"She wasn't exactly a virgin, was she?": Problematising gendered constructions of respectability in biblical and contemporary rape

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Proposed summary: This research applies a close reading of the rape of Tamar (2 Samuel 13), widely considered to be a victim `worthy' of sympathy (Trible 1984:48), to contemporary portrayals of rape complainants. Using gender theory and feminist literary criticism, this research challenges the apparent gradations of rape implicit in how victims are portrayed, by interrogating the relationship between intersectional gender identities and respectability in both biblical and contemporary rape cases. This will disclose and probe social prejudices and lead on to an analysis of how disbelief culture transpires in the under-reporting of violent sex crimes.