ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the text of sexual assault policies to investigate embedded assumptions and predominant meanings constructed through the policies. The author's study was designed to understand the "effects of policy proposals and the representations they necessarily contain". It shares findings from an investigation of sexual violence policies to uncover embedded assumptions and predominant meanings constructed through the policies. The chapter will inspire further research about the discursive construction of men and women in sexual violence policies. For instance, Wheaton's policy defines sexual assault as "forcing, threatening, or coercing an individual into sexual contact against the individual's free will with or without the individual's consent". Sexual violence, the policies assert, is "severe and pervasive", "a serious violation", "one of the most serious violations", a form of personal violence that affects all of us. Sexual violence is ubiquitous on college campuses, as on policy asserts, "sexual assault is a problem on campus". Sexual Assault means an actual or attempted sexual contact with another person without that person's consent.
