In what is to follow, this reaction paper will deconstruct and discuss the reading Feminist Framework Plus: Knitting Feminist Theories of Rape Etiology Into a Comprehensive Model, written by Beverly A. McPhail (2015). The foremost intention of McPhail’s work was to present a holistic feminist centered framework, which she believed would more accurately capture the reality and experience of rape. In doing so, the proposed framework would provide further insights for survivors, researchers, theorists, academics, activists, advocates and educators in the field. McPhail undertook the process of “knitting” together five feminist theories and The Feminist Framework Plus (FFP) was the resultant framework. The five feminist theories that were knitted
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In practice, this would involve the use of frameworks that include and acknowledge the role of race and other potential oppressions in rape. Crenshaw (1991) explains, “Women of color are differently situated in the economic, social and political worlds.... when reform efforts undertaken on behalf of women neglect this fact, women of color are less likely to have their needs met” (p. 1250). Uniform policy and standards of need reproduce systems of domination and subordination, whereby white and middle-class needs are prioritized. Frontline workers who provide rape crisis to racialized women, “report that a significant proportion of the resources allocated to them must be spent handling problems other than rape itself” (Crenshaw, 1991, p. 1250). These resources can be spent finding employment, housing, and a variety of other things. Ultimately, the application of these static procedures cannot adequately capture the complex nature of identity and experience. McPhail (2015) supports this claim. She explains that feminist theory of rape that fails to acknowledge intersectionality creates, “a default rape victim as a white, Cisgender, heterosexual, upper class, able-bodies woman” (McPhail, 2015, p. 10). Resulting from this, are frameworks that operate using a hierarchy of identity and experience that fail to provide any meaningful assistance to non-white survivors of
In practice, this would involve the use of frameworks that include and acknowledge the role of race and other potential oppressions in rape. Crenshaw (1991) explains, “Women of color are differently situated in the economic, social and political worlds.... when reform efforts undertaken on behalf of women neglect this fact, women of color are less likely to have their needs met” (p. 1250). Uniform policy and standards of need reproduce systems of domination and subordination, whereby white and middle-class needs are prioritized. Frontline workers who provide rape crisis to racialized women, “report that a significant proportion of the resources allocated to them must be spent handling problems other than rape itself” (Crenshaw, 1991, p. 1250). These resources can be spent finding employment, housing, and a variety of other things. Ultimately, the application of these static procedures cannot adequately capture the complex nature of identity and experience. McPhail (2015) supports this claim. She explains that feminist theory of rape that fails to acknowledge intersectionality creates, “a default rape victim as a white, Cisgender, heterosexual, upper class, able-bodies woman” (McPhail, 2015, p. 10). Resulting from this, are frameworks that operate using a hierarchy of identity and experience that fail to provide any meaningful assistance to non-white survivors of