The Apparatus of Rape Culture and Sexism: We are The Cogs that Keep it Running Once upon a time, men and women lived harmoniously; everyone respected one another; women were recognized for their achievements; admired for their talents, assets and brains; the body was simply a sum of organs that enabled people to accomplish many things. A story told by no one. Ever. That is, not a story that has at any point occupied the nonfiction section. My purpose is not to demean the progress we have made, women and men do live harmoniously-for the most part- yet there’s still an epidemic of sexism that’s cultivated into the core of our society, which leads to worse calamities than the unfounded belief in the hierarchy of the sexes. Sexism is thoroughly …show more content…
Men are not only seen as, but consistently portrayed (in movies, music, media and in-person) to be the dominant sex; women the inferior. We are conditioned to believe this, to act accordingly. For example: dress codes do not teach boys how to not be distracted by a girls’ anatomy and instead instructs and even encourages boys to objectify female bodies, indoctrinate girls the belief that their bodies are sexual objects to be hidden in order to not interfere with a boys’ learning, it in turn additionally teaches them that male perspective matters most and that they have a larger influence over the rules of society. In 2015 Times Magazine article, Laura Bates (author of Everyday Sexism and founder of The Everyday Sexism Project) expresses this precedency, “When a girl is taken out of class on a hot day for wearing a strappy top, because she is ‘distracting’ her male classmates, his education is prioritized over hers.” She also rattled off the most impactful and lasting concepts learned in school, “Hard work pays off. Success comes from working together. Girls’ bodies are dangerous and harassment is inevitable.” The irony is that these things are taught subconsciously, girls and boys don’t immediately realize what they’re being
As I grew out of the the Veggie Tales phase, the idea of standing up for what I believed in became more relevant. Throughout primary school, I unquestioningly did what most girls did, and followed the status quo. However, upon entering middle school, I started to notice a stark juxtaposition between the behaviors of the boys and the girls in my class. Now, after years of observing overt stereotypes and prejudice, I have learned not only to question the patriarchy, but to stand up to it, as I believe that sexism is a crucial problem we face in today’s world.
Oftentimes, the things individuals take for granted as preexisting facts are merely the products of social construction, which exert tremendous impacts on belief and action. Men and women are socially constructed categories inscribed by norms of masculinity and femininity that enables rape to occur. Catharine MacKinnon claims that rape is defined in a male perspective, which lacks the account of female experience. On the other hand, Sharon Marcus argues that rape is a constructed language that scripts the female body. As bell hooks points out, black men celebrate “rape culture” as a mean of expressing patriarchal dominance and endorsing female subordination. In order to redefine rape and to develop effective rape prevention, it is crucial to deconstruct the predetermined assumptions about men and women. Rape is socially constructed, through the ways how individuals possess misogynistic ideologies and endorse patriarchal power, turning the erotic fantasy of male dominance into “reality”.
It is mind-blowing how little a woman has ownership over her own body. It is even more remarkable how, even in 2016, women still cannot freely enjoy being sexually active, like men, without shade being thrown at them. Jill Filipovic touches on these issues in her essay, Offensive Feminism: The Conservative Gender Norms that Perpetuates Rape Culture, and How Feminists Fight Back. Ms. Filipovic gives insight into how these perceptions help the rape culture in America stay alive. In this reflection paper, I plan on evaluating how there is a “war over the most basic of values: the humans rights to bodily autonomy and self-determination, the role of women in society, and the construction of the family (Filipovic 14).”
Blatantly sexist laws and practices are slowly being eliminated while social perceptions of "women's roles" continue to stagnate and even degrade back to traditional ideals. It is these social perceptions that challenge the evolution of women as equal on all levels. In this study, I will argue that subtle and blatant sexism continues to exist throughout educational, economic, professional and legal arenas.
The year of 2016 has been a terrifying year for feminists, women, men, children, and students in America. On CNN.com, it was reported that on September 2nd, 2016, sexual predator Brock Turner was released from prison after serving 3 months in jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious female behind a dumpster. Following his release, an uproar of people began protesting outside of his home, many of whom were outraged with the sentence he received, and even more so, the time in prison he completed. With the potential to be in jail for 14 years, he was sentenced to 6 months because the judge of the case took Turner “at his word”. On the morning of November 9th,2016, it was announced worldwide that Donald Trump had become America’s President-elect,
Eighteen million women and three million men. These are the numbers of women and men that have been raped at some point in their lives. (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2006.) Many advocates would say this is proof that we are living in a “rape culture”. A label coined by second wave feminists in the 1970’s, in response to the on-going prevalence of rape in the United Sates. Over the years, there have been many definitions of rape culture, but for the sake of the research paper, rape culture will be defined as a society where sexual violence is normalized. If you’ve ever heard of the responses: “She asked for it.” “He didn’t mean to.” “She wanted it.” “It wasn’t really rape.” “She’s clearly lying.” This is what a rape culture conditions us as a society to think or even verbalize when a story of sexual assault or rape is presented. Conversely, other advocates and feminists recoil at the use of the label “rape culture” because of what the label institutes about our society or progressions we’ve made in trying to eradicate
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.
“S/he asked for it!” This is a common excuse used when somebody is accused of rape. Rape culture affects many people, including both women and men. Rape culture is a problem and it makes it difficult for somebody to speak out about a non- consensual sexual incident. Non- consensual sexual intercourse is rape. Sexual assault is violence, not sex. Many have spoken about their experience with rape and rape culture. Rape culture is a culture defined as a society that normalizes rape and sexual assault. Rape culture causes many men and women to feel as though they will not receive justice for the rapist’s crime. This is dangerous when a person’s life hangs in the balance. Rape culture affects almost everyone everyday.
Society has females and males alike typecasted into roles which have basic characteristics that are the reverse of each other. Although this has begun to change over the past thirty years, typically the man was seen as superior to the female. This superior image is one that today, is slowly on its way to being reduced to one of complete equality between the two genders.
Women – beautiful, strong matriarchal forces that drive and define a portion of the society in which we live – are poised and confident individuals who embody the essence of determination, ambition, beauty, and character. Incomprehensible and extraordinary, women are persons who possess an immense amount of depth, culture, and sophistication. Society’s incapability of understanding the frame of mind and diversity that exists within the female population has created a need to condemn the method in which women think and feel, therefore causing the rise of “male-over-female” domination – sexism. Sexism is society’s most common form of discrimination; the need to have gender based separation reveals our culture’s reluctance to embrace new ideas, people, and concepts. This is common in various aspects of human life – jobs, households, sports, and the most widespread – the media. In the media, sexism is revealed through the various submissive, sometimes foolish, and powerless roles played by female models; because of these roles women have become overlooked, ignored, disregarded – easy to look at, but so hard to see.
unter Klein Professor Straub College Writing March 3, 2017 Date Rape Why would a man force a woman to have sex? A lot of this has to do with how we raise our gender groups. Boys are brought up thinking they are strong and aggressive while on the other hand, girls are brought up being passive.
Rape culture, a term closely associated with feminism, is used to explain how society’s values encourage male aggression and violence against women. These values, which are enforced upon individuals, are problematic because it further blurs the definition of rape, leading to rape myths. A rape myth refers to preconceived stereotypes and false beliefs regarding rape, its victims, and rapist. Rape culture is an existing issue and contributing factor to rape itself. Denying its existence has set society further from addressing and finding solutions to the bigger problems at hand.
It’s even disagreeable to be agreeable Rape culture, normalized sexual aggression and violence mostly against women (Buchwald et al., 2005), is prevalent in our society. Rape culture is reflected in popular culture, news events and in day-to-day interactions. Rape culture stems from the sexual double standard and the good girl/bad girl binary among other social phenomena. It is highly problematic because it induces victim-blaming of sexual assault survivors or victims (Bolger, 2014).
All of the issues described along with rape myths, victim blaming, and a plethora of other societal attitudes fall into an all-encompassing manifestation often referred to as rape culture. This idea of a culture perpetuating attitudes and acceptance of rape seems absurd if not further digested. After all, how could we as a society that stands for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness be the same culture that support beliefs conductive to rape and increase risk factors directly related to sexual violence (8p466)? It’s possible and studies show, it’s
White Ribbon addresses targeted violence against women and girls and help men embody the commitment to bring awareness to ending gendered violence, toxic masculinity and unhealthy relationships both personally and professionally. White ribbon focuses on the role of men in the fight to end violence against women and girls. They focus their efforts to research the origins of gender-based violence and creating effective solutions to educate boys and men to fight for gender equality together. In addition to rallying against gender-based violence, white ribbon promotes a healthy view of masculinity and targets an important aspect in the upbringing of boys. This report will examine the social change white ribbon hopes to bring, as well as gender