Sexual Assualt Against Women

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Recommended: Cultural context on rape

Sexual violence has plagued our society for ages and though numerous groups and organizations have made significant success against it, sexual violence is still very rampant and destructive today. Rape is a form of sexual violence that countless women experience and is unfortunately perpetuated by today’s rape culture. The term rape culture designed by feminist defines it as ways in which society holds victims of sexual assault responsible and tolerates male sexual violence. This concept results from gender inequality and the ideologies held by men, which maintain the disparity among genders. Since the olden day’s gender roles have been established for men and women that proliferate todays thinking about the powerful entitled man and the submissive punishable woman. This mindset is the very reason why incidents of sexual assault are continuous with the responsibility of the crime falling on the victims.
The conservative way of thinking has influenced the very crucial aspect of our society the interactions among genders. It has polluted our belief system allowing unfair and unscrupulous acts of violence against women and placed domineering roles upon women by men. According to Jill Filipovic, author of “Offensive Feminism: The Conservative Gender Norms that Perpetuated Rape Culture, and How Feminist Can Fight Back”, the effects of coverture is still present today wreaking havoc on women’s rights and their bodily integrity. Women didn’t have much say in matters of sex “husbands could demand (or force) sex with no legal repercussions. A woman’s place as a personal servant for her husband in exchange for financial security was enshrined into law.”(Filipovic, 14-15) Women from since the olden days were placed into a man’s world wher...

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...Rape Culture, and How Feminist Can Fight Back.” Yes means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power & a World without Rape. Eds. Friedman, Jaclyn. Valenti, Jessica. Berkeley: Seal Press, 2008. 13-27. Print
3. Jervis, Lisa. “An Old Enemy in a New Outfit: How Date Rape Became Gray Rape and Why it Matters.” Yes means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power & a World without Rape. Eds. Friedman, Jaclyn. Valenti, Jessica. Berkeley: Seal Press, 2008. 163-170. Print
4. Pandora’s Project. “Was it my fault? Self-Blame and Survivors”. Pandys.org. 2007. n.p. Web. 02 May. 2014 http://www.pandys.org/articles/selfblameandsurvivors.html
5. Valenti, Jessica. “Purely Rape: The Myth of Sexual Purity and How it Reinforces Rape Culture.” Yes means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power & a World without Rape. Eds. Friedman, Jaclyn. Valenti, Jessica. Berkeley: Seal Press, 2008. 299-304. Print

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