Screening sexual violence: towards a complex continuum of representation in short films made by women

This article examines how short films can respond to, reimagine and reframe the representation of sexual violence. Drawing on a multi-method study – including the cataloguing of a substantial dataset of short films made by women, close textual analysis, participatory conversations with women filmmakers and the development of a curated educational web resource – it explores how filmmakers negotiate form and content to produce nuanced, ethically attentive representations that challenge dominant film and media tropes. The analysis demonstrates how these films navigate the challenges of representing sexual violence on screen, framing sexual violence as a continuum of forms and experiences. It develops a ‘continuum of representation’ to conceptualise the creative and ethical strategies through which sexual violence is shown, implied or withheld. Finally, the article reflects on how the accompanying curated web resource extends this work by providing a public-facing context through which these representations can circulate, be discussed and inform educational, activist and prevention-aligned engagement.