Professor Rose Corrigan presented “Up Against a Wall: Rape Reform and the Failure of Success,” Ohio University’s Annual James Lecture in Municipal Government, on May 1.

The talk was based on Corrigan’s upcoming book, which explores case studies of sexual-assault nurse examiner programs and sex-offender legislation that expose the ineffectiveness of rape reform laws touted as successes for the second wave of feminism.

The book, to be published in the fall by New York University Press, also incorporates scholarship on law and social movements, feminist theory, policy implementation and criminal justice, showing how legal strategies employed by anti-rape advocates undermined their efforts.

Corrigan holds a joint appointment at the law school and the Drexel University College of Arts & Sciences, where she teaches in the Department of History and Politics and directs the Women’s Studies Program.