GRSJ224/rapeculture

Rape Culture in North American Universities

Rape culture includes cultural practices, that society as a whole engages in. A rape culture excuses and tolerates sexual violence . This rape culture, a term created in the 1970s by American feminists, tells girls and women that it is their fault if they are sexually assaulted or raped. It is their fault because their skirt was too short, or they were walking alone too late at night. Rape culture puts the blame on the victim, and excuses the actions of the perpetrator. Sexual assault and rape are most pervasive on college campuses. 23.1% of female undergraduate students and 5.4% of male undergraduate students experience rape or sexual assault, but even if an individual is not a student, they are at a higher risk for sexual violence if they are college-aged . Universities have a tendency to handle claims of rape and sexual assault poorly, and these issues have become more openly discussed in the media recently. This poor handling of sexual assault cases further contribute to the notion of rape culture, as it blames victims and leaves them feeling further violated.

Rape culture

"A rape culture condones physical and emotional terrorism against women as the norm..." - WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre

We live in a culture that normalizes and excuses rape, and the exploitation of women. One common myth is that the survivor or victim is at fault for their assault, which causes survivors or victims to not be taken seriously when they disclose they have been assaulted. When disclosures of sexual assault are not taken seriously this reinforces the victim or survivor’s feelings of isolation and guilt. This cultural problem stems from a power imbalance between the sexes that is deeply interwoven into all areas of society. Rape culture is a set of beliefs that encourages male sexual aggression, while supporting violence against women at the same time. Violence is perceived as sexy, sexuality as violent, and rape as a compliment.

North American Universities & Rape Culture

Statistics of reasons college-aged victims often do not report sexual violence to law enforcement

Out of all people, college-aged women are the most likely to be sexually assaulted. This horrifying statistic is normalized on university campuses in many ways; through traditions and chants, from not being transparent about rape statistics and sexual assault policies, by denying that this culture exists, by prioritizing the future of rapists, above the safety of the victim, and through victim blaming.

Often times, universities and colleges do not do a good job of encouraging victims of sexual violence to come forward. When reports of sexual assaults are low, this may discourage victims to come forward because they feel that it was not important enough to report, felt it was their fault, or that it was something they had to deal with on their own. Victim-blaming is another unfortunate act that is part of rape culture. A rape culture perpetuates the idea that women who are assaulted are ‘asking for it’. Because of underreporting and colleges not having one universal form of recording sexual violence reports, victims or survivors may feel as if they have nowhere to turn to because the very system that is put in place to help them resolve the issue fails to be a place they feel safe enough to even report they have been assaulted.

Examples of rape culture on university campuses

Carry That Weight

Sulkowicz and her rules of engagement for her Carry that Weight Mattress Performance

Emma Sulkowicz, a visual arts major at Columbia University, carried an extra-long twin dorm mattress around campus for an entire school year to protest how her university handled her sexual assault report. She reported that she was raped in her dorm room in 2012, but the alleged man that raped her was found not responsible by a university inquiry. Sulkowicz claimed that Columbia administrators made errors and acted idiotically during the hearing process, taking incomplete notes of her story. Despite there being three women who came forward accusing the same individual of sexual assault, the dean refused to overturn the verdict that the accused rapist was at fault.

Sulkowicz said that her project would end when her perpetrator was expelled, but since he was never expelled she carried the mattress with her to graduation. Emma knew her protest would not get her alleged rapist expelled, but to her, "This piece has very much represented [the fact that] a guy did a horrible thing to me and I tried to make something beautiful out of it"

Her project caught the attention of the public and has made space for the discussion of rape culture and its existence on university campuses.

People v Turner

Example of news article that refers to Turner as a swimmer rather than a rapist

Social media outrage on Brock Turner's father calling his assault "20 minutes of action"

The case of Brock Turner, a university student who was convicted of three counts of felony sexual assault, is a prime example of how the normalizing of sexual violence is still very prevalent to this day. Turner was found guilty of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman at a college party. Two bikers spotted Turner and the woman and intervened, while bystanders called emergency services . This case sparked widespread controversy, because Turner was given a light sentence, as the judge, Aaron Persky, ruled that anything longer than a 6 month sentence would have a severe impact on the 20 year old rapist , even though the maximum sentence for a crime of this size was 14 years in prison. Many people thought that Persky's decision was lenient and bias . On top of Turner's light sentence, the media's portrayal of this news story seemed to humanize Turner's dehumanizing actions by constantly referring to him as a 'Stanford Swimmer', instead of a rapist . In the victim's Victim Impact Statement, she shares of the pain and agony the process of this trial has put her through, as well as her frustration with some people's understanding of what happened:

"The seriousness of rape has to be communicated clearly, we should not create a culture that suggests we learn that rape is wrong through trial and error. The consequences of sexual assault needs to be severe enough that people feel enough fear to exercise good judgment even if they are drunk, severe enough to be preventative. The fact that Brock was a star athlete at a prestigious university should not be seen as an entitlement to leniency, but as an opportunity to send a strong cultural message that sexual assault is against the law regardless of social class." -Emily Doe, 2016

Rape culture places an athletic rapist's future above a woman's dignity and well-being. Rape culture excuses the perpetrator's actions as 20 minutes of action. Rape culture makes it so the media focuses on the criminal's swim times, rather than the fact that he is a rapist.

Progress

Sulkowicz's senior art thesis caught the attention of other activists on her campus, so they collaborated together to spread awareness about campus sexual assault to other schools. One day, students carried 28 mattresses around, to represent the 28 students who had filed Title IX (sexual assault complaints) against Columbia University, and as a result, 130 schools participated in a national day of action

Emily Doe, the woman Brock Turner sexually assaulted, shared her victim-impact statement that went viral. The statement was released by several news outlets including the Washington Post, CBS News, TIME, Cosmopolitan, and Buzzfeed . Even more notably, eighteen House Members, in the House of Representatives, took turns reading the statement on the House floor in order to raise awareness about sexual assault, and to promote legislation on campus sexual assault .

These are just two examples of the progress these cases are making to disseminate rape culture and to raise awareness about sexual assault on college campuses. To ensure that the voices of survivors/ victims are heard, it is necessary to keep the conversation surrounding this issue going. Bringing sexual assault, and the stigma surrounding it, to the forefront of our discussions will allow rape myths, and the negative impacts that come as a result of it, to be dismantled more easily. Doing so will create a safer place for survivors and victims, allowing them to have access to the proper resources they need to cope and heal with the trauma they have experienced.

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