Rape culture, the growing problem of normalizing victim blaming, the acceptance of sexually explicit jokes, teaching women about rape prevention, and much more. Rape culture is a very serious problem and it must be stopped. Rape culture can be defined as an environment in which rape is widespread and sexual violence is normalized and excused in popular culture and media. If we separate rape and culture, rape is then defined as “unlawful sexual intercourse or other sexual penetration of the vagina, anus or mouth of another person, with or without force, by an organ sexual organ, another part of the body or a foreign object. , without the consent of the victim. (Merriam-Webster) Culture is now defined as "the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group; the set of values, conventions, or social practices associated with an area, a particular activity or field. societal characteristic. (Merriam-Webster)Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay A better understanding of what rape culture is is necessary to fully take a stand against or for it. Rape culture is a learned behavior, which includes, but is not limited to, "misogynistic language, sexualization and objectification of women's bodies, victim blaming, and glorification of sexual violence, thereby creating a society that does not take into account the rights and safety of women. (Southern Connecticut State University) In many situations, victim blaming is caused by their own denial, such as saying "I wouldn't do what he/she did so it wouldn't hurt me." doesn’t happen.” Some common questions that come up when rape is brought up are: “well, what were you wearing?” How much did you have to drink? Well, you kissed him earlier, of course you wanted to. » (Say no more) None of this is acceptable, there is a clear line of consent and if both parties do not agree then no further action should take place. Rape culture is hidden everywhere, if you think you don't notice it, try reading deeper into what people have to say on the subject of rape. Another common type of rape culture is the trivialization of sexual assault, such as the phrases "but he's a star athlete, he wouldn't do that" and "boys will be boys." No, boys will be held responsible for their actions, regardless of their sporting status. . Since when did it become acceptable to rape or sexually assault someone and get away with it because they are “such a nice guy”? Take the case of Brock Turner for good measure: he was a star athlete who raped an unconscious woman. Brock Turner was a great swimmer, and because of his high social status and image as a star athlete, he received leniency. To expand on this "free pass" question, let's do a comparison, just for a different crime now. For example, let's say you murdered someone, in most cases murders don't get a pat on the back and get away scot-free. In most cases they are held accountable for their actions, they don't get a pass simply based on their athletic background, professional position, ethnicity or simply based on members' testimony from their family and community members who swear. the murderer is a good person. Rape culture is not only specific towomen: men are involved just as much as women. Whether it's peer pressure on men to perform (getting laid) or the idea that "real men" don't get raped and only the weakest do it, is absurd. It can happen to anyone, at any time, for no reason. Approximately 17.7 million women have been victims of attempted rape or rape, and the statistics for men are 2.78 million (Rainn). Society puts this unrealistic pressure on men and women to fuck, for example after a girl turned eighteen she went to a club. with his friends to party. Immediately a group of men started watching her go out with her friends, one of them finally came over and said to one of the friends "Hey, my man over there thinks you're hot, why do you don't go back to his room? It's his first time in Hawaii." The friend responded with "no thanks, I'm fine" and this man responded with "come on, he's my friend, my friends over there bet he couldn't get laid tonight and I'm just try to help her That's when her jaw hit the floor and her friend got upset, so she asked her, "So just because you made a bet, you expect this." my friend jumps into bed with a stranger? Because it's his first time in Hawaii and you're all pressuring him to fuck Needless to say the mood turned sour and that was it? first thing she had experienced firsthand The mere idea that sex was the focus of a bet was extremely disappointing Southern Connecticut State University offers some tips for combatting victim blaming and rape culture. Advice includes “avoid using language that objectifies or degrades women, say something if you hear someone making offensive jokes or trivializing rape, think critically about media messages about women, men, relationships and violence, always communicate with your sexual partners and assume consent” (Southern Connecticut State University). There are many others, but these are the ones that stood out the most. Speaking up when you hear jokes can make a big difference to someone else, it can help open the joker's eyes to what they are encouraging and supporting, even if they don't completely understand it. Blaming victims is harmful, as it makes it more difficult for them to come forward after an incident. If someone thinks you're blaming them for what happened, they won't want to talk to you about it, they'll feel like they can't talk to you because they're afraid of being blamed and people tells him he shouldn't have worn clothes. that dress or I shouldn't have had that drink. According to an article published by the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, victim blaming can lead to, among other things, destructive behavior as well as depression (Lisa McCann). Here is an example of a victim accusing “Chassica was held and raped at the age of fifteen by a close family friend. This friend, slightly older than her at the time, was so close that he was considered family. She told me that when she tried to tell people about her attack, they called her a liar because "he would never do something like that." She was also called an "attention seeker" and was also told that it was not an excuse to cry rape just because she made a mistake. Her request was invalidated due to the “character” of her attacker. » (Knipp) Throughout the rest of Chassica's story, she recounts how she lived most of her childhood being treatedof a liar. She also states that it took her two years, with the help of a close friend, after she grew up, to learn that it wasn't her fault. This is an example of how blaming the victim can harm their mental state. It took him years to overcome the psychological damage done to him at such a young age. According to Rainn, “only 344 out of 1,000 sexual assaults are reported to the police. This means that about 2 out of 3 cases go unreported” (Rainn). Rainn's website also states that the main reasons victims do not report crimes immediately are "to protect the household or victim from further crimes committed by the offender, to stop the incident, or to avoid further repetition or escalation, and to catch/punish/prevent the offender from reoffending.” (Rainn). Fear of repercussions from the abuser and what society might say to the victim. The website also states that among the crimes that were not reported to the police, these people "feared retaliation, thought the police would do nothing to help them, thought it was a personal matter , had reported it to another official, thought that this was not the case. important enough to report, and I didn't want to get the attacker in trouble. (Rainn) It's fear that stops them from speaking out, it's a shame that many people go unpunished for their crimes. As a society we need to work harder to get rid of this ridiculous problem. Rape culture means that in some circumstances rape can be dismissed as the victim's fault, made up, or simply dismissed as it's not our problem so we don't do it. I don't have to worry about that. One day they took out a magazine with two pages glued together, to open these pages you had to use force. This two-page magazine represented the strength one would need to rape someone. The message that appeared on the pages when opened was "if you have to use force, it is rape." This particular ad stands out among others, with many commenting on print articles that featured this ad saying things like "the fact that this makes me uncomfortable probably means it's effective." (Natabee) as well as "Yeah...I just gritted my teeth and thousands of horrible images flashed through my mind...it's effective." (Erotes) When this ad was first released, there was a lot of contentious debate over whether the message was actually helpful or just plain stupid. One user's comments on this ad post read "When I see pages stuck together in a magazine I just tear them out because I assume they're stuck, it doesn't mean anything special" (mattyshot). Why should you care about rape culture? Or rape and sexual assault in general if this hasn't happened to you? Because it could happen to someone dear to you, your mother, your sister, your brother or your father. It can happen to anyone at any time, it's unexpected. Rape is illegal and is punishable on average by 8 to 10 years in prison once convicted of the crime. Just as a reminder and to really drive home the point about rape, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines rape as "unlawful sexual activity and usually sexual intercourse performed by force or under threat of injury against the will, usually of a woman or with a person who is underneath. of a certain age or incapable of giving valid consent due to mental illness, mental deficiency, intoxication, loss of consciousness or.