Rape Culture Rape Summary

Roxane Gay essay Careless Language of Sexual Violence, rape is often taken for granted “that male aggression and violence toward women is acceptable and often inevitable” (Pg. 126). We became so immune to the word rape, become rape is all-round us in society. We all knew a friend or a family member that had been a victim of rape. A rape story is just another sad thing happening to women. The New York Times had an article about an 11 old girl that had been gang rape by 18 attackers. There was picture and video of the attack. We live in a world where every horror thing is recorded or put on society media. The article forced mostly on the men’s lives after the rape and how the town folks will recover from the horror tragedy. The article did point out the

According to Marshall University’s Women Center, the definition of rape culture is “an environment in which rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence against women is normalized and excused in the media and popular culture.” (“Rape Culture.”) This can be found in ideas such as victim-blaming, trivialization of assault, and pressure for individuals to adhere to strict gender roles. This culture is

This national best seller can relate to the opinions expressed by Peggy Reeves Sanday in The Socio-Cultural Context of Rape. Sandy investigates the characteristics of a rape-prone, and rape-free society. Jon Krakauer was interviewed by NPR books, where he stated, “The upshot was most rapists walked away without any punishment, any accountability” (NPR 1). The response from Krakauer correlates to Sanday’s research in The Socio-Cultural Context of Rape. Reeves Sanday writings examine, “When men discovered that they could rape, they proceeded to do it” (Reeves Sanday

Many individuals might wonder, what is rape culture? “Rape Culture is an environment in which rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence against women is normalized and excused in the media and popular culture. Rape culture is perpetuated through the use of misogynistic language, the objectification of women’s bodies, and the glamorization of sexual violence, thereby creating a society that disregards women’s rights and safety.” Most women limit their behavior because of the existence of rape. (Marshall University)

As a whole, the rape culture should not exist, rape should not even be a thing but the biggest problem is the denial of it. As a whole, we would rather shut rape victims up versus listening to them and helping them. In Rose’s speech, she began to speak on rape and how injustice it is. Rape cases go unheard because victims are too afraid to come forth because they feel they will be blamed for what happened. Society has told young girls that they cannot wear too short of shorts or dresses or skirts because it is “too tempting” to surrounding males despite the weather, how absurd.

(US Department of Justice- Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2014). While the numbers are startling, what is most alarming, is that it took eighty years for the government to change a definition that was wrong from the beginning. Moreover, this attitude of ignorance and apathy towards rape victims has trickled down and can be seen in the attitudes of the American population. While many feminists have suggested that rape is a tool used by a patriarchal society to maintain a status quo, and rape myths are tools used to justify this violence against women, what I believe is that rape myths are more pervasive than this explanation. Rape myths and their acceptance is in fact a part of the status quo, determined by the gender role construct reflected in current American society, Without a radical change in views towards gender roles rape myths will continue to be widely accepted, and victims will

America has a proud history of being a country that has many different ethnicities and cultures living within its borders. But one of the most prevalent cultures is one that transcends race or country of origin, rape culture. The term used by modern day feminist and gender activist defines a culture which normalizes rape and sexual assaults because of the deeply rooted societal attitudes towards gender and sexuality. In a rape culture the instances of rape are accepted as everyday occurrences and even as the prerogative of men, resulting in the stigmatization and blame placing of rape victims. Although the phrase “rape culture” is relatively modern, the

The growing argument against rape culture in society is becoming more and more prevalent as feminists, rape victims and survivors, and everyday people speak out against the crime. Zerina Maxwell writes in Time’s “Rape Culture is Real” about the existence and issues with rape culture in society by using personal anecdotes and statistics to persuade her audience of the existence of rape culture. Maxwell’s article wrote her article in response to another article published in Time by Caroline Kitchens, who adamantly presents her position in “It’s Time to End ‘Rape Culture’ Hysteria.” While those two articles are opposites, Lauren Kelly also writes about the existence of rape culture in an interview with Kate Harding, author of “Asking for It: The

The term ‘rape culture’ was coined by feminists in the United States in 1970. The term itself was designed to illustrate the ways in which society blamed victims of sexual assault, and how the normalization of male sexual violence was acceptable. Rape culture can stem from the acceptance of rape as a daily occurrence, manifested as a male prerogative. There is a hesitation by the authorities to go against the patriarchal cultural norms, hence linking nonconsensual sex to the cultural disposition of society. The patriarchal perspective of rape culture, embedded with gender inequality and misogyny are passed through generations which ultimately leads to the extensive institutional and social acceptance of rape. Actions which advocate sexist ideals are utilized to justify and validate normative misogynistic perceptions. Rape culture sexualizes violence inflicted upon women, as it serves as a continuum of a society which views a women’s body to be sexually available by default, deriving from the overall domination and objectification of a female. The underlying cause of rape culture is localized as it based upon the social aspects of culture. For example, countries with a prolific ‘war culture’ tend to emphasize violence and masculinity, and therefore rape is viewed as a normal facet of society. I intend to parallel the element of rape culture to the enforcement of social rules and the conditioning of gender roles. I plan on analyzing the notion that within the encompassment of

“Rape Culture is an environment in which rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence against women is normalized and excused in the media and popular culture” (1a) Today you can't turn the television on without hearing references to rape culture. Jokes about sexual abuse plague every sitcom and news channels question rape victim’s every move. Even entire shows are dedicated to the topic such as Law and Order SVU. The media trivializes rape leading to a rape culture in America.

There has been a lot of discussion of rape within sociologists, criminologists, and feminist networks. In my own words, rape is someone engaging with someone else sexually without their consent. Rape is not strictly vaginal penetration, nor an exclusive heterosexual only act. If two people are in a relationship or married, there is still no justification to the perpetrator for their act. In the 21st century, although rape crimes have dropped 24.1% from 2001 to 2010, but not all rapes are reported (Eitzen, Zinn, & Smith, 2010). Curtis (1997) reported that 42% of rape victims do not tell anyone of their assaults. There may be a number of reasons why victims don’t speak out. Victims of rape typically fear their own safety and lives if they speak out on it. Men who are victims typically don’t report rapes because it’s considered demasculizing to their gender. Rape victims are traumatized for life, they live with the burden, as their perpetrators walk away free (Curtis, 1997).

Rape culture. This is a term that was coined in the 1970’s feminism movement that has been rehashed with 4th wave feminism amongst millennials in the 2000’s. Though the term seems to irritate many that attempt to refute that the systematic tolerance of rape in America is a non-issue that would disappear if “women just stopped getting so drunk” (Judge Mary Jane Mowat, 2009) it is in fact a perpetuated problem that plagues todays society. By definition, rape culture is the embodiment that of the “complex set of beliefs that sexual aggression" and can be further defined as being found "is in a society that embodies rape culture that women receive a continuum of overly sexualized remarks (cat-calling), to the act of rape itself, and condones that these physical and emotional acts against women are an inevitable fact of life”. Sound familiar? Welcome to our great nation. Though this perpetuation of sexual violence is a normalcy is harmful to women and even men, across the entire nation, its main impact targets the women and children of low socioeconomic areas, female students on university campuses, and of course, the women who choose to seek justice against our everyday superheroes- the famous, and the athletes.

Many of the attitudes, beliefs, and mistaken ideas about rape have been with us for centuries. By looking at myths, such as "women ask for it," and "women secretly enjoy rape," from a historical perspective, lead us for better understanding how they evolved. Women are still seen as the property of men, are protected as such. Men and women are still taught to occupy very different roles in today's world. Men are usually in power positions, and women are seen as passive. This socialization process is changing, but slowly.

Rape culture is an environment in which social attitudes have the effect of normalizing sexual violence against women and excusing it in the media and other popular cultures. Rape culture attempts to rationalize a continuum of sexual violence that range from sexist remarks to unwanted sexual touching, and rape itself. Rape culture has become so desensitized by society that perpetrators may not be aware of their wrongdoings and victims may not realize they are being victimized. It is a culture in which victims are suppressed when they decide to speak up about their traumatic attack, because they are seen as being dramatic or untruthful while the perpetrator's actions are left unpunished. While the majority of victims are women, rape culture is not solemnly an issue of female oppression, it is a general disconnect between human beings. It is a culture that many of us refuse to accept exist, however there are numerous examples that normalize rape and sexual assault on a daily basis. Rape culture is not a new topic. The term was first used back in the 1970’s by a group of feminist to raise the awareness of the normalization of sexual violence in society. In recent years the topic has become a popular, controversial issue and has come to permeate virtually every aspect of our lives through media, song lyrics, and everyday jargon.

The term rape culture was created by the feminist movement of the 1970s, which was during the second wave of the feminist effort; It is used to depict any society that normalizes rape and perverse rape culture. The fear of being raped lives in the back of almost every woman’s mind. Although it has been present in society for decades, nothing has been done to eradicate this behavior. To eliminate this culture generations of children have grown up in, one must first understand the causes of it. Rape is a universal and inhumane act that has been integrated into the current culture; it has occurred because of prevalent psychological factors, the media’s hypersexualization, and lack of legislation. There are inconspicuous elements that contribute to this atrocity; the motives of a rapist effect the rape in a variety of aspects, and impact the victim in even more ways.