Self-Defense and Sexual Assault

My collage is centered around the trial of Joan Little and how she was the first woman to be acquitted of murder on the grounds of self-defense against sexual violence (1975). While this was the first instance of self-defense in response to sexual violence, history tells many stories of how women have had to fight to claim their independence from men. The images included in my collage come from a 1990's feminist punk movement. They depict images of strong women making statements revolving around powerful feminist themes. The collage also features two headlines from court cases where women were forced to defend themselves from violence. A quote at the bottom comes from Inez Gontka who defended herself in 1929 from her abusive father after tolerating his violent behavior for a lifetime. At 17 years old she was acquitted of murder after making the statement quoted above in court. A second excerpt, shown in the top right corner, comes from the trial of Clara Hamon. She admitted to killing her husband when he attacked her with a chair. Being the wife of a wealthy railroad and oil promoter, many people doubted her story and claimed she had made up her self-defense plea to inherit her husband's money. However, she never claimed she was owed any part of her husband's estate after his death. She wished only to continue on with her life peacefully.