About:
Rachel Levine is a PhD candidate in the East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research interests include sexual violence and the law, gender and sexuality in Japan, and the domestic impact of international human rights norms. Her dissertation, entitled “Rape, Resistance, and Reform: Sexual Violence Law and Social Change” investigates social and legal conceptualizations of sexual violence in Japan in order to understand why increased local and global attention to sexual violence has not translated into coherent or sustained change. To examine this problem, her project analyzes how concepts related to sexual violence—such as consent, rape, victimhood, and visibility—manifest in courtroom reasoning and are negotiated in news media coverage, tracing how legal and social understandings are constructed across these discursive arenas. This research contributes to existing scholarship by examining the dynamic relationship between legal, news media, and social discourse, highlighting how concepts move across these spheres through ongoing processes of negotiation and generate multiple—and sometimes inconsistent—conceptualizations of sexual violence, thereby constraining efforts to meaningfully address sexual violence in law and society.
Research Interests:
- Dissertation: “Rape, Resistance, and Reform: Sexual Violence Law and Social Change
in Japan” - MA Thesis: Behind the Shōji: Sex Trafficking of Japanese Citizen
- Gender Discrimination and Sexual Violence
- Sex Trafficking in East Asia
- Barriers to Female Workforce Participation in Japan
- Sexual Violence Law
- Human Rights
Academic History:
- 2019 M.A Asian Studies, Florida International University
- 2017 B.A East Asian Languages and Cultures, Minors: International Relations, Psychology, University of Southern California
Dissertation Committee:
Publications:
- (2027) “Dubious consent: ‘quasi-rape’ in the Japanese courts”, Journal of Gender Studies, forthcoming.
- (2027) “Consent on trial: legal and social implications of consent in sexual violence law”, in Dalton, E. (ed.) Women in Power in Japan. Tokyo: Japan Documents MHM Limited, forthcoming.
- (2020) “Behind the Shoji Screen: Sex Trafficking of Japanese Citizens.” Japan Studies Review, 24, pp. 61-83.
Presentations:
- 2026 Association of Asian Studies, Vancouver, Canada: “Consent on Trial: Legal Interpretations and Social Implications of Japanese Rape Law”
- 2025 Association of Asian Studies, Columbus, Ohio: “Legally Aligned, Practically Divergent: Japan’s Rape Law and Human Right Standards”
- 2023 Association of Asian Studies-in-Asia, Daegu, South Korea: “Beyond the Black Box: The (In)visibility of Sexual Violence in Japanese News Media”
- 2022 International Communication Association Conference, Paris, France: “Beyond the Black Box: Sexual Violence and Japanese Media”
Research and Teaching Experience:
- 2021 – 2022 University of California, Santa Barbara, Teaching Assistant: First Year Japanese Language
- 2021 – 2022 University of California, Santa Barbara, Teaching Assistant: Re-inventing Samurai, East Asian Traditions: Pre-modern, East Asian Traditions: Modern
- 2019 – 2026, Florida International University, Adjunct lecturer: ASN 3202 Japanese Anime and Manga
- 2017 – 2019 Florida International University, Teaching Assistant: Introduction to East Asia, Japanese Culture and Society, Graduate Intro to Modern Asia, Graduate Asian Religion Seminar, Graduate Media Seminar, Graduate Masters Seminar
Academic Awards and Grants:
- 2023-24 Fulbright Japan Graduate Research Fellow, JUSEC, Research grant
- 2023-24 Fukushima-Fulbright Japan Graduate Research Fellow, JUSEC, Research grant
- 2020 Central Fellowship, University of California, Santa Barbara, Fellowship
- 2019 Excellence in Research Award, Florida International University, Academic award
- 2017 Emma Josephine Bradley Bovard Award, University of Southern California, Academic award
- 2017 Renaissance Scholar, University of Southern California, Academic award
- 2017 Order of Troy, University of Southern California, Service award
