes. 

Sex Offenders and Public Policy

Crime policy and the science of correcting criminal behavior is very complicated. This volume includes a collection of essays that analyze the efficacy of current sex offender policies. A question-and-response format prompts readers to examine complex topics from multiple viewpoints. Students are encouraged to see the validity of divergent opinions, so that they may understand issues inclusively. Essay topics include what the best defense is against sexual predators, whether treatment is effective, whether GPS tracking promotes panic, and whether the state of limitations should be reformed to bring justice to perpetrators.

Sexual assault naming the unnamed conspirator (DVD)

Career prosecutor Anne Munch examines how societal attitudes influence legal cases involving sexual assault. Drawing on her experience prosecuting sex crimes, Munch demonstrates how rape cases frequently turn on the involvement of what she calls an "unnamed conspirator" -- the complex of myths and stories we tell ourselves as a culture about sex, gender, power, and responsibility. Using examples from real cases, and harrowing evidence from actual 911 calls, Munch shows how the assumptions that juries bring into the courtroom often stack the odds against victims, and challenges us to question how our own assumptions might reinforce victim-blaming.

Sexual Violence and Armed Conflict

Every year, hundreds of thousands of women become victims of sexual violence in conflict zones around the world; in the Democratic Republic of Congo alone, approximately 1,100 rapes are reported each month. This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the causes, consequences and responses to sexual violence in contemporary armed conflict. It explores the function and effect of wartime sexual violence and examines the conditions that make women and girls most vulnerable to these acts both before, during and after conflict. To understand the motivations of the men (and occasionally women) who perpetrate this violence, the book analyzes the role played by systemic and situational factors such as patriarchy and militarized masculinity. Difficult questions of accountability are tackled; in particular, the case of child soldiers, who often suffer a double victimization when forced to commit sexual atrocities. 

Sexual Violence and Rape in the Middle Ages (ebook)

Medieval historians and literary scholars have not ignored the topic of sexual violence and rape, but the primary focus has regularly rested on English, French, or Italian documents. Here we have the first book-length study that investigates the treatment of sexual crimes in medieval and early modern German and Latin literature, making great efforts to shed light on often ignored scenes and episodes even in some of the ,classical' works such as Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival or the anonymous Nibelungenlied. As this monograph reveals, many times we face situations where we cannot easily determine whether rape has occurred or not.

Turned out sexual assault behind bars (VHS)

Documentary on the subject of prison rape and homosexual relations in prison.

Up Against a Wall

Rape law reform has long been hailed as one of the most successful projects of second-wave feminism. Yet forty years after the anti-rape movement emerged, legal and medical institutions continue to resist implementing reforms intended to provide more just and compassionate legal and medical responses to victims of sexual violence. In Up Against a Wall, Rose Corrigan draws on interviews with over 150 local rape care advocates in communities across the United States to explore how and why mainstream systems continue to resist feminist reforms. In a series of richly detailed case studies, the book weaves together scholarship on law and social movements, feminist theory, policy formation and implementation, and criminal justice to show how the innovative legal strategies employed by anti-rape advocates actually undermined some of their central claims. 

Violence Against Women in Early Modern Performance

Examining some of the most iconic texts in English theatre history, including Titus Andronicus and The Changeling, this book, now in paperback with a new Preface, reveals the pernicious erasure of rape and violence against women in the early modern era and the politics and ethics of rehearsing these negotiations on the 20th and 21st century stages.

Denim Day Children's Books at ASU

33 Snowfish

A harrowing new novel by Adam Rapp brings us to the depths of humanity - and powerfully dramatizes the resilience of the human spirit. On the run in a stolen car with a kidnapped baby in tow, Custis, Curl, and Boobie are three young people with deeply troubled pasts and bleak futures. As they struggle to find a new life for themselves, it becomes painfully clear that none will ever be able to leave the past behind. Yet for one, redemption is waiting in the unlikeliest of places. With the raw language of the street and lyrical, stream-of-consciousness prose, Adam Rapp hurtles the reader into a world of lost children, a world that is not for the faint of heart. Gripping, disturbing, and starkly illuminating, his hypnotic narration captures the voices of two damaged souls - a third speaks only through drawings - to tell a story of alienation, deprivation, and ultimately, the saving power of compassion.

Boy Toy

Josh Mendel has a secret. Unfortunately, everyone knows what it is.    Five years ago, Josh's life changed. Drastically. And everyone in his school, his town--seems like the world--thinks they understand. But they don't--they can't. And now, about to graduate from high school, Josh is still trying to sort through the pieces. First there's Rachel, the girl he thought he'd lost years ago. She's back, and she's determined to be part of his life, whether he wants her there or not.Then thereare college decisions to make, and the toughest baseball game of his life coming up, and a coach who won't stop pushing Josh all the way to the brink. And then there's Eve. Her return brings with it all the memories of Josh's past. It's time for Josh to face the truth about what happened.    If only he knew what the truth was . . .

Chilly Stomach

Chilly Stomach

Whenever Sandy's Uncle Jim comes to visit, he hugs and kisses her in ways she doesn't like and she gets a chilly stomach.

Dime

The realities of teen prostitution are revealed in this eye-opening, heartbreaking story from the author ofAmerica, which Booklist called "a piercing, unforgettable novel" and Kirkus Reviews deemed "a work of sublime humanity." As a teen girl in Newark, New Jersey, lost in the foster care system, Dime just wants someone to care about her, to love her. A family. And that is exactly what she gets--a daddy and two "wifeys." So what if she has to go out and earn some coins to keep her place? It seems a fair enough exchange for love. Dime never meant to become a prostitute. It happened so gradually, she pretty much didn't realize it was happening until it was too late. But when a new "wifey" joins the family and Dime finds out that Daddy doesn't love her the way she thought he did, will Dime have the strength to leave? And will Daddy let her?

Exit, Pursued by a Bear

Veronica Mars meets William Shakespeare in E.K. Johnston's latest brave and unforgettable heroine. Hermione Winters is captain of her cheerleading team, and in tiny Palermo Heights, this doesn't mean what you think it means. At PHHS, the cheerleaders don't cheer for the sports teams; they are the sports team--the pride and joy of a tiny town. The team's summer training camp is Hermione's last and marks the beginning of the end of...she's not sure what. She does know this season could make her a legend. But during a camp party, someone slips something in her drink. And it all goes black. In every class, there's a star cheerleader and a pariah pregnant girl. They're never supposed to be the same person. Hermione struggles to regain the control she's always had and faces a wrenching decision about how to move on. The assault wasn't the beginning of Hermione Winter's story and she's not going to let it be the end. She won't be anyone's cautionary tale. 

Hush

Inside the closed community of Borough Park, where most Chassidim live, the rules of life are very clear, determined by an ancient script written thousands of years before down to the last detail--and abuse has never been a part of it. But when thirteen-year-old Gittel learns of the abuse her best friend has suffered at the hands of her own family member, the adults in her community try to persuade Gittel, and themselves, that nothing happened. Forced to remain silent, Gittel begins to question everything she was raised to believe. A richly detailed and nuanced book, one of both humor and depth, understanding and horror, this story explains a complex world that remains an echo of its past, and illuminates the conflict between yesterday's traditions and today's reality.

I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This

Twelve-year-old Marie is a leader among the popular black girls in Chauncey, Ohio, a prosperous black suburb. She isn't looking for a friend when Lena Bright, a white girl, appears in school. Yet they are drawn to each other because both have lost their mothers. And they know how to keep a secret. For Lena has a secret that is terrifying, and she's desperate to protect herself and her younger sister from their father. Marie must decide whether she can help Lena by keeping her secret...or by telling it. From the Paperback edition.

The Missing Girl

He could be any man, any respectable, ordinary man. But he's not. This man watches the five Herbert girls--Beauty, Mim, Stevie, Fancy, and Autumn--with disturbing fascination. Unaware of his scrutiny and his increasingly agitated and forbidden thoughts about them, the sisters go on with their ordinary everyday lives--planning, arguing, laughing, and crying--as if nothing bad could ever breach the safety of their family. In alternating points of view, Norma Fox Mazer manages to interweave the lives of predator and prey in this unforgettable psychological thriller.

My Book of Life by Angel

When sixteen-year-old Angel meets Call at the mall, he buys her meals and says he loves her, and he gives her some candy that makes her feel like she can fly. Pretty soon she's addicted to his candy, and she moves in with him. As a favor, he asks her to hook up with a couple of friends of his, and then a couple more. Now Angel is stuck working the streets at Hastings and Main, a notorious spot in Vancouver, Canada, where the girls turn tricks until they disappear without a trace, and the authorities don't care. But after her friend Serena disappears, and when Call brings home a girl who is even younger and more vulnerable than her to learn the trade, Angel knows that she and the new girl have got to find a way out.

The Paper Knife

After moving to a new town to flee Jeremy's mother's boyfriend, who has abused not only her but Jeremy, a charge of sexual molestation explodes and Jeremy at last is able to heal himself.

The Right Touch

Developed as a gentle and thoughtful tool for teaching skills to help prevent child sexual abuse. All of us, especially children, need affection and personal contact. However, children should be taught that secret, deceptive, or forced touching is wrong and should immediately be reported to a trusted adult.

The Sacred Circle of the Hula Hoop

In the early 1960's, thirteen-year-old Robin tries, in a variety of ways, to unravel the mystery behind her older sister's dramatic change of personality and attempted suicide.

Sex Education

As a project for an unusually open class in sex education, Livvie and her boyfriend David learn to care for a pregnant young neighbor, and as they become deeply involved with her and with each other, they learn about love and caring and eventually about pain and courage.

Sometimes It's OK to Tell Secrets

Encourages children to tell their parents secrets when they involve sexual mistreatment by other adults.

Stranger Danger

This books defines "stranger" and tells kids the "rules" they should always follow, such as never talking to strangers, never letting a stranger into the house, and never taking a ride from someone they don't know.

Strong at the Heart

Every year more than half a million young people are sexually abused or assaulted in North America. This groundbreaking book brings readers face-to-face with nine survivors who speak with candor and courage about the abuse they experienced, how they have healed, and how they are moving forward with their lives. White, black, Latino, and Native American, these everyday heroes come from a wide range of communities and have found different ways to cope with and overcome sexual trauma. Through moving personal stories and striking photographs they take readers into their lives, offering insight and hope for anyone affected by this all-too-common childhood experience. In this book about healing, young readers and their families will find additional information in the resource section, a comprehensive guide to the best help lines, books, films, and Web sites on healing and resilience.

Your Body Is Your Own

Simple text and illustrations discuss how to tell the difference between acceptable physical affection and unacceptable touching and how to handle such situations.

The ASU Library acknowledges the twenty-three Native Nations that have inhabited this land for centuries. Arizona State University's four campuses are located in the Salt River Valley on ancestral territories of Indigenous peoples, including the Akimel O’odham (Pima) and Pee Posh (Maricopa) Indian Communities, whose care and keeping of these lands allows us to be here today. ASU Library acknowledges the sovereignty of these nations and seeks to foster an environment of success and possibility for Native American students and patrons. We are advocates for the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge systems and research methodologies within contemporary library practice. ASU Library welcomes members of the Akimel O’odham and Pee Posh, and all Native nations to the Library.