The Perpetuation of Rape Culture
What is rape culture?
Rape culture is a term that became popularized by feminists in the United States during the feminist riots of the 70s. The point was to highlight the different ways that society blamed sexual assault on the victims and not the perpetrators of these crimes. Rape culture is defined as the acceptance of norms that conceptualize gender violence and sexual assault as an “inevitable” or even profitable outcome of normative gender roles and relationships[1]. These norms are responsible for a powerful cultural acceptance of slut shaming, victim blame, female sexualization and objectification, as well as the maintenance of toxic (cishetero)masculinity[1].
Rape culture is a set of values or beliefs held by the general public that is responsible for creating an environment that is more conducive and tolerant of sexual assault[2]. The perpetuation of a rape culture allows for rape to go virtually nonpunishable as a crime.
Why does rape culture exist?
The perpetuation of rape culture is the maintenance and upholding of social norms that make it difficult for victims of sexual assault.There are many approaches to understanding perceptions of rape culture[4].
Hegemonic Masculinity
Men, from an early age, are socialized to believe that their manhood needs to be proven, and that the most effective way to prove manhood is through hegemonic masculinity[4]. Achieving hegemonic masculinity necessitates "sexual dominance over women, sexual freedom, and fostering aggressive tendencies" [4]. This toxic belief of proving one's masculinity allows for the personal and societal justification of malevolent behaviours in men. It also leads an entitlement phase that dictates that their behaviours are morally right [4].
Misinformation of Rape Subcultures
The normalization of rape culture is extremely popularized especially in university and college campuses, partly due to the subculture of college and college students [4]. Many college and universities continue to struggle with the seriousness of date rape. College educated men associate rape as a crime committed by a man hiding in bushes preying on women, rather than understanding that sexual assault is also sex brought upon by coercion, force, or threats [4].
Shadowboxing
Situationally, many women attempt "shadowboxing" as a way to combat instances of sexual assault, by going to parties with groups of trusted friends, and making their own drinks[4]. However, this situational benefit taken by women to ensure their own safety, can also reinforce rape culture. Shadowboxing places accountability on the victim, and therefore, if a sexual assault occurs, it becomes the victim's fault for not effectively protecting him/herself from rape [4].
Rape culture in university campuses
Rape is already found in devastatingly high numbers on university and college campuses across North America. A recent study places the number of rape in undergraduate programs at 23.1% for women and 5.4% for men.[1] Notably, sexual victimization rates among college women are about three times greater than in the general population[3]. With such an alarming statistic, college and university campuses have often tried to make campuses a safer place for it's students, with programs such as the "Never Go Out Alone" campaign[3], however, the fact remains that campuses, especially fraternities, produce some of the highest rates of both convicted and non-convicted rape.
Fraternities are social organizations on college campuses of only men, and the social activities typically involve a lot of alcohol or drugs. A prime example of the perpetuation of rape culture on college campuses is that of Yale University, in the United States. One of their fraternities faced a lot of backlash when they were caught chanting "Yale University was a prime example, when one of their fraternities was caught chanting, “no means yes, yes means anal” in 2010[4]. The responsible fraternity - a chapter of the Delta Kappa Epsilon (DKE) fraternity - is currently suspended at Yale for vocally promoting rape culture.
A more recent and well-known example of the perpetuation of rape culture on university and college campuses is the case of Brock Turner. In 2016, Brock Turner, a 19-year old Stanford student, was convicted of three felonies for sexually assaulting and raping an unconscious 22 year old woman. While the convicted charges held a potential prison sentence of 14 years, and prosecutors recommended 6 years, Brock Turner was sentenced to 6 months in county jail, of which he served 3. The judge in charge of the case, Aaron Persky, shortened Brock turner's sentence because he did not want Brock Turner's mistake to impact his entire life, as he was a promising three-time All American Swimmer with no previous convictions[4]. Despite resounding evidence, his court case lasted almost an entire year, and the judge claimed his sentence was "a difficult decision". Persky claimed that alcohol played a factor in Turner's sentencing because, “...when trying to assess moral culpability in this situation, [alcohol] is mitigating.”. The victim, "Emily Doe" was told that alcohol, in her case, hindered her ability to accurately recall the events of the assault, and therefore could be used against her. The juxtaposition between Turner and "Emily Doe"'s individual experiences of alcohol is a prime example in the perpetuation of rape culture. Rape culture is also perpetuated because of the little repercussions Turner faced for his convictions.[5]
Rape culture in various media outlets
Rape culture is extremely prominent in various forms of media, including but not limited to popular and social media. Popular media would be the inclusion of song lyrics, movies & television shows with suggestive themes, and the treatment of rape and sexual assault cases in the media. An example would be Robin Thicke's song Blurred Lines, which talks about the ambiguous circumstances with words such as "no" and "yes"[6] Additionally, when rape cases are showcased on the media, rape culture is further perpetrated because more victim blaming and more perpetrator support was found when the accused assailants were in pop culture. [7]
Consequences of the Perpetuation of Rape Culture
Rape culture condones, trivializes, and normalizes all forms of sexual assault, especially those against women. This leads to both men and women viewing rape and various other types of sexual assault as excused, legitimized and inevitable acts[1]. The consequence of this is that a majority of rape cases do not get reported (almost 90% of all cases), for either a fear of backlash, or a fear that reporting rape will not lead to anything[4].
References
- ↑ Blyth, Caroline; et al. "Rape Culture, Gender Violence, & Religion". Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Explicit use of et al. in:
|first=(help) - ↑ Boswell, A Ayres; et al., (April 1996). "Fraternities and Collegiate Rape Culture: Why Are Some Fraternities More Dangerous Places for Women?". Gender & Society.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
- ↑ Pollock, John; et al., (June 2018). "Nationwide Newspaper Coverage of Rape and Rape Culture on College Campuses: Testing Community Structure Theory". Human Rights Review.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
- ↑ Giraldi, Ashley; et al., (May–June 2017). "Perception of rape culture on a college campus: A look at social media posts". Women's Studies International Forum. 62: 116–124.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: date format (link)
- ↑ Koren, Marina (Jun 17, 2016). "Why the Stanford Judge Gave Brock Turner Six Months".
- ↑ Hlavka, Heather R (April 25th 2018). "Beyond Blurred Lines: Rape Culture in Popular Media". Contemporary Sociology. Check date values in:
|date=(help) - ↑ Zaleski, Kristen L; et al. (October 2016). "Exploring rape culture in social media forums". Computers in Human Behaviours. Explicit use of et al. in:
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