Why do we need to keep talking about rape culture?
This article deals critiques RAINN's misguided recommendation that discussing rape culture somehow takes emphasis away from apprehension and prosecution of rapists. I've exerted out much of the discussion of the RAINN statement since people are familiar with it by now. Yet when we are told that discussions about rape culture exist only "in the heads of HOF," and should be restricted to that forum, it shows how far we have to do in terms of raising public awareness about rape. Discussion of rape culture is intended to help people understand what rape is, how pervasive it is, and the various factors that go into allowing rapists to go unpunished.
We live in a country where a Texas defense lawyer called an 11-year-old gang-rape victima “spider” luring men into her web. Where instead of helping a rape victim, high school students in Steubenville, Ohio, joked about the assault and took pictures. As feminist Thomas MacAulay Millarwrote, “It takes one rapist to commit a rape, but it takes a village to create an environment where it happens over and over and over.”
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In its recommendations, RAINN insists that a focus on rape culture is misguided because most young adults know rape is wrong, thanks to “repeated messages from parents, religious leaders, teachers, coaches, the media and, yes, the culture at large.” But knowing that “rape is wrong” means little if you don’t know what rape is.
When one witness in the 2012 Steubenville rape case was asked why he didn’t stop the assault on a high school girl, he testified that he didn’t know the attack was rape: “It wasn’t violent. .?.?. I thought [rape] was forcing yourself on someone.” Earlier that evening, this teen took car keys away from a drunk friend. At some point he got the message that drunken driving is wrong, but never that penetrating an unconscious girl is rape.
Even some politicians don’t seem to fully understand what rape is. “Rape, when I was learning these things, was the violation of a chaste woman, against her will, by some party not her spouse,” Tennessee state Sen. Douglas Henry said in 2008. It was only two years ago that then-Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri suggested that “legitimate rape” doesn’t cause pregnancy, and the FBI revised its definition of rape, which had included only women (no mention of male victims) who had been “forcibly” attacked.
Talking about rape culture isn’t meant to shift focus away from rapists but to paint a fuller picture of how rapists operate and the best ways to stop them. RAINN — which works with Congress on policy and sets political agendas — should know this. And if it is worried about alienating allies, it shouldn’t dismiss the efforts of feminist activists.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-we-need-to-keep-talking-about-rape-culture/2014/03/28/58acfec4-b5bf-11e3-8cb6-284052554d74_story.html
We need to talk about rape and rape culture precisely because people think they can debate what consent is. Consent is not elastic or difficult to figure out. It must be enthusiastic, so if a person is heavily impaired by drugs or alcohol, or under the age of consent, they cannot consent to sexual contact--which makes any ensuing activity rape. That people still think this is something they can argue or that discussions should take place in women's rooms where men don't have to see them is precisely why it is so important to talk about rape culture. Rape is a violent crime and like any other needs to be combatted. It should not be treated as something to be whispered about or contained to segregated spaces. It is a matter of not only public safety but human rights, and the fact that courts so often blame victims and give rapists appallingly short sentences is a grievous violation of the civil rights of rape survivors, the majority of whom are women. These are all manifestations of rape culture that need to be exposed and eradicated.
= new reply since forum marked as read
or tell us it doesn't exist? Even though something like 1 out of every 3-4 girls and 1 out of every 7-8 boys will be raped or assaulted before their 18th birthdays. But who knows what the real numbers are! Not every rape or assault gets reported.
But we're just preaching to the choir, right? They don't want to hear our pet issues, not before the big problems, whatever they may be, are fixed. Until then we should just shut up and sit tight, right? Yeah, right...
