Through our society’s attitudes regarding gender and sexuality, rape culture is perpetuated through the use of misogynistic language (slut, bitch, shrewd, etc.), the objectification of women’s bodies, the glamorization of sexual violence and so much more. This creates a social culture that belittles women’s rights and their safety.
One of the main battles of fighting such repression is proving it even exists. Once proven, there are ways that we can work to better it.
This is Rape Culture
There are countless examples of rape culture in action, such as the objectification of women, politicians deciding what counts as rape and jokes revolving sexual assault and the word “rape”, trivializing the tragedy. The discussed below are the central ones, but all still remain as important.
Victim blaming
One of the most prevalent situations in our climate of rape is when someone reports a sexual assault, the victim will have to work to gain and earn credibility instead of the rapist.
Such is the 2012 Delhi Gang Rape where a woman was gang raped on a bus by multiple men. Indian officials put into question her morality.
Recently in the documentary “India’s Daughter,” one of the rapists claimed a girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy.
“A decent girl won’t roam around at 9 o’clock at night. Housework and housekeeping is for girls, not roaming in discos and bars at night doing wrong things, wearing wrong clothes,” Mukesh Singh said.
Across college campuses in the U.S., it is difficult for a victim to have their school hold their rapist accountable. Dozens of schools, including Harvard Law, are under investigation. At these schools, they have responded by doing very little investigation and puts accountability on the victim, claiming they should have been smarter at being alone at night and they should have dressed less “provocatively.”
Instead of teaching our children how to “avoid getting raped,” we should be teaching our youth what rape is and to not rape.
(Inforgraphic from Piktochart)
Caring about the rapist’s reputation instead of the victim
Rarely in cases of rape is the woman’s well being what sells in the media. Who the rapists were and what is going to happen to them is primarily discussed.
In the 2012 case of Steubenville, Ohio, the rape of a young girl became national news. A 16-year-old girl was too intoxicated to move and was subsequently violated, urinated on and photographed.
The town jumped in defense of the rapists, getting angry at the girl’s parents and the media for ruining the reputation of these boys and the community.
Large media outlets, such as CNN, framed the girl speaking out as putting the beloved football players in a bad position. One of the CNN anchors, Poppy Harlow, went as far as to say that it had been “incredibly difficult” to watch “as these two young men, who had such promising futures, star football players, very good students, watched as they believed their life fell apart.”
The rapists are displaced men ruined forever and the victims should have had the brains and grace to never tell a soul.
“No” means “yes”
With films such as “50 Shades of Grey” and songs such as “Blurred Lines”, it is a mainstream idea that women need to be shown what they want — that they don’t know what they want themselves.
The trope of the indecisive heroine getting pushed around until she caves in aren’t accurate representations of life. Phrases such as “you know you want it” and pressuring women to allow you to do what you want to her are not sexy. Taking in a woman’s “no” does not translate into “make me.”
The liar
A common reaction once someone has been accused of rape is to assume the victim is lying. Episodes of shows like “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” show women feeling rejected or embarrassed lashing out with a rape accusation.
An agreed upon truth is that the victim is probably lying and that it happens all the time. The amount according to The National Center for the Prosecution of Violence Against Women falls around 2 – 8 percent, on par with grand theft auto.
Sexual assault is one of the most underreported crimes with 68 percent still being left unreported, according to the Justice Department. Stigmas around women lying about rape are part of the bigger picture where the feel too unprotected to report their crime. The fact that some have lied about rape should never demean the very real chance that someone has been sexually assaulted.
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Fight Back
Avoid slut shaming
Avoid calling women terms such as “sluts,” “whores” or “used goods.” Avoiding these terms allow a woman’s worth to be measured in valid things.
A woman who has done what she wanted when she wanted is not more deserving of assault than a woman wrapped in clothing head-to-toe. Women get raped no matter what they wear. There is a wide diversity in the way women who are assaulted act and dress.
No one “asks for it.” This takes the responsibility of the rape away from the rapist and shifts it to the victim.
Do not make the rapist a caricature
When people imagine their potential rapist, many picture a dark and dangerous man waiting in an alley. While this is sometimes the case, it doesn’t happen regularly. The more we expect rapists to be in the dark twirling a weapon, the more we ignore the reality of rape and its rapists.
One of the surprises the media expressed during the Steubenville case was how young and innocent they looked, how they had done good things in the past, cried and didn’t seem like “monsters.”
Make noise
Call out behaviors such as slut shaming and date rape. Make it a personal mission to keep such dangerous ideas opposed.
When celebrities such as Sean Penn, Roman Polanski and Bill Cosby are known rapists, condemn them. When celebrities such as Eminem, Daniel Tosh and Rick Ross make light of and taunt about rape, condemn them. Do not allow it to get swept under the rug and ignored. Make them an example and do not allow yourself to forget.
An important message to take from this is that the examples used are not isolated incidents. When rape cases blow up in the media, many make the mistake of focusing on how it could have happened within that incident and ignore the bigger message.
All of these stories are telling a bigger one, one where rarely do victims feel comfortable enough of sharing their story. Rarely the rapist is imprisoned and the victim is shamed.
Educate yourself, be aware, be loud and keep your head above the water to allow the victims to be heard and rapists imprisoned.
