‘Of Course She’ll Understand’: Role Strain Experienced by Female Professors When Students Disclose Sexual Violence

Author/Creator ORCID

Date

2010-11

Department

Program

Citation of Original Publication

Richards, T. N. ,Gillespie, L. K., and Hayes, R. , (November 2011) "Of Course She'll Understand: Role Strain Experienced by Female Professors When Students Disclose Sexual Violence" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the ASC Annual Meeting, Washington Hilton, Washington, DC, 1-23.

Rights

Abstract

As female faculty teaching classes on sensitive topics (e.g., Family Violence, Women and Crime, Victimology), we have received numerous disclosures of sexual assault and intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization from our students both in and outside the classroom.These experiences have caused each of us to reflect on our teaching practices within the classroom.When college professors receive disclosures from their students they have to develop strategies on how to effectively handle the disclosure, how to manage the classroom environment and assignments knowing that a survivor is in the course, and how to effectively handle their own emotional impact that may result from the disclosure.This paper explores the strategies that faculty report using when responding to disclosures by students and how receiving student disclosures can be used to inform teaching practices.