{"id":1824,"date":"2025-07-03T05:27:02","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T05:27:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brabus.local\/?page_id=1824"},"modified":"2025-07-31T20:22:48","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T20:22:48","slug":"home-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/alisakessel.com\/","title":{"rendered":"Alisa Kessel"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row motts_theme_padding=”no”][vc_column][ts_hero_slider hero_slider=”1942″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row section_background_color=”#3F5F5C” use_container=”yes” use_predefined_class=”yes” predefined_class=”noise”][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][ts_text_block animate_block=”yes” animation_type=”fadeIn” animation_delay=”0.01s”]Alisa Kessel is a political theorist whose work explores how rape culture perpetuates sexual violence in our society. Her latest book, <\/span>Rape Fantasies<\/span><\/i>, argues that rape is a form of political domination and that the myths and practices of a rape culture identify who is dominable and who is entitled to dominate.\u00a0 Alisa teaches at the University of Puget Sound<\/a> and writes at the intersection of feminist theory, democratic theory, and cultural studies.<\/span><\/span>[\/ts_text_block][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][ts_text_block animate_block=”yes” animation_type=”fadeIn”]<\/p>\n

\u201cIn US rape culture, sexual violence is an essential political tactic to preserve\u2014and, oftentimes, to embolden\u2014hierarchies of race, gender, sexuality, and class.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/h4>\n

[\/ts_text_block][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_toggle title=”MORE ABOUT ALISA” css_animation=”fadeInDown” custom_font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:20|text_align:left|color:%235C9890″ custom_use_theme_fonts=”yes” custom_css_animation=”none” css=”” use_custom_heading=”true”]Alisa Kessel is a professor of Politics and Government at the University of Puget Sound<\/a>, where she teaches political theory. Her scholarship explores how the structural power exerted by white supremacy, heteropatriarchy, and capitalist and settler colonial exploitation threatens the democratic ideals of freedom, equality, and mutuality.<\/span><\/p>\n

She earned her Ph.D. from Duke University<\/a> and has published articles in feminist political theory and democratic pedagogy.<\/span><\/p>\n

When she\u2019s not teaching or writing, she\u2019s speaking to broader audiences about how to understand and respond to the resurgence of heteropatriarchal values in U.S. culture.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

RESEARCH AREAS:
\n<\/strong>\u2022 Consent & sexual violence<\/span>\u00a0Feminist theories of patriarchy and misogyny<\/span>
\n\u2022 <\/span>Reproductive domination and reproductive justice<\/span>
\n\u2022 <\/span>Democratic theory<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Full CV available upon request.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

[\/vc_toggle][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row use_container=”yes” use_predefined_class=”yes” predefined_class=”pattern”][vc_column offset=”vc_col-md-5″][vc_column_text css=””]Rape Fantasies <\/span><\/i>challenges the common view that rape culture only targets women. From unexpected places from fracking sites to anti-trans legislation, Alisa Kessel shows how rape culture <\/span>evolves and expands to discipline <\/span>any<\/span> group that threatens the sociopolitical order.<\/span>\u00a0 In this culture, efforts to end sexual violence often perpetuate sexual violence instead. \u00a0 Drawing on intersectional feminist analysis and political theory, she offers a much-needed reconception of rape culture.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][ts_section_title animate_block=”yes” animation_type=”fadeIn” tagline=”Available September 1, 2025 from Oxford University Press”][ts_text_block has_readmore=”yes” readmore_label=”PRE-ORDER NOW” animate_block=”yes” animation_type=”fadeIn” readmore_link=”https:\/\/global.oup.com\/academic\/product\/rape-fantasies-9780197797822?cc=us&lang=en&”]<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/b>An essential contribution to our understanding of rape culture as an intersectional phenomenon<\/b>.\u201d<\/b><\/h4>\n

[\/ts_text_block][\/vc_column][vc_column offset=”vc_col-md-7″][vc_single_image image=”2190″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp” css=””][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row section_background_color=”#5C9890″ use_container=”yes” use_predefined_class=”yes” predefined_class=”noise”][vc_column][ts_section_title animate_block=”yes” animation_type=”fadeIn” tagline=”Conversations that carry.” title=”SPOKEN & SHARED” background_title=”events”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][ts_text_block animate_block=”yes” animation_type=”fadeIn”]<\/p>\n

“Birth Control:\u00a0 A Political Theory of Reproductive Domination”
\n<\/i>Western Political Science Association<\/a> Conference, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Politics of Protection: Narratives of U.S. Rape Culture and the \u2018Bathroom Debate\u2019
\n<\/i>University of Passau<\/a> Visiting Scholar, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

Civic Cocktail: City Hall in Motion + #MeToo
\n<\/em>Seattle City Club,<\/a> 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n

[\/ts_text_block][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][ts_text_block has_readmore=”yes” readmore_label=”INQUIRE ABOUT BOOKING” animate_block=”yes” animation_type=”fadeIn” readmore_link=”mailto:profalisakessel@gmail.com”]Alisa is available for keynotes, panels, and workshops on:<\/strong><\/p>\n