Rape culture is the trivialization of rape, and it permeates our society to an alarming extent.
I’ve written about a lot of sensitive subjects, things like abortion, white privilege and breaking down traditional gender roles, but nothing is guaranteed to generate more vitriol and hate mail than when I write about rape culture.
People tend to have a knee-jerk reaction to the term rape culture. They think that it’s a way of saying that all men are rapists, or all women are victims. At best, my critics think that I’m fear-mongering; at worst, they think that I’m a “misandrist” who approves of women making false rape accusations. I promise that I’m not a misandrist, and I’m as appalled by false accusations as anyone else.
That being said, I do believe that rape culture is real.
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Let’s start out with a definition:
Rape culture is a system that everyone, men and women, unconsciously participate in. It’s a system that promotes the normalization and trivialization of rape. It’s a system that encourages the idea that male sexual aggression is the norm, and that violence and aggression are themselves sexy.
Three questions that frequently come up are:
- Does rape culture really exist?
- How can rape culture exist when penalties for rape are so heavy?
- How can it exist when people clearly think that rape is such a heinous crime?
First of all, obviously, as stated above, I do believe that rape culture exists. And yes, I understand that there are harsh penalties for rape—some of the stiffest sentences in North America are given to rapists. However, the problem lies in how we talk about rape, and how we perceive it. The problem lies in the fact that many things that should be seen as rape are celebrated as being romantic or sexy or even just normal. Yes, some of the harshest sentences are given to rapists, but often cases are thrown out because the justice system doesn’t view them as “legitimate rape” (to borrow a phrase), or because the victim is pressured into dropping the charges. On top of that, many victims don’t report the fact that they’ve been raped (for a variety of reasons), or else are too afraid to press charges or testify.
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If you want evidence of rape culture, I can give you plenty:
Rape culture is the fact that, when reporting the gang rape of an 11 year old girl, the New York Times chose to quote residents on how badly this event would affect the lives of the perpetrators of the crime. It’s the fact that the New York Times chose to print that the victim wore “makeup and fashions more appropriate to a woman in her 20s.” It’s the fact that the article wonders, “how could [the] young men have been drawn into such an act?” as if repeatedly raping a young girl was an accident, instead of a choice that they had made.
Rape culture is blaming the victim, saying that they incited sexual assault by what they wore, how they acted, or where they were. It’s saying that an unconscious woman was sending “mixed signals” to her rapist. It’s telling victims that if only they’d been more careful, more thoughtful, or less vulnerable they wouldn’t have been raped.
Rape culture is the fact that Roman Polanski drugged and raped a 13 year old girl, pled guilty to “unlawful sexual intercourse”, fled the country and continues to make Oscar-winning movies. It’s the fact that so many celebrities that I used to admire choose to either publicly defend Polanski or else tacitly give him their support by starring in his movies. It’s the fact that Polanski’s victim repeatedly told him no, but he continued to rape her anyway because he thought that she was enjoying it.
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This idea that men always want sex is the reason why we are dismissive of female teachers who rape male students. We make jokes like, “You can’t rape the willing!”, and talk about how the victim was living out every schoolboy’s wet dream. We don’t say those types of things when young girls are raped by their teachers, do we? So why the double standard?
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Rape culture is the fact that in the latest Bond movie, Skyfall, Sévérine’s assault is portrayed as normal and even sexy. Sévérine, the latest Bond Girl, was forced into prostitution as a child. Because of this, she has come to view sex as her only currency. Bond agrees to help her by taking out her boss, which makes her feel indebted to her. When Bond arrives in her room unannounced and joins her in the shower uninvited, it’s hard to feel that what’s happening is consensual. Although Sévérine doesn’t tell him to stop, it’s hard to imagine that, given her history, she doesn’t feel as though sex is a payment she owes Bond.
Rape culture is the fact that a good friend of mine was sexually assaulted, publicly at a party, by someone she considered to be a friend. It’s also the fact that she was threatened into silence by people she thought she could trust, and was encouraged by her family not to report her assault, to just “put it behind her” and move on. It’s the fact that while most of her friends supported her in calling out the man who assaulted her, some thought that she was making a big deal over nothing and abandoned her when she was at her most frightened and vulnerable.
Rape culture is the fact that I know so many people who have been sexually assaulted or raped that it would take much more than one article to describe every incident.
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Rape culture is the fact that every concrete example that I’ve given so far has involved a woman as the victim and a man as the rapist. Let’s be really clear on this: this isn’t because men are never raped or sexually assaulted—they are, and we know this. It’s because rape culture prevents men from reporting their assaults; it ridicules male rape victims, and makes a joke out of what they’ve been through.
Rape culture is just as toxic and harmful to men as it is to women.
This harm is what I really want to talk about today. This is the conversation that I’m hoping to start. So often when we talk about rape culture, it turns into an us-versus-them mentality, pitting women against men.
And that’s not fair, and it’s not right—because rape culture hurts all of us.
See, one of the main messages that our culture sends us is that men are naturally sexually aggressive and women are not; our culture also teaches us that men are sex-obsessed and will sleep with just about any willing woman. This idea is pretty well-established as a way to explain and excuse many rapes and assaults on women, but right now I want to look at the hurt this concept does to men. What it means is that at best we ridicule a man who claims to have been raped by a woman, and at worst we totally disbelieve him. There’s this bizarre idea that having an erection means consent, which is just so mind-blowingly wrong and ridiculous that I barely know where to start.
I mean, how does it make sense to say that because you have a physical reaction, you are consenting? Don’t we understand enough about biology to know that that’s just not true?
This idea that men always want sex is the reason why we are dismissive of female teachers who rape male students. We make jokes like, “You can’t rape the willing!”, and talk about how the victim was living out every schoolboy’s wet dream. We don’t say those types of things when young girls are raped by their teachers, do we? So why the double standard?
Because of rape culture. That’s why.
Rape culture means that men raping men is viewed as a funny hazing ritual for certain fraternities.
Rape culture means that we make jokes about prison rape, saying things like, “I’ll make you my bitch,” and “Don’t drop the soap.”
Rape culture is the fact that we think that male rape victims are hilarious, instead of acknowledging that the idea of raping a man deserves the same gravity as raping a woman.
Rape culture means that although I cited above that 1 in 33 men have been sexually assaulted, I know that the number is actually much higher than that. I know that male rape and sexual assault are vastly underreported because of stigma, the shame and fear of disbelief or ridicule. I know that we have no way of learning what the true numbers of male rape and sexual assault survivors are because of the way rape culture teaches us to view men.
I don’t hate men.
I have a husband and a young son, and it scares the shit out of me to think that if either of them were sexually assaulted or raped, they would struggle to get the help they needed. It frightens me to think that I would have an easier time not only reporting a rape or sexual assault, pressing charges, and winning a court case, but also getting access to the services and support that I would need in order to heal. I want to keep my son safe, I want to protect him, but how do I do that in a society that, in many ways, denies that he could ever be the victim of rape?
At the end of the day, what I really want to say is this: rape culture is not a women’s issue. Rape culture is not a feminist issue. Rape culture is everyone’s issue, and we all need to work together to solve this.
—Photo gogoloopie/Flickr
About Anne Theriault
Why am I not surprised that posts which question basic use of language and how it goes so very wrong don’t get allowed up here? Tis the season for…..
The problem with most rapists is that they are in the mainstream, They maybe have jobs, maybe families, friends. They lie to themselves about what they have done or do. If you tell a lie enough you can start to think it’s the truth.
Rapists are accepted for who they are without anyone necessarily knowing the truth about what they do behind closed doors to their friends, co-workers or partners.
My ex-boyfriend is a rapist. at least, he raped me on more than one occasion. I can’t say for deffinate that he makes a habit of it. For him, at the time, directed at me, it was power and control.
When it first happened I told him no. I told him i didn’t want to. I repeated myself and continued saying it all the way through the act. Afterwards i actually said to him ‘you raped me’. He denied it. Of course he did. No one wants to admit that they are a rapist.
Yes, I stayed with him. Madness isn’t it? A girl in her early twenties being abused, physically, verbally, sexually. But that’s a whole other matter – one of abuse, continual degradation, lack of self-esteem of the ‘victim’, the control the perpetrator has over the ‘victim’. (I hate the word victim, surely there is a better word out there for people who find themselves this situation?)
Rape culture surrounds us. The ‘victims’, unless given the channel to talk about it will keep it inside. The perpetrators may never admit to themselves, let alone others, that they have done it, or still do it. (I can see my ex laughing it off and using the world of victim blame to cover his crimes.)
People who have never experienced it, rape that is, whether first hand or through someone they know don’t necessarily understand it. When someone asks me why I stayed with such an abusive partner I can’t give them an answer that they understand, if they understood they probably wouldn’t ask that question…
People need to be educated about rape. What it is, when it is and not fed shit like ‘don’t go out, don’t get drunk, don’t wear that dress’, because you might as well say them to ‘don’t have fun, don’t trust your friends, don’t leave the house’ and thus ‘if anything happens to you, it is your own fault’. I have been out with friends, got a little bit too drunk, fallen over in the street and showed my underwear, walked home on my own at night and yet, got raped in my own home by my boyfriend.
Ideas need to change, stigma needs to be obliterated and people need to listen and learn. Rape covers such a wide area, not just stranger danger or college boys acting as a ‘tag-team’. Rape culture exists, sure, but it’s because people think it’s excusable because of drinks, drugs, flirting. To me, it is due to the law. If more people were prosecuted for rape people might learn what it is and see that it is not an issue ‘on the fringes’, it happens, everyday to normal people in all sorts of situations. If victims were treated with less disdain they would report it more…
I don’t know if this has made any sense at all. It is totally my own point of view. agree with me, disagree with me. I just wanted to give my two cents as I am a ‘victim’ and spend many hours wondering how different my life would be if it never happened, or if the boy was convicted… He is now a practising solicitor, does that make you feel safe?
May I ask why didn’t you take it to trial? and also would you ever allow it to happen again? I only ask this out of curiosity.
I reported it to the police, after 2.5 years. It took a lot of courage to talk to someone about it, to even admit it to myself. He was arrested, questioned and released without charge. Not enough evidence as it was my word against his. The thing with being in an abusive relationship is you (the ‘victim’) aren’t the one with the power. I didn’t allow it to happen. It happened. Saying that I allowed it to happen, well, that almost incriminates me.
Sorry, i mis-read the last part of your comment. I wouldn’t allow it to happen again. That is to say, if i had the choice. The point about rape is really, you don’t have the choice.
Did reporting the crime to the police 2.5 years later bring about any healing or empowerment for yourself?
Anne, have you read Alyssa’s piece? (It’s odd that you didn’t link to the original version on GMP.) You appear to be intentionally mischaracterizing what she wrote. Perhaps you haven’t read it, and are passing along uncritically someone else’s characterization.
Either way, this reflects poorly on your credibility as someone who speaks authoritatively on rape culture.
I have read that piece, yes. I first read it on xojane, which is why I linked to that version. I’m going to c&p my response to someone else who asked the same question:
Here’s what was said in the article:
1. The author’s friend had been flirting with this woman for weeks
2. They had been flirting heavily and exchanging sexual innuendo the night of the rape
3. They fell asleep together
4. When she woke up he was penetrating her
5. The author says that, yes, it was rape, but we need to talk about the mixed signals that led to the rape
As far as I’m concerned, there is no way that the woman gave mixed signals that led this guy to believe that he could penetrate her while she slept.
Royce says:
“Which is to say that she was asleep when he started to penetrate her. She did not consent prior. Anything said after the penetration is beside the point, so I’m leaving it out on purpose. It is the mixed signals of everything leading up to this moment that are the point of this story.”
She is saying that the “mixed signals” lead to this man penetrating his friend while she was unconscious. It’s pretty clear.
Even the author admitted they were not present and all reports were second hand! It’s amazing how so many take words which are third person and tantamount to gossip and forge them into a steel hard reality!
Isn’t that exactly what the author of the piece did? Anne is only reacting to the author’s take on the situation, as reported by her.
… and so grows Absurdia! I find it amazing that people are happier supposedly reporting hearsay with 103% accuracy than going back to the roots and checking them. Have a look at Rape Culture the Film and not what people have been 103% certain of ever since!
“She is saying that the “mixed signals” lead to this man penetrating his friend while she was unconscious. It’s pretty clear.” I agree with this. “It’s saying that an unconscious woman was sending “mixed signals” to her rapist.” This, however, is not an innocuous rephrasing of the first sentence. In this hyperbolic version, now the woman was giving mixed signals while unconscious. This falls outside of the realm of civilized discourse.
More importantly, Alyssa never expressed an opinion that the onus should be on women to adjust their behavior to prevent scenarios like this. By my interpretation, she was simply trying to comprehend a mindset that would interpret the events as “mixed signals.” An astounding number of people are willing to declare that Alyssa was victim-blaming based on perceived holes in the narrative. I don’t think that’s fair.
Alyssa was very clear in characterizing this guy’s behavior as rape, from the outset of her essay and repeatedly throughout. That so many have interpreted it as rape apologia is baffling to me.
What I understood to be the thrust of her question is thus: how is it that this man, an apparent “nice guy,” would be the slightest bit confused about whether his behavior was rape? What is it about our culture – how we interact with one another; how we communicate or don’t about desire, about sex, about consent; how we’re socialized to be aggressive, or coy, or teasing, or assertive; how we view sex as a goal, or a bargaining chip – what is it that would lead to there being any question as to whether or not his behavior was acceptable? No, she was in no way to blame for having been raped by this guy, but does it always have to be so black and white? Can we not discuss how her behavior fits into the overall picture of a cultural narrative in which men pursue sex, women parse it out, neither party seeking nor offering verbal consent?
It didn’t appear to me to be trivializing rape, but trying to understand the culture in which rape happens. That is, unlike so many essays that attempt to discuss rape culture, Alyssa’s makes an attempt to actually get at the “culture” part of the story, using a personal anecdote as a case study. The anecdote wasn’t of a “so-called rape” or a “supposed rape” – it was of a clear and unambiguous rape, and yet so very unclear to the perpetrator. Are we not the least bit interested as to why this guy got it so horribly wrong?
In too many ways, the discourse that comes from many of the various Feminist groups/sites is woefully inadequate to address the actual human complexity of non-violent, acquaintance assaults. Royse’s article has been, perhaps, the best example of a balanced, human view of the issue that I have yet to come across. But still we just get a chorus of “you’re doing it wrong!” because the article doesn’t immediately jump to essentializing the man in question as a monster whose entire being is simply made up of this one incident.
It’s the reality that needs to be addressed, not the fantasy of simplicity that the Feminists want to propagate. It, honestly, drives me up the wall that they too often take second and third-hand accounts as 100% source material while silencing and ignoring that there exists a human being behind the singular action of assault.
It’s the conflation of the intended, violent stranger with the far more humanly complex case such as Royse put forward. When it comes to a man as put forth in Royse’s article, there’s no difference between that individual and the very, very, very small minority of men who are, essentially, monsters with ill intent. There exists a huge chasm of issue when you take humanity away from anyone.
And all of this is because of “rape culture”, which acts to normalize and support the limited, narrow means of approaching the actual issues into a “Feminist-approved” dialogue which does nothing besides condemn, disregard and move on to the next target.
Something about glass houses. I dated a woman once who was one of the biggest proponents of Feminism that I have ever met. After while I got used to the somewhat constant talking about “patriarchy” and “rape culture” and “mansplaining” and “gaslighting”, etc.. However, when we ended up in a somewhat passionate argument, she got so upset she cocked her arm back and smacked me in the face. It happened more than once. You know what? she was full of the exact same sorts of justifications and excuses that she got so upset about from men who existed in similar situations to her, to the point where she literally claimed that I was “asking for it”. The way the discourse exists, currently, is a series of apologies where the important thing isn’t what we do or think, but what and how we say. Too often Feminists aren’t actually interested in helping anyone, but instead they place their faith for change into concepts like “rape culture” which does nothing more than to misdirect and obscure the motivations, complexities and humanity of people.
Yup – It’s amazing at the characterisations that are going on and how they are being done. Some read and get it wrong – some don’t read because they know by telepathy that it’s all wrong – and the best one of all is when people read a see nothing amiss and are still mislead and join in the damage of others – and even themselves.
I’ve even been looking at how some peeps are attempting to link groups and people to the The Southern Poverty Law Center by a clever dance around a page and using words and Hyper links. I got asked about it because the person doing it is stupidly thinking US and Doing it in the UK media. Funny how “Southern Poverty Law Center” is not a knee jerk hate link in the UK psyche, but is in the USA. It’s only when you clean away the veneers of emotion that you can start to analyse and see the deliberate mechanism,s hidden underneath.
I keep finding it quite amazing just how people attempt to damage others, and also just how silly they are and how they get caught out!
You can read and see for yourself here – Why the ‘nice guys commit rape too’ conversation is not helpful – The Guardian – Tuesday 18 December
I’m still amazed that so many still don’t get how net content works and how some use it to cause real damage by using means that just pass people by. It’s a real trick, abusing in the open and getting way with it – just like domestic abuse. The abuse in the open and public is the most dangerosue and the ways of gas-lighting to achieve that are legion.
…I’m still confused about this topic, should we attribute a sense of unassailable victimhood to every women who’s been sexually assaulted. Can we dare question the validity of her claim or even monitor risky behavior in the hopes of protecting possible future victims of similar crime patterns. Is this Rape Culture? Obviously not.
We do not live in a consequence free world and telling college aged women that living their lives in a perpetual state of sexual vulnerability through inebriation and bad decision making does not serve their rational self interest. What “Rape Culture” tells us is that there is a Politically Correct way to discuss sexual assault and rape accusations. To this I say SO What, people will still judge the worthiness of victims anyway.
You know, I find it a bit strange that I have so many issues with “rape culture” and the begotten cultural “war” that it entails based on my religion. No, I’m not a conservative Christian, but a pretty moderately liberal Buddhist.
I came across a poem awhile back by a Zen Master which says:”Good and evil have no self nature;
Holy and unholy are empty names; / In front of the door is the land of stillness and quiet; / Spring comes, grass grows by itself.”
In a large part, the last decade of my life has been spent with a definitively Buddhist mindset. I’m not suggesting that I’m right (which is the point I’ll get to), but that our world is immensely complex, confusing and full of suffering. In a large part, one’s character can be built upon the reactions one has to hardship and suffering. Talk of “privilege” makes me laugh, because no one has the “privilege” to live a life devoid of suffering. We all have our own demons, hardships and experiences. Of course the lives of some are easier than others, but I try very hard to remember that suffering is universal and unavoidable. It’s the work of good people to alleviate and address suffering, which is a psychological process not a concrete physical process.
The discourse we currently have on “rape culture” has continually brought me to a place where I remain perplexed. Passing by the completely subjective logic that gets one to “rape culture”, the entirety of how the concept is maintained breeds not positive, constructive work but overwhelmingly negative and malicious intent. It is employed as a bludgeon and as a means to silence opponents in debates that should, by any rational means, be constructive conversations.
Too often we find ourselves in places where we hear “Teach men not to rape”, which implies inclusion of men into the conversation. But when men enter the conversation and provide their (understandably) own subjective view, they’re demonized and run off by constant and continual silencing of “rape apologist” and “misogynist” labels. There exists, under the model of “rape culture” an absolutely unapologetic dogmatic and absolutist standard of moral/ethical behavior and dialogue. I really applaud GMP for running the recent controversial articles because if we want to enact change we need to actually engage with the very sort of people who have been branded as “monsters” in order to not attack, but to understand. Too few individuals seem able to put aside their own vindictive and aggressive tendencies to actually solve a problem.
But even further, as CopyLeft brought up earlier, the same logic which states we exist in a “rape culture” can be employed to say that we live in, say, a “crime culture” or a “war culture” or an “exploitation culture”. The problem, I suspect, is that when the Feminists seek their issues, they’re going to highlight the one which supports their agenda. Actual progress and actual constructive dialogue/action isn’t dogmatic.
And at the core, the concept of “rape culture” does nothing to help, assist or empower women and men who are it’s victims. It creates a wallowing in victimhood and the constant reminder that (for example) a woman’s worth is inherently tied to her sexuality.
In my own experience I have found two sorts of women in my life in terms of “rape culture”: there are many women who don’t buy into the “hype” and who live their lives day-to-day without fear or worry; there are also those who are so steeped in the idea of threat and harm that they unknowingly make the world a worse place for themselves by believing that the world is out to get them with intent. And that may be the biggest issue, because when the aim is to empower and create confidence and ability, the worst thing you can do is say that “oh hey, you should be afraid of normal interactions within a standard set of parameters because OMG RAPISTS.” The other sort of individual don’t lead their life based on theoretical concepts of oppression. Let me tell you that one of the two tends to achieve more than the other.
This isn’t about consent, it’s about respect. If you respect someone, you won’t treat them like shit. We all have our own demons and issues, and the way the discourse exists now is to assume that one side is pristine and the other is soiled. “A [victim] should always be believed” is fine when we’re dealing on an inter-personal level, but it becomes a problem when it is the dominant, impersonal reaction that is expected and required because we don’t have context or understanding.
And there’s a good reason why rape as a crime is tough to prosecute: because it is personal, private and immensely subjective. It should be difficult to prosecute, honestly, because there mere accusation can ruin lives.
There’s no getting around this. In many ways, I feel like that the concept of “rape culture” is just another way to attempt to gain benefit without any detriment. There is a focus on one specific aspect of our culture and the denial of the other side. We’re all human beings and we’re all subjective. I’d rather be able to engage with individuals as individuals than continually walk a line that forces suffering into the open and neglects to concern itself with the best intent of the person, themselves. In the end, we all suffer and it isn’t culture, but personal how we act, react and place ourselves in the place where we are best suited to move forward.
My thoughts exactly. And this. This is what rape culture looks like to me.
Women Under Siege Project
http://www.womenundersiegeproject.org/
@Ben
The commenter “Crow” was pointing out the situation her in the west which is far different then the third world, it’s truly disingenuous to change or switch the geographical point of discussion midpoint into a different part of the world were the same social realities exist!!
I believe you do know that there is a difference there, but you’re trying to use the realities of the third world as a the same realities here in the west, which is truly unhelpful & muddies the discussion .
Oh I agree with muddied waters, but it’s also symptomatic of the racisms that exists around rape culture and the misuse of the term – only three countries have been described as Rape Cultures. Taboka Meitse did so with South Africa in 1996, with good reason and after many years of sociological analysis of South Africa both before and post-apartheid.
In 2002 Prof Upendra Baxi produced a published withering legal opinion view that India was a Rape Culture, in light of how the state government of Gujarat and the Indian National/Federal Government allowed rape and worse to be used as a genocidal tool during what so many euphemistically call The Gujarat violence. Odd but not calling it genocide when rape was a major tool is it self a manifestation of Rape Culture… So I will call it the Gujarat Genocide and not be a rape excuser, apologist, denier etc.
Odd isn’t it that changing just one word Violence vs Genocide can shift you to one side of a dividing line or the other in the Rape Culture debate. That is why the do call it the Rwandan genocide where rape was used as a genocidal weapon. I’m so glad that international law experts are not falling into silly traps which other so favour.
I know that the USA has been labelled by certain interest groups as a Rape Culture, but frankly on a basic comparative scale that demand for labelling and even supremacy and focus in all debate is sickening. Yup The USA has some very big issues with Rape and how it is made manifest, and reacted to culturally – but unless there is an Actual Honest use of the term tape culture all you get is more racism and cultural imperialism … and it’s a hoot to think of the USA as a class that oppress others … and all of it through the use of the term rape culture and allowing so much Privilege to show!
@Not buying it
“I believe you do know that there is a difference there, but you’re trying to use the realities of the third world as a the same realities here in the west, which is truly unhelpful & muddies the discussion .”
I’m doing no such thing. In fact I’m trying–maybe not successfully–to show how different these two realities are from each other and how little we seem to care. This discussion has been muddy since it began. What I think I hear you saying here is that women outside the western world—the vast majority of women—matter less than those within. I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you haven’t spent much time outside the States and Western Europe, in which case I can understand why you might think me disingenuous. The point I’m making is that the social realities of college educated, upper-middle-class, American women are certainly much shinier than the social realities of 95%+ of humanity—men and women and children alike. This entire conversation provides a great example of just how self-important and entitled we feel and how blind we’ve become to the world around us. I don’t think the generational divide between the women spearheading this project and those writing and debating on this site is a coincidence.
“…how little we seem to care…” If you want to use the Royal We for your own views off you go – but as soon as you include a generic group lager than 1 you count me out!
After that I agree very much with you. Why is it that 5% of the female population is to be discussed 100% of the time and in ways that are negative to 100% of the global male population. You can see now why I have issues with generic uses of WE and place me in larger groups for other people’s convenience.
@Ben
I think we misunderstood each other Sir, I agree with you % 100 Ben, I understood what you were trying to say in the first comment as the typical response of the advocates of the hyperbolic existence of rape culture in the western world, in which every time you try to point out that at least here in the U.S.A & the rest of the western world the realities are different the defense of their argument is to show stats from the third world as if both realities are comparable.
@Ben
Let me add to that Sir, I have been born outside the U.S.A, third world country that I believe would pass for a 5th or 6th world country, in which most of the boys I know & some what remember from my 7yrs to 10yrs old age had for the most part been forced to become child soldiers!!! , from their I will let you imagine the status of women their & that fact alone makes me truly see the arrogance of ideological demagogues who try to compare both realities as if it is
Ben You Don’t need to convince me!
I had to deal with the gate keepers and control freeks at Wikipedia who insisted that “rape culture” and “culture of rape” were not the same. They even refused and would no address the issue of translation – cos if you do direct translation from languages with Romance Roots (French, Italian, Spanish .. even Russian) you get Culture of Rape and not Rape Culture.
It was comical being cyber harassed for clarification of how country lists should be organised – did it go alphabetically, in date order for references … and some got very pissed becasue no matter how lists were referenced in Wikiland it always ended up with USA at the bottom of the lists!
The denial and control freakery was quite staggering and the levels of collusion more so. I found it fascinating to find one day that I was called to a Kangaroo court filled with accusation and when I went to see what was happening and also what needed to be done… Trial, Sentencing and more abuse had occurred whilst I was asleep … and all of it aimed at making sure that more countries and None US rape Culture was kept off Wikipedia. The levels of Contrived Impunity and manipulation are some of the best I’ve seen in a 30 year career of IT management and the Psychology of the Net. It was almost perfect Netopathic activity…excpet the mechanisms being sued kept being discovered.
It was flagrant racism by certain highly evolved US Wikipedian Feminists to deny the rest of the world – they were very unhappy when I met their demands and was able to show evidence that South Africa And India met the Insane limits being enforced to pervert Wiklipedia Content!
That was when I learned that Racism is very much alive and well in the USA and just how racists so many White Feminists are, not just in relation to the USA but globally.
.. so you don’t need to convince me … but I fear you will find Deaf Ears and very closed minds! It’s what I’ve found for over12 months.
I agree with the article in every detail except the Skyfall example. It seems like you’re projecting your feelings (as in “it’s hard to feel that what’s happening is consensual”) onto fictional characters in an attempt to read rape into the scene. Moreover, the “given her history” comment comes off as extremely judgmental, as though her ability to make her own sexual decisions is compromised due to her childhood and subsequent views on sex. Let’s say in the scene she verbally consented, but every other aspect of the film was the same (ie, the implication of sex with Bond as a kind of repayment), would you still see this as an assault? And if so/not, why?
Denying survivors their agency is a big problem, especially when it is used to silence sex workers voices. Ie, no woman would ever want to be a prostitute, they’re all survivors prolonging their victimisation.
I think bond’s actions were very un-gentlemanly. If I rescued a trafficked woman, I wouldn’t try to have sex with her, but if she is free then her consent counts.
Some of the harshest penalties for rape is in North America? What? Where do you get that from? In fact North America has some of the lightest penalties for rape in the world.
First.. The definition for rape is broader though. You have to think of that.
Why are there more serial killers in the USA than other parts of the world? There aren’t. It’s a mistake. It’s because we have the definition in place to accuse them and the means necessary to find them. We are masters of classification and have a great deal of money and time invested in “justice” (an umbrella term but you get the idea)
Lots of parts of the world the idea of rape conviction is sort of mismanaged or ignored all together. The women don’t come forward and they don’t have the means or interest in finding the rapist. So while the punishment may be horrific, it’s almost never handed to anyone.
The problem I have is that rape culture theory in its most extreme forms (thankfully not this article) has virtually no room for disagreement or objective challenges. Any attempt to clarify or present alternative explanations or analyze data comes across as “trivializing” or “denial.” The most strident ideologues see rape culture as a self-evident truth that simply cannot be challenged. The very existence of contrary voices then becomes evidence of the rape system defending itself.
In this way, it can be very similar to “privilege theory,” in which all counter-arguments are basically evidence of privilege itself. If you disagree with the idea that you have privilege, that is evidence of privilege. Airtight argument, as most circular arguments are. It’s a very useful ideological construct that is probably thousands of years old, and societies have plugged in all sorts of things into the blank: “if you doubt the existence of ____, that is evidence that it exists.”
Hard to argue out of that one. If I can’t see the Emperor’s new clothes, then there must be something wrong with me.
Hard to argue out of that one. If I can’t see the Emperor’s new clothes, then there must be something wrong with me.
Wisdom is not complex and it’s not about age. It’s very simple – It’s addressing reality in the moment. Why was the child asking “Why is the old man sitting naked on the horse?” – dead easy – the child had not been factoid bombed into unreality. They had an existence free from #BadMemes.
Giving things fancy title and stringing them along with fancy words does not make them real. Why do some write about “rape culture theory”?
I’ve had the British Library searched and the Bodlian Library, ransacked every academic library I can gain access to on-line and even done it in multiple languages (Think Library Of Congress plus the internet in multiple languages), and have used every computer index of content, scanned every journal available since the 1960′s, gone through every publication and book for any sniff of this “rape culture theory”…. and it’s not there.
I’m happy to say It Does Not Exist – It’s a silly play on words due to a 1st grade student that had too much Red Bull for breakfast and overstepped the mark in an essay published on-line, picked up by Goggle and buggering up perceptions ever since.
What gets fascinating is if you search say Google Scholar for “rape culture theory”. You will find scattered references, but no root reference as to what is the theory, where does it come from, who first wrote it down … is it written own anywhere????
Here is the Link to Google Scholar searching for “Rape Culture Theory”
I do like this entry:
The campus rape myth – H MacDonald – City Journal, 2008 – links to full Doc in HTML,
During the 1980s, feminist researchers committed to the rape-culture theory
had discovered that asking women directly if they had been raped yielded
disappointing results—very few women said that they had been.
The original source is better and not even academic. It’s from an investigative journalist. Link
Google Books is equally fascinating Link To The Correct Pre Formatted Search … because there you also can’t find any source for the existence of the Mythical Rape Cultuer Theory.
It does get mentioned, just like Prince Charming Does in Fairytales, But every-time you burrow down to find out where it comes from – who first called it “Rape Culture Theory”, what it is where it is written down and does it have anything to do with rape.
That last point may shock some – that the supposed “rape culture theory” may not have anything to do with rape, but unless you can find this theory and study it you can’t say whit it is a theory of.
I could propose “The Blue Sky and Cream Theory” and have it mentioned all over the net, but until the theory is stated and made clear it is only an assumption that it has anything to do with Sky Or Cream. In fact my theory is that if you are having a pedicure and suffering from a painful bunion you can achieve pain relief by thinking of Blue Skies and a naked person of your choice covered in whipped cream as they dance to Gloria Gaynor – “I Will Survive”, so it is a theory of pain relief and the words Sky and Cream in the title are totally misleading.
It’s odd – but no matter where you turn it’s like a religious debate. Faith is all that is required – reality does not count. the Control of Behaviour, Information, Thinking and Emotions is not linked to facts, simply the emotive and triggering word rape!
It’s one thing dealing with the Emperors New Clothes – and Bixxaro dealing wit the Empresses New Culture.
Maybe next US Rape Season 2013, there can be some debate about why the US Autumn Rape Season exists, where it has come from and if it has anything to do with this unknown “rape culture theory”?
I’d also love to see some content which is about how men deal with this unknown rape culture and how it affects them – rather than content by people lecturing on how one is to be affected. Just an idea.
You’re absolutely right. And as a female i find this attitude as offensive as the attitude it claims to oppose. This (very serious) issue CAN be taken to a place where it is simply a bunch of twisted psychos calling every man who dare disagree a rape apologize and calling the women who finally get sick and tired of the nonsense “victims” and treat us like some shattered victim of Stockholm Syndrome. Quite honestly, we live in a very civilized society compared with our ancestors. Even our recent ancestors. To be talking about this as a problem that has gotten completely out of control is to remove the power of the positive changes we’ve made throughout history. Of course we’re not there yet but we have come a damn long way.
Humans have never been very good at learning anything from history. We have a simply terrible track record of learning from our mistakes and it seems we have an equally bad track record of learning from our successes. In order to see where we want to go, we need to be able to analyze not only what DIDN’T work for us and set us back but to also be able to analyze what HAS BEEN working for us. And to keep doing it. By calling today’s culture something that has “disintegrated”, we are just behaving like those masses of morons who have learned nothing from our own history.
That scares me more than anything.
This is very interesting as it addresses the methodology used by others to asses rape and incidences of rape. It’s how they calculate figures such as 1 in 6 and 1 in 4. Many people quote these figures, and assume they know what they mean – but they don’t know where they come from.
The 1 in 6 figure is highly emotive and so anyone who questions it is immediately attacked, called nasty names and abused …. So I’m Not Going To Say It’s Wrong. I’m Not Going To Question it at all.
That is right I’m going to accept the 1 in 6 US women get raped – and even 1 in 4 US female college students will be raped, and that Crime stat is so massive as to exceed crime incidents Globally. I will not question it’s validity ir accuracy – because to do so would make me a Rape Apologist, a Rape Denier etc.
I’ll let someone else ask the questions , and even explain the effects and why some have wished to Propagandise the issue – make It Media Driven and even profit Financially from other people’s fears. It’s written about by a bastion of female hatred and rape apology – Heather Mac Donald, Investigative Journalist – City Journal – so of course Her GROSS BIAS and hatred of any and all issues can be take for granted and accepted … and her analysis can be dismissed! She has Ignored facts and basic research to simply invest Facts and throw them on a page. She can be ignored as a deluded mad woman who welcomes rape and encourages it.
Read on to see just how Deluded she is!
Now I do wonder – if the methodologies being used to question people produce figures of 1 in 4 or 1 in 5 or 1 in 6 for women – and 1 in 33 for men… are the same or equivalent questions and methodologies being used on both sexes?
You see I’m not doubting the figures .. Just the Methodologies and even why some would support methodologies that would be poor in quality. Who would profit from that?
When a man is asked if he has been sexually assaulted and he says NO, does the researcher decided that the man is stupid and does not understand what it is to be raped?
Do researchers into male experience decide that men do not have the capacity to understand their own lived realities and treat the men as Stupid, Idiotic, Incompetent and then tick a box to make up for this Evident Male Deficiency?
What is it like as a young man arriving at college to be subjected to Mandatrory lectures on rapists, being a rapist and being told not to rape?
When do these Mandatory lectures take place?
Would it be the start of the Academic year?
Would that by any change coincide with the Annual US based Rape Season and teh internet going Nutty about rape?
If these mandatory lectures which tell men and not women that they are dangerous, rapist, that they will and do cause rape and allow rape and they must stop this behaviour… is there any risk of negative mental impact upon some 50% of people attending college – university?
I would like to see a few Guys being asked a few questions about their experience being lectured at and told they are rapists … and fewer ladies telling all the guys what life is like for them!
So next Rape Season US Style – could there be some Forward planning, and maybe have a few guys writing about what it’s like as a student to arrive filled with hope for a bright academic future and then to be told you are a criminal … will do criminal acts … and must not do this. That you will be judged as guilty at all times and in all ways!
Maybe the way guys get treated and viewed as criminals before the facts may cause a few to wonder at the reported crisis is masculinity – because if you abuse a person long enough they will abreact and engage in self defeating and self damaging conduct as they attempt to survive in a hostile environment.
If you do it for long enough to a recurring group each year you even end up with a generation of people affected and even damaged!
I always thought Higher Eduction was about expanding minds and not abusing them.
Oh Silly Me!
Odd too how it keeps being reported that ladies are doing better in Higher Ed. Are they the control group for the Experiment in psychological manipulation of the Ignorant?
I also have to wonder how it’s possible that if you look at the CDC Figures from 2010 – Published 2011, how has it been possible for the CDC to end up with figures which show Parity between levels of sexual assault between men and women …. and why Factoids highlighting this amazing discovery are absent?
Usually when there is a major break through and new realities are revealed there are trumpets and media types going mad to blog…. but it seems that they are all damaged and beyond blogging due to Factoid fatigue.
Could it be that Certain Industries that Rely upon factoids to gain access to Colleges and High Schools every Autumn to lecture AT People and tell them all these lovely numbers … well Would They Like to see Factoids that Destroy their business and incomes being spread widely?
I am worried … because it seems that NO One has learned from Sandusky and so many Colleges and Universities are still TOTALLY Negligent and just failing to meet Federal Law. They have to be … it has to be True!
Why? Because under the The Clery Act, signed in 1990, some 20+ years of having to report Rape – Attempted Rapes and so many other crimes to Federal Authorities to protect so many people in College and University… and with every Autumn lectures being held and seminars required of all MEN to tell them they are Rapists… and they are not to RAPE WOMEN….. and so many institutions being told they must do this or risk massive punitive fines in court if anyone should ever be RAPED…. and the colleges failed to put out and APB mentioning that there may, just may be a rapist somewhere on the planet … well legal costs alone make it cheaper to hire a 3rd rate lecturer to tell all the boys they are naughty and rapist, so if any one should attempt to sue there is even a miasma of Plausible Deniability and the institutions fund are ring fenced and protected,
Well it’s so very very very odd – because all the stats for Clery Don’t show any Epidemic of rape across the USA and this lack of DATA is being used as Proof that VICTIMS do not report due to shame… and so Bigger Budgets are set to educate… and more Male Students are Lectured At and Told they are all rapists and not to rape … And all the time the Clery Act stats show dropping Incidences of rape and this is yet BIGGER proof of The Growing levels of Shame that victims have and why more must be done to STOP rape!
I also find it fascinating how Professional Feminists have stopped quoting such odd figures as 1 in 6 and 1 in 4 … they are aware that if they use them their Credibility will be questioned. So they use Factoid landmines lying about and everyone who has been told of the Factoids keeps on believing…. It happens in Cults.
You can see it in pieces written by people such as Jilly Filipovic where she never quotes stats and figures, just implies ideas.
She keep making references to Research but is never clear about what that research is, the actual findings – the number of people involved. There are so many Rhetorical tricks being used to keep the pre bombed with factoids in line – clicking to read and creating revenue streams for her in Dollars and in supposed Credibility and Supposed standing as an expert.
OH she’s an expert al right – and writing in ways to beguile and drag people in, whilst deliberately not mentioning facts that need to be checked! She Does have Degrees and Politics and Law.
Now what is that old saying about politicians and opening their mouths?
We even saw it with that White Knight who arrived in teh midst of the Nice Guys rape Bombing Missions … A Supposed Legal exert .. training the world… and yet facts were few and enforced Authority high.
Odd that… it was like a Pincer Movement! Oh and of course they also had a bit of a conflict of interest as they make a living from the rape eduction industry and have ties to groups doing that.
Odd to see the way reality and words get played with… such as Recent Blogs where the 1 in6 is absent but new and un-revealed research shows…. hinted at dark realities of the rapists all about and in the midst of everyday life!
So – Next Rape Season – Could Reality be Allowed a Place at the table … and even a few guys, the one’s with penises talking about what it’s like to arrive at college – be gathered into a hall – told that they are all Proto rapists and will Rape Women (So Not PC When you is QUEER) … and they are to stop it right Now …and be good little boys… and they may not question such realities because to do so is to be a rape apologist and a terrible man… and they will be to they will be asking for consent all the time and in the right way… and they will be told… and told… and told…. !
No wonder some would like men’s groups on campus so they can ask a few questions and not just be TOLD!
No wonder masturbation rates have increased and rape has gone down as shown by all the Clery Act stats for 20 years! .. unless of course the Shame factor is still growing and making so many people hide … and so more funding is needed…. and the Rabbit hole gets ever deeper!
I wonder If I can get funding to research shame – and of course as shame means people will not talk about shame I have proof of shame and how damaging it is so I can get more funding to research shame in bigger better and more expensive ways …. Hmmmmm. Nice Job if You Can get it!
So Again – when the 2013 rape season comes round and there are all these guys being lectured at and told they are rapists, I’m sure that there must be at least one out there who is not dying in shame so much he couldn’t write a post about if for this site and tell folks how it feels, what it’s like and even how it makes other people act and react.
Hey there’s 9 months to get ready, and you never know Movember may get a look in too and men’s health may get a mention over the rape season’s dominance of discussion?
Thank you for including male victims.
At least 1 in 6 men have been the victim of sexual assault; sexual child abuse counts too.
http://1in6.org/the-1-in-6-statistic/
I really hate it when people say “No means no” im not a rapist i am not a rape apologist, but it is quite one thing to say “stop” or “NO” and yet still have your hand in my pants and your tongue down my throat. Why ? BECAUSE ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS, example. i could put on a hoodie and put a gun in my hand point it at you and say “im not going to shoot you” but i seriously doubt a person would belive it, why? because im still holding a gun, pointing it at you and that overrides my statement, for all you know i am planning to shoot you. I would not under any circumstances have sex with a drunk person because it is morally wrong(but that is another issue) Its quite one thing to say stop, but another to continue on the act as if you were planning to act on it. I apologize if offended anyone , but that is what i believe, my two cents.
There is one you left out:
Rape culture is dismissing “unattractive” people’s sexual assaults as something the victims should be thankful for…because if it weren’t for their assailants, they’d never get laid.
I wondered about the lifetime numbers as opposed to the last 12 months. If men were 50% of current victims, then why are they just 20% of lifetime victims? Are men abused over longer periods of time so the same guy would appear in multiple years, but would only count as one for lifetime stats. Are women raping men more? Are men more likely to block out childhood sexual abuse? Could it be because the CDC didn’t include a sample of the prison population? Maybe there is a higher incidence of childhood sexual abuse among prisoners. Based on their methodology, I don’t think it would have included the homeless either.
I liked the post. I expected to work up some serious indignation that never materialized. I do wish that you used the 1 in 6 number to illustrate lifetime victimization of men, but you did say 1 in 33 was probably low do to under reporting. I don’t know if it’s the cynic in me, but sometimes I feel that the best men could hope for is an acknowledgement that our struggles might be remotely close to what women have to deal with.
One of the other things I think that was missed in the article and something that you may wish to consider in future is that most perpetrators of sexual violence against men are women. Even in the case of prison rape that you bring up, about 50% of rapes in prison are staff on prisoner rapes and 80% of those are female staff raping male prisoners. This is hardly ever brought up. 80% of rapes in Juvie are staff on prisoner with 95% of those being female staff and male prisoners. Although I seen some feminists acknowledge that women can and do sexually abuse men, they seem to downplay the vast numbers of abuse cases. I think to some extent that interferes with the narrative and that is totally ironic, clinging to rape culture during conversations decrying rape culture.
I’m not suggesting that you did that, but it might be something worth highlighting.
Why do you assume that the CDC questions were without gender or sex bias? It took only minutes to spot that issue when the full report was published. I even ripped it to pieces here.
Could be a difference in memory, I’ve heard men forget more than women even for previous trauma. Hell I’ve forgotten most of my trauma’s but all I know is that I have mistrust for humans and bad shit happened as a kid. I can’t even remember 2004-2011 at all.
@Mediahound:I just watched the Melissa Harris Perry show on MSNBC( a feminist newstation masquerading as fair and biased…er unbiased), where deception runs rampant through the purposeful manipulation of language.They were discussing rape and they laid out the role of men in the debate,which is to stop men from raping women.Sound familiar?The evil alliance between Arrianna Huffington and the “liberal-progressive” newsmedia,which has sold its soul to the feminism, should concern fairminded progressive men everywhere.
@ogwriter – Thank you for that. I have not had the pleasure of hearing Melissa Harris Perry’s performance before. She has a fascinating way of changing vocal intonation … and in fact It;s so dramatic, the last time I heard anything lie it was Maria Callas singing Tosca! Melissa Harris Perry has a superb Vibrato without any hint of a voice or talent to get in it’s way.
@Annie: You are preaching to the pope.The people who need to hear your message are people like Hillary Clinton,Arrianna Huffington,Rachel Maddow,Melissa Harris Perry and President Obama,not the men and some of the women of GMP.
What about men who drug and rape women they are in a relationship with as a form of punishment or for the feeling of revenge when they believe they have been wronged? Are these men psychopaths? How do you teach a man who does this that it is wrong when they believe it’s deserved? How do you convict men such as these?
What about men who drug and rape women they are in a relationship with as a form of punishment or for the feeling of revenge when they believe they have been wronged? Are these men psychopaths? How do you teach a man who does this that it is wrong when they believe it’s deserved? How do you convict men such as these?
Why do you assume it would only be a man doing this against a woman. I have had to deal with such scenarios in progress, and on each occasion it was a woman using drugs against others – not a man. Since antiquity it’s been said that drugs and poison are the weapons women. When did that change?
In my constant search for information about rape, rape culture and also false accusations of rape I was directed to this document.
h ttp://www.ndaa.org/pdf/the_voice_vol_3_no_1_2009.pdf
It ia a ‘nice’ read, and I won’t got into the many ways in which is it simply ‘building a case’ thus ignoring imperical evidence and manipulating its own definitions but this paragraph really stuck with me
“Having demonstrated that the percentage of
false sexual assault reports is not as high as
many people think, this does not deny their
terrible reality. We all know that false reports
do really exist, and they are incredibly damaging
both to criminal justice personnel and to
the countless victims of sexual assault whose
credibility they undermine.”
WOW , JUST WOW. Apparantly the authors don’t believe that having a false report against you actually harms the accused as they aren’t even mentioned. If I were a person who believed this document was a valid and sincere attempt to get to the bottom of false accusations, this paragraph would have ruined it for me.
This is certainly a problem. When it comes to talking about rape, false accusations are limited to lip service and misdirection.
“Having demonstrated that the percentage of
false sexual assault reports is not as high as
many people think, this does not deny their
terrible reality. We all know that false reports
do really exist, and they are incredibly damaging
both to criminal justice personnel and to
the countless victims of sexual assault whose
credibility they undermine.”
Absolutely no mention of the innocent people that are falsely accused. I wonder how the two men (two different stories, that I know of) in the last two weeks that were beaten because a woman falsely accused them of rape and sicced a gang of guys on them. Well one of them can read this when he gets out of the hospital and other, well I guess someone can read it to him at his funeral.
Having your reputation destroyed.
Having you family and friends turn your back on you.
Being assaulted.
Being sent to prison (where you’re very likely to suffer the very crime you were falsely convicted of).
Being murdered.
These are not worth mention when it comes to the damage that false accusations can do to someone?
This paragraph is basically saying that important things to bear in mind when it comes to false accusations is that 1) They don’t happen that often and 2)In the event that they do the only concern is to those who were assaulted and to law enforcement personnel.
Thank goodness for MRAs and organizations like the Innocence Project….
Another part that disturbed me. If this is being taught to investigators and I beleive it is, then just how many false reports will be missed because the investigator is being taught to ignore their instincts and just carry one
“Investigators and prosecutors should only act
upon their suspicion that a sexual assault
report is false if these concerns are very serious
and they are based on the evidence
uncovered during the investigation”
So, does that mean that investigators and prosecutor should also only act upon their suspicion that a sexual assault report is true if these concerns are very serious and they are based on the evidence uncovered during the investigation?
I can understand the need to make for sure that an accusation truly is false and the need to make sure that “false” comes from the evidence. But at the same time should all determinations be held to that same standard? I would like to believe that investigators and prosectors would only act on their suspicions that a claim is true if the evidence points to true. But I get the feeling certain advoctes wouldn’t take to kindly to that.
I think there are forms of rape culture out there, but I’d like to disentangle a bunch of things that the article lumps together, because they may or may not be connected to rape culture. A more critical, perhaps less polemical approach might strengthen the argument.
First of all, it would be really useful to get a handle on rape culture as a concept if there were some clear boundaries to it. For example, what would a society without rape culture look like? Or, if it’s a relative phenomenon, what would an extreme form of rape culture look like compared to a less powerful form of rape culture? Otherwise, the impression is that every act of rape in every society is a product of a larger rape culture, but that seems overstated. You would be hard-pressed to find any society at any point in which there was absolutely no rape, and presumably rape culture is not a universal thing but a specific cultural construction, so where is the cut-off? I’m not saying we have to designate an arbitrary percentage threshold, like if it’s only 2% of people raped then it’s not a rape culture, but using quantitative stats does sort of imply that there’s some sort of comparison with some sort of “non-rape-culture” standard.
Secondly, on a related note, it would be useful as a measure of objective reality if there were some sort of falsifiability built into the analysis of rape culture, for example if there were a good test for the existence of rape culture that could *at least theoretically* come up negative. The search for rape culture tends to find it everywhere it looks, but that’s not really a rational approach. What would you accept as proof that rape culture was NOT a factor in a particular case? I mean, just as a hypothetical – “If I found that _____ was the case, I would conclude that rape culture was not a factor.” Is there that kind of hypothetical out there when people look at rape culture? Imagine a pregnancy test that always comes back positive, no matter who pees on it. That would be a seriously defective product.
At the very least, this would be useful at some point if we wanted to dismantle rape culture – how would we know if we’re making any progress at all if we had no way of detecting an absence of rape culture?
Finally, in some places there seems to be a lack of something, and then the lack is then used as positive evidence for the existence of something else. For example, apathy about rape or a lack of outrage at the existence of rape or a skepticism about the existence of rape culture, which are then used as evidence of the prevalence of rape culture. Those absences may be a product of some sort of rape culture denial, or they could just be absences. It could go either way. It’s comparable to the faulty argument one sees all over the internet, that if someone fails to mention a major issue, then that person is clearly ignoring that major issue, or that person must therefore be in denial or an apologist. There is a difference between deciding not to do something (like report a rape) and being prevented from doing something (like not reporting a rape because the culture prevents you from doing so). Lack of evidence is not evidence of lack.
This piece isn’t knowledge, it is a pure opinion piece filled with anecdotes disguised as fact, just saying “the fact is” doesn’t make it a fact.
IMHO, this piece is a groundwork piece, one of those blog posts that can be referred to down the line from clearinghouse websites to ‘prove’ their case, which will in turn be referred to by others creating a circle for people to help prove their point. It is done SO many times within feminist circles on sites like the Liz Library which refers to sites with info that refer to site with info that refer back to the Liz Library.
…just saying “the fact is” doesn’t make it a fact. Are you sure? It does it 8 – 9 times. Failing to make a fact once is understandable, but 8 or 9 times would be – at best – careless, and at worst ….?
I am positive that saying “the fact is” doesn’t MAKE IT A FACT.
The facts have been getting misreported since at least 1975, so what doe 4 decades matter – 2 generations – whole races and cultures ignored… why would the facts matter! Of course dealing facts takes time and care – it takes seconds to create factoids and they can like any excuse last a lifetime!