Please consider submitting an abstract to my panel for the NEMLA 2023 conference which will be held March 23-26th 2023 at the Niagara Falls Convention Center. This session, "When Resilience Isn't Enough: Justice for Domestic and Sexual Violence Survivors" invites papers across different methodologies or methods of inquiry that address literary or media representations of sexual and domestic violence and/or global rape culture.

Looking back on 2022, one of the prominent touchstones of the year will be the Amber Heard vs. Johnny Depp defamation court case. The case has become emblematic of several important themes haunting American life and culture from the dangerous spread of misinformation online to celebrity and stan culture, to domestic violence and the failures of the criminal legal system to successfully provide justice in the face of sexual violence. The intense scrutiny on this case speaks volumes about the scrutiny domestic and sexual violence survivors must confront every day. This scrutiny paired with the high potential for ineffective outcomes keep many survivors from reporting abuse and violence. In the U.K. only 2 in 10 women who have been raped report to police, likely because there is only a 1 in 70 of their assaulter being charged. In the U.S. 2 out of 3 sexual assaults go unreported. This does not even factor in increased stigma and biases along the lines of race, gender identity, or socioeconomic status. How has recent media and cultural production in tv, movies, plays, books, etc furthered public discourse around sexual assault and domestic violence particularly for marginalized communities? Do they offer new lens or alternatives for justice? What does justice look like after the #metoo movement? Released in 2020, Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You as well as Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman immediately come to mind. How are creatives like Michaela Coel and Emeral Fennell speaking about and highlighting global rape culture?

Please submit abstracts to the Nemla portal here: https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/20118

For more questions please contact: Norrell Edwards, Le Moyne College at edwardnf@lemoyne.edu