Narratives of sexual assault: military and civilian online resources

This thesis is based on a content analysis of military and civilian websites providing sexual assault prevention and response resources. In 2014 I downloaded a purposive sample of 130 webpages and coded the narratives using ATLAS.ti qualitative data analysis software. Adopting a theoretical lens informed by the literature on master and collective action frames, I compared military and civilian resource narratives. I found that while a duty-oriented master frame was most common in the military online sexual resources, civilian organization websites were more likely to adopt a multicultural feminist frame. In my analysis I discuss the contradictions inherent as a military hypermasculinized institution deploys frames that align with its given structure and culture, while through a multicultural feminist lens these very systems are inculpated. To this extent, this frame analysis suggests issues that must be addressed in future discussions and decisions on military–produced resources for sexual assault prevention and response resources.