What It Feels Like

What It Feels Like, Volume 1, is an award winning study in communication studies and rhetoric. Author Stephanie R Larson examines how the United States communicates about rape and sexual assault, arguing that current discourses rely on strategies of containment. By analyzing the #MeToo movement, anti-pornography debates, and legal advocacy materials, the text explores how systems of power like patriarchy and white supremacy privilege male perspectives.

This work of critical theory and sociology challenges the preference for detached, rationalized language in law and public policy. Larson advocates for visceral rhetorics and bodily expression to counter the systemic mistrust of women's testimony. Through the lenses of gender and the law, women's studies, and philosophy, the book presents a necessary corrective to the legal and political discourses surrounding sexual abuse and harassment.