The editors of History of the Human Sciences are delighted to learn that Alexandra Rutherford’s ‘Surveying Rape,’ published in the journal in 2017, has received an honorable mention at the 2019 awards of the Forum for History of Human Science.

Rutherford’s article is an account of the role that social science methods play in “realizing” sexual assault, amid public discussion of (and conservative-led controversy about) the statistic that 1 in 5 women students on (US) college campus experience sexual assault. Setting aside questions of methodological validity, Rutherford shows how the survey, as a measuring device, has become central to the “ontological politics” of sexual assault. Drawing on histories of feminist social science, the article suggests that the social and political life of the survey has been a central actor in rendering sexual assault legible: “only by conceptualizing the survey as an active participant in the ontological politics of campus sexual assault,” Rutherford argues, “can we understand both the persistence of the critical conservative response to the ‘1 in 5’ statistic and its successful deployment in anti-violence policy.”

The editors would like to extend their very warmest congratulations to Professor Rutherford for this much deserved recognition. The article is free to download for rest of the month at this link.