Women's Role In Precuirtatious Rape Culture

The hazard of rape is something that many women live in constant fear of, and it can often negatively affect how they live their lives. Fear of being sexually assaulted may keep a woman from going out at night alone, living in certain areas, or even taking a specific job. It is only logical that in a world where women live in such fear, more laws and statutes would be put into place in order to protect women and even men from sexual assault, or at the very least ensure that the perpetrator is punished to the fullest extent of the law. However, most laws regarding sexual assault tend to reinforce traditional or religious attitudes on the matter, such as the idea that women can prevent being raped by dressing modestly and not engaging in flirtatious

Although rape culture does contain a large social component, politics also play a role in the blaming of women when they are sexually assaulted. In the U.S, as recently as forty years ago, a woman’s “impure behavior”—from having an affair to the use of birth control— could be used to detract from her credibility as the complainant in a rape case. In addition to this, a woman’s failure to fight back against her rapist was not uncommonly treated as consent to sex (Young 42). These absurd practices show prejudices towards women, and while these practices were more common before the height of second wave feminism — which brought attention to issues such as domestic violence and marital rape — they are still used in ways that may be imperceptible (Rampton). An example of this is seen when religious institutions and college athletics hold respect for authority over the worth of victims by allowing sexual abuse to go unchecked, unpunished, or insufficiently punished (Young 42). This is a scenario which “Emily Doe," the anonymous survivor of brutal sexual assault by Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner, had to witness when her rapist was granted an early release from prison after three months of an already too short six-month sentence (Grinberg). Part of the reason why Turner was given such a light sentence was because the defendant was intoxicated at the time of the assault. However, the inebriation of a man or woman is not an open invitation to sex. When rape victims seek help, they must often answer questions of an invasive and offensive manner in order to defend the circumstances of the rape. Police may ask questions including; “What were you wearing?” “Were you drinking?” “Did you flirt?” “Did you say ‘no’ loud enough?” “Did you fight back?” “Did you scream?” Asking these questions creates a culture in which