Research Topic Proposal

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For my final research paper, I plan on examining the role of sexual violence towards children and adolescents in the development of mental health disorders during a particularly vulnerable time of life.  I also want to consider where our society fails in helping bring abusers to justice, and what measures can be taken to prevent this.  I am very passionate about fighting against violence towards marginalized groups, and this past semester I have read a large number of texts between my Women and Gender Studies class and my Adolescent Literature class that have further increased my passion regarding the subject.

I plan on examining the sexual violence faced by adolescents, particularly in the novels Speak, Sold, Crank, Thirteen Reasons Why, and We are the Ants.  In addition to these novels, I have acquired a large number of factual, nonfiction sources regarding the subject matter through my Women and Gender Studies class.  There are a shockingly large number of testimonies from survivors of childhood sexual abuse available to the general public, so I plan on incorporating the stories of survivors into my paper as well.

Essential Research Question:  How does an adolescent cope with sexual assault and violence during such a vulnerable time period, and what measures does our society have in place to help them?

Focus Questions:
  1. Sexual violence is often regarded as a women’s issue.  Is it really a women’s issue, or is it a societal issue?  Does insinuating that sexual violence is a women’s issue erase the role of male abusers from the narrative, resulting in further victim blaming?  How do children and adolescents fit into this narrative?
  2. How do children and adolescents cope with rape?  Is finding resources and overcoming this abuse possible when the abuser is a legal guardian?
  3. Are the depictions of sexual violence towards adolescents and their coping mechanisms accurate, or are they harmful to other adolescents who may read such stories?
  4. What resources are available for children and adolescents who are victims of sexual violence?  Are these sufficient, or should we as a society be more concerned with granting sexual assault survivors with the resources they need?
  5. Are adolescents and children able to seek justice against their abusers, or is our judicial system corrupt insomuch as complex legal jargon confuses young people, often resulting in dismissed cases and abusers walking free?


I believe that in many ways, children and adolescents who are survivors or victims of sexual assault are constantly failed by our society.  While the #MeToo movement has raised awareness regarding the rampant sexual assault and harassment women (and sometimes men) face in our society, adolescent and child victims are still often unable to find the resources to protect themselves.  The portrayals of adolescent survivors of sexual violence in young adult literature are vital to increasing awareness regarding the subject, and such portrayals often depict an accurate representation of recovery.  I believe this will be a relatively easy subject to research, however the topic matter is very heavy, and I can anticipate that testimonies from survivors, particularly the younger ones, will be difficult to study.

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