ABSTRACT
Jan Jordan has several decades of experience as a sexual violence researcher, with a strong focus on police rape investigations. Her desire to see knowledge translated into practice resulted in a long-term, ongoing relationship with New Zealand Police, including being a regular presenter on specialist adult sexual assault investigation courses. In this chapter, Jan draws on the framework of “othering” to reflect on her many years of involvement, starting with her early research experiences and outlining examples from subsequent projects. These have included qualitative studies with victims/survivors of rape, doctors, support agency workers, and police officers, as well as two analyses of police rape files. This account considers the personal impacts of engaging in rape research, including the potential risks of retraumatisation. It reflects also on ways of establishing, as a feminist academic, positive relationships with the police that challenge stereotypical attitudes and adherence to rape myths. Jan's approach has sought knowledge not for its own sake but to make real-world differences, and this account reflects on the challenges and learnings involved in taking this path.
