Blurred Lines: Rethinking Sex, Power, and Consent on Campus

by Vanessa Grigoriadis Narrated by Amy McFadden

Overview

A new sexual revolution is sweeping the country, and college students are on the front lines. Few places in America have felt the influence of #MeToo more intensely. Indeed, college campuses were in many ways the harbingers of #MeToo. Grigoriadis captures the nature of this cultural reckoning without shying away from its complexity. College women use fresh, smart methods to fight entrenched sexism and sexual assault even as they celebrate their own sexuality as never before. Many "woke" male students are more open to feminism than ever, while others perpetuate the cruelest misogyny. Coexisting uneasily, these students are nevertheless rewriting long-standing rules of sex and power from scratch.



Eschewing any political agenda, Grigoriadis travels to schools large and small, embedding in their social whirl and talking candidly with dozens of students, as well as to administrators, parents, and researchers. Blurred Lines is a riveting, indispensable illumination of the most crucial social change on campus in a generation.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

08/07/2017
National Magazine Award–winning journalist Grigoriadis explores sexual assault, rape culture, and sexual politics at American universities. She uses the story of Emma Sulkowicz, the Columbia University student who carried her mattress around campus after the administration failed to expel her alleged rapist, as a launching pad to define consent and assault, which Grigoriadis argues are murky concepts. Her focus on acquaintance rape rather than stranger rape highlights campus cultural issues such as alcohol and drug use and institutions such as fraternities and sororities that contribute to increased rates of sexual violence. In researching the book, she interviewed more than 200 students at 200 universities, speaking with young women, campus activists, and victims, as well as young men who deny the accusations of rape and assault made against them, and the young men’s families. Grigoriadis adds context to the often-polarizing topics with numerous first-person accounts. Her view that “we, as a society, are terrified to look at boys as boys rather than men and give them a break as such” seems to make excuses for criminal behavior. However, the breadth of her research, including her discussion of how university administrators deal with rape allegations and her exploration of toxic gender roles and stereotypes, are reason enough to pick up this book. (Sept.)

From the Publisher

"Blurred Lines is a meticulous and complex analysis of sexual assault." - The New Yorker “[Grigoriadis’s writing] is so vivid, you just want to keep hanging out with her on the page and listen to what she’s thinking about. But what’s most refreshing is that Grigoriadis isn’t afraid to untangle the hairball that is college sex, even though someone — whether it’s the hardcore feminists or the Men’s Rights bros — will rip apart any idea that falls outside of party lines. Yet Grigoriadis dives in because, as she says in the book, she believes that to actually understand why there are so many reports of sexual assault on campus, you have to actually, explicitly, and finally, figure out what is going on in these bedrooms, and talk it about it candidly.” –New York Magazine   “Grigoriadis [is] the ideal observer and analyst of sexual assault and consent on campus. Starting from the famous case of Columbia mattress carrier Emma Sulkowicz, she spoke to hundreds of students — victims, activists, and the accused — as well as parents and administrators, coming away with something like a clear picture of generational confusion. Avoiding both easy answers and ideological rubrics, she advocates vigilance, moderation, fairness, and good faith.” – Vulture   “Grigoriadis spent the past three years interviewing hundreds of students, student-activists, researchers, and administrators to go beyond the salacious headlines (though there are plenty of those covered in her book) and instead focus on the underlying cultural forces that not only drive sexual assault on campus but have also catapulted it into the spotlight in recent years.” – Refinery29   “An in-depth look at the new sexual revolution that’s been taking place on college campuses and the confusion surrounding it.” – New York Post   “A deep dive into the millennial generation's cultural proclivities, confusions, musical tastes and lingo (in which being "woke" represents a state of heightened consciousness and "catching feelings" is one presumably regrettable effect of casual sex)…. [Grigoriadis] points out perceptively that the bedroom is one place where today's otherwise strong, self-confident young women still too often feel pressured and unable to advocate for their own interests.” –Chicago Tribune   “Remarkable….The new sexual assault spotlight is changing our thinking about consent, blame and responsibility, a shift that shouldn’t be dismissed.” —Washington Post "Vanessa Grigoriadis... engages the complexities of sexual statistics in Blurred Lines, a richly complicated and beautifully written chronicle that offers a...nuanced and responsibly researched panorama of student life." - Jacobin Magazine   “Grigoriadis has pulled off something truly remarkable — a nuanced and deeply compassionate account of one of the most convulsive chapters in recent American culture. Blurred Lines pushes beyond the sensationalist headlines and political rhetoric to reveal the complicated stories underneath. This book has given me a whole new understanding of how we got into this mess — and how we might get out.” —Sarah Hepola, Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget    “An essential handbook for college students who must navigate the hazards of social media, online porn, gender fluidity, and mind-altering substances —

From the Publisher - AUDIO COMMENTARY

"Grigoriadis puts in the time with students to get them to open up to her, and Blurred Lines shows us the parts of their world that defy easy sloganeering." —New York Times

Kirkus Reviews

2017-07-17
An award-winning journalist reports from the front lines of the sexual assault controversy.Entering the complex, contentious conversation about sexual assault on college campuses, New York Times Magazine and Vanity Fair contributing editor Grigoriadis offers an extensively researched investigation based on dozens of case reports and interviews with 120 students (accusers, accused, and activists) from 20 universities and 80 administrators and experts. What has emerged from her three years of research, though, are more questions than satisfying answers: what constitutes sexual assault? How prevalent is the problem? How should colleges address assault charges? How can assaults be prevented? Types of college assault, she found, occur in four main categories: penetration ("intercourse, oral sex, and fingering"); "incapacitated rape," meaning "sex that happens when the victim is unconscious"; any aggressive act, such as groping; and "the vast middle ground" of sex without consent. Incapacitated rape, the author reveals, is the most common type, resulting from a culture of heavy drinking at most residential colleges. The most significant risk factors for assault are "free-flowing alcohol and misogyny," both of which are hallmarks of fraternities. "If you want to maintain your status as a striving middle-to-upper-middle-class member of society," Grigoriadis asserts, "having been part of the Greek system in college is a sure way to do it." She paints a dismal picture of college social life, where students feel pressured to hook up, where boys are confused about what constitutes consent, and where girls—often falling-down drunk—acquiesce to sex that they don't really want. As a society, writes the author, we're afraid "to tell girls that they too bear responsibility for their sexual behavior and safety." In an appendix, she offers common-sense advice for students and parents: "watch out for guys who exhibit toxic masculinity"; watch what you drink; "learn a few self-defense tricks"; and carefully read the sexual-misconduct section of the college handbook. This is a vital, timely issue, and the author's research is impressively in-depth, but an overabundance of anecdotes and statistics offers little clarity on the issue.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170718641
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	11/14/2017
Edition description:	Unabridged

Videos