Rape Culture

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According to Marshall University, Rape Culture is defined as “an environment in which rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence against women is normalized and excused in media and popular culture.” In American society, it is not hard to find examples of rape culture. In popular movies, music, and current events there is an undeniable notion of victim blaming, and sympathizing with male perpetrators. People have begun to use the term rape as a casual adjective. For example “I just raped him in that game,” could be used to describe two people playing a game and one winning easily against the other. American society uses pop culture and current events to promote and justify the prominent rape culture. Robin Thicke has a popular songs called Blurred Lines which was released in mid 2013. The song spread quickly and rose straight to the top of the charts. This is where the song remained for the next ten weeks; which was the first time any single lasted that long since 2005. A majority of people had at least heard the song, if they weren’t able to sing every word of it. Many people found the song to be undeniable catchy, but not many people looked at the subtext of the lyrics. As the song remained popular for a longer period of time, people became aware of what the song lyrics were actually saying. The literal lines of the song talks about meeting a girl and not knowing if there is blurred lines because she’s a good girl. Once the lyrics were analyzed deeper, many realized that the song was not as innocent as it seemed. During the chorus of the song, the line ‘I know you want it’ is repeated multiple times (Sociological Images.) This is a phrase that many sexual assault victims have reported that their rapists say. This is a ra... ... middle of paper ... ...America. Works Cited Gentilviso, Chris. "Todd Akin on Abortion: 'Legitimate Rape' Victims Have 'Ways to Shut That Whole Thing Down'" Huffington Post. Huffington Post, 19 Aug. 2012. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. This article talks about Republican Todd Akin's comment about legitimate rape. He claims that if a rape is legitimate the woman's body has ways to shut the whole thing down, and she will rarely get pregnant. "Law Revue – Defined Lines ("Blurred Lines" Parody) Lyrics." Rap Genius. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. These are the lyrics to the rebuttal of Blurred Lines, called Defined Lines. This song is the feminist version of Thicke's original song lyrics. Raju, Manu. "POLITICO." POLITICO. Politico, 23 Oct. 2012. Web. 26 Nov. 2013. The article discusses Richard Mourdock's comment about rape and abortion. It talks about how people negatively reacted to what he had to say.

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