Rape Culture In America

Clinical psychologist, Mary Piper, once said, “Young men need to be socialized in such a way that rape is as unthinkable to them as cannibalism”. Too often, society blames rape victims for not behaving or dressing appropriately, suggesting it’s the victim’s own fault for getting abused and assaulted. Women are entitled to wear what they want when they want to, and it’s time that society directs men not to rape, instead of disciplining women not to get raped. Consent is defined as, “involving the will or feelings and indicates compliance with what is requested or desired” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). Wearing revealing clothing, drinking too much and flirting doesn’t cause rape။ rapists cause rape.

‘Rape Culture’ is a phrase that’s frequently thrown around in our society, but what exactly is rape culture? Reinforced by the media, rape culture is a socially constructed concept regarding

attitudes and actions affiliated with rape and consent, in which sexual assault and rape against women is normalized and even excused. While some may deny its existence။ the reality is ugly. Rape culture is a bonafide facet of our society, and needs to be recognized immediately in order to terminate the subjugation of women.
To better comprehend the concept of rape culture, it must be understood that rape culture isn’t groups of individuals in society who promote the act of rape. Instead, rape culture involves cultural practices that excuse, joke about and tolerate sexual violence and rape (25 Everyday Examples of Rape Culture). Some examples of cultural practices that permeate our society, normalizing and excusing sexual violence are, “Pop music that tells women “you know you want it,” and “Supporting athletes who are charged with rape and calling their victims career-destroyers” (25 Everyday Examples of Rape Culture). Every time an individual shames, marginalizes and silences a victim of rape and sexual assault, they contribute to rape culture. In her article This is Rape Culture, Julia Gazdag states, “When a girl complains about being catcalled on the street because it made her uncomfortable, and you tell her to just take a compliment, you’re perpetuating rape culture”. According to Gazdag, “Rape culture is victim blaming, slut shaming, trivializing sexual assault, and putting the burden of prevention on potential victims”. In an era where rape and sexual assault can be virtually shared and documented anywhere through social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, it’s critical that every culprit of sexual violence is denounced and castigated.
Conversely, critics may argue that rape culture is a fabrication established by feminists to attack men, and some believe that a rape epidemic in our society doesn’t exist. In his article Rape Culture Doesn’t Exist And There Is No Rape Epidemic, Matt Walsh states that feminism in our society is “completely dependent on, and defined by, the idea that there is an epidemic of sexual violence against women”. Walsh believes that in our society, “we have feminists who use rape as a narrative tool to advance their agenda, and then the rest of us who are just about sick and tired of going along with the lunacy”. Walsh’s argument is arrantly erroneous, feminists do not utilize rape as narrative tools to advance their agenda. Those who are privileged and unaffected, like Walsh, are “sick and tired” of hearing about sexual violence because it doesn’t directly affect them. Additionally, Walsh suggests that we’re falsely told that one in five women are raped in America, and articles that debunk the claim of rape prevalence aren’t met with relief because feminists “want it to be true”. While this argument may be somewhat plausible because statistics surrounding sexual violence are inconsistent due to the fact that definitions of sexual assault vary, stating that feminists just simply want statistics to be true is fallacious. On the contrary, according to The National Sexual Violence Resource Center, “91% of the victims of rape and sexual assault are female, and 9% are male,” and “Rape is the most under-reported crime; 63% of sexual assaults are not reported to police”. This evidence overwhelmingly refutes Walsh’s argument against the existence of rape epidemic. Regardless of what the numerical statistics are, feminists want victims of sexual violence to receive the justice they deserve.
Furthermore, denying the obvious only leaves victims of sexual violence in silence, and the lack of awareness of rape culture only results in absence of social change.

It’s imperative for both men and women in America to become self-aware of how they perpetuate a culture that justifies sexual violence against women. According to feminist and television editor, Anna Holtzman, “we have to transform our everyday culture. We have to raise our awareness of the 'little things' that add up to rape culture… things like the casual use of gendered slurs (like bitch and slut) in everyday speech and media… things like the notion that romance is boys chasing girls” (Ask a Raging Feminist: How do we end rape culture?) in order to dismantle rape culture in our society. Additionally, another way to end rape culture is to believe survivors of sexual violence because “It'll make rapists less likely to rape. It'll make communities do more to prevent and address sexual violence. It'll reduce instances of the media normalizing gender-based violence” (Ask a Raging Feminist: How do we end rape

culture?).
Above all, rape culture exists because many individuals don’t believe in its existence.Our society’s disregard and lack of action towards sexual violence perpetuates a rape culture that blames the victims of assault, instead of blaming the predators committing the felony. In addition, rape culture includes jokes, music and advertising that make sexual coercion and violence towards women seem inevitable and normal. Women deserve to exist in society without living in fear of harassment and assault. In our age of thriving technology, the media is the biggest tool to end rape culture, and educate people on the meaning of consent. While statistics on rape prevalence are inconsistent, victim blaming is extremely prevalent in our society, and many survivors are terrified of reporting their attacks in fear of not being taken seriously. Now is the time to change sexual violence ideals. It’s time that society holds rapists accountable because it’s not a woman's responsibility to prevent ourselves from getting assaulted. It is a man’s responsibility not to rape us.