Dr Lise Gotell's "Police Warnings and Sexual Violence: The Mobilization of the Garneau Sisterhood" was presented as part of a series sponsored by iSMSS (Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services). Dr. Gotell explores the contemporary construction of sexual violence through technologies of risk management.
In 2008, a series of sexual assaults occurred in an Edmonton neighborhood bordering the University of Alberta. Edmonton police service did not release any information until three women living within a one-block radius were sexually assaulted by a man who broke into their homes in the middle of the night. After a fourth attack on an elderly woman in suburban middle class neighborhood, the police warnings intensified. All women "living alone" were advised to be vigilant, and "lock their doors and windows." In response to these events, an anonymous group of neighborhood women calling themselves the Garneau Sisterhood mounted in a poster and media campaign. This campaign was marked by great irreverence and a Do-It-Yourself (DYI) style of activism that is characteristic of third wave feminism. It challenged and mocked the disciplinary and individualizing thrust of police warnings. In its creative and edgy challenge to risk management discourses, the Garneau Sisterhood campaign stands as an example of the productive possibilities of contemporary grassroots antirape activism.
To hear the talk, recorded by CJSR's Adamant Eve, click here.