Australia, the Feminist Nation? Discourses of Gender, ‘Culture’ and Nation in the ‘K Brothers’ Gang Rapes

Grewal, Kiran. 2012. Australia, the Feminist Nation? Discourses of Gender, ‘Culture’ and Nation in the ‘K Brothers’ Gang Rapes. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 33(5), pp. 509-528. ISSN 0725-6868 [Article]

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Abstract or Description

This paper examines the discourses of gender and nation that circulated in relation to a series of highly mediatised Australian gang rapes. The rapes, which took place in the suburbs of Sydney in the early 2000s, were widely reported as involving ‘young Muslim men’ raping ‘Australian girls’. These rapes and the legal trials that followed created two dominant responses. First, there was a generalised debate about the need for greater protection of women's rights within the Australian legal system. Second, there was an intense questioning of the merits of multiculturalism. Bizarrely the two issues frequently became intertwined within popular discourses, with the language of ‘women's rights' pitted against the rhetoric of ‘cultural tolerance’. Focusing on the final set of rapes (and trials) involving the ‘K Brothers’, this paper explores the reasons for this intertwining.

Item Type:

Article

Identification Number (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1080/07256868.2012.701608

Keywords:

Culture, Feminism, Gender, Liberal Multiculturalism, Nation, Sexual Violence, Sydney Gang Rapes

Departments, Centres and Research Units:

Sociology

Dates:

DateEvent
1 August 2011Accepted
25 September 2012Published

Item ID:

22150

Date Deposited:

07 Nov 2017 12:08

Last Modified:

07 Nov 2017 12:08

Peer Reviewed:

Yes, this version has been peer-reviewed.

URI:

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/22150

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