Feminists Take To Twitter To Explain That Rape Culture Is Alive And Well

Rape culture, a term once relegated to the feminist blogosphere, has recently entered into the national consciousness. After a string of high-profile rape cases garnered widespread media coverage, victims of sexual assault in the military began speaking out, and students at dozens of colleges demanded that their administrations stop sweeping sexual assault under the rug, Americans began connecting the dots. Now, it’s not uncommon to see “rape culture” in more mainstream outlets. BuzzFeed even has a comprehensive explainer on the topic.

But the term still inspires some controversy. Earlier this month, the Rape Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) — one the largest and most influential sexual assault prevention groups in the country — cautioned against relying too heavily on the rape culture framework. “In the last few years, there has been an unfortunate trend towards blaming ‘rape culture’ for the extensive problem of sexual violence on campuses,” the group wrote in its policy recommendations to the White House’s new task force on campus rape, encouraging federal officials to focus not on cultural factors, but on the individuals who choose to commit sexual assault.

That provided convenient fodder for the individuals who refute the existence of rape culture altogether. “It’s Time to End ‘Rape Culture’ Hysteria,” the American Enterprise Institute’s Caroline Kitchens wrote in TIME earlier this week, arguing that this approach ends up vilifying the average guy. “College leaders, women’s groups, and the White House have a choice. They can side with the thought police of the feminist blogosphere who are declaring war on Robin Thicke, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, male statues, and Barbie. Or, they can listen to the sane counsel of RAINN,” Kitchens concluded.

Other feminists have also critiqued RAINN’s statements, pointing out that acknowledging society’s pervasive rape culture doesn’t mean absolving individual rapists from their decision to commit a crime. Jezebel noted that although RAINN put forth some valuable proposals, the group simply doesn’t see tackling rape culture as a “viable, easily implementable solution to the campus rape epidemic.”

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/03/25/3418728/rape-culture-hashtag/


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Although there's always going to be a handful of idiots, dolts and nincompoops who maintain the pretense that Rape Culture is little more than at attempt to assign a collective guilt or some such Freudian hand-me-down nonsense (lacking premise, supporting evidence and conclusion) or minimize it by assigning a "micro" culture to the areas where it's obviously endemic, it's good to see the answers to their creepy premises answered in unambiguous terms.