Rape Culture exists in America

Well, I don't really see how the justice system is letting rape continue by doing things "half-assed." From what I see, the legal system handles things well about 99% of the time. It analyzes the facts, and presumes innocence until there is enough evidence brought against the accused rapist. There has to be proof, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the suspect has performed the crime. This is why it is so hard to convict a rapist in a hearing of marital rape. There is no way to PROVE that the person has raped their spouse. One partner can come forward and accuse rape, but how are you to prove it? Couples have sex on a regular basis all the time, so there's really no way to know it was rape in one specific instance if there were no reports of screaming or any actual evidence to prove the rape happened. I fail to see a huge problem with "victim blaming" in this country. To ask questions such as, 'What was the victim wearing," or "Was the victim drinking before" does not imply the rapist was justified. It's GOOD to ask questions when this happens. After all, how are we supposed to lower the rates of rape if we don't know ways to stop it? If you get drunk and then go to a crazy college party with a bunch of stupid college students, then wake up the next morning realizing you were raped when you were unconscious, that would be a good opportunity to look back on that decision and think about what you could have done better. Maybe you shouldn't have gotten drunk at a party with people who were also drinking and were likely to take advantage of you. If someone told you that you shouldn't have gotten drunk, does that mean that they are saying the rape is ok? I think not! Pointing out solutions to problems that increase chances of rape isn't validating the rape, it's helpful. It is actually more harmful to say that people shouldn't have to worry about their conduct or decisions they make in social events or wherever they be getting raped, because then there is less focus put on preventative measures, and thus less reinforcement to stop people from getting raped. I lock my door at night because I don't want anyone to break into my house. If a robber comes into my house at night and burglarizes my property, and then I tell the cops that I didn't lock my door that night when I tell them the details of the robbery the next day when I report it, they will probably suggest to me locking my door from now on, not because the robber was justified, but because robbers exist, they will exist no matter what, and locking my door is a good preventative measure. Sometimes, people claim rape when it didn't happen. I don't know how often it happens, since there are so many cases where it is hard to say, but it happens nonetheless. There have been several cases, most famous of course the Rolling Stone article, in which the supposed "victim" was never actually raped. Rape is taken very seriously in this country. Rape cases are handled with such severity as other cases for the most part, and rapists get hefty jail sentences. Just think about the societal taboo associated with sex. Mentioning rape is even more uncomfortable for most people than mentioning murder, and sometimes rapists are even thought of as worse than murderers. It's highly irrational. A lot of people like to say that a big cause of rape culture is the rape rate on college campuses, which is supposedly 1 in 5 women. These statistics have been found to be completely bogus, and the rate is in fact much lower. Even so, there is no way to pinpoint an exact number, because so many cases have no evidence. This, of course, doesn't mean that cases in which there is a lack of evidence, that a rape didn't happen, but you can't prosecute a person based on something they may have done. Proof should be required. A threat to the great notion of innocent until proven guilty in this country's legal system is new Yes Means Yes laws being promoted on campuses in some spots of the country. These laws require proof of consent for sex to take place legally. This is ridiculous, as saying "yes" over and over again to various questions before having sex is obviously not the way people have sex, but also forces the accused rapist of proving their innocence rather than their guilt having to be proven. It's a very dangerous idea. Imagine a country where anyone who accused someone of murder was automatically believed no matter what, and the person who was accused of the murder had to prove they DIDN"T do it rather than proof being needed to show they DID do it. It would be total chaos. It sucks that a lot of people who get raped will see no justice due to a lack of needed evidence, but that is the way it must be. It would be wrong to send people to prison whenever they were simply accused of a crime. It is often said that 1 in 4 women will be the victims of sexual assault in their lifetime. This is not necessarily true, as the actual result of these studies is that 1 in 4 women claim they have been victims, and the wording of the questions asked by the interviewers is very suspect. In addition, there are lots of different studies conducted by different organizations, some of which are governmental and some of which are NGOs. All of these studies have conflicting data. Some say more men are raped annually than women, some say more women are raped annually. Some claim entirely different numbers of rape. It is also hard to factor in when someone has actually been raped, as it is hard to say when someone simply claims it has happened with no evidence. The numbers are just far too ambiguous to say whether or not more men are raped than women, and whether or not a large number of women or men are actually assaulted. There is no better way to investigate this either. With the social taboo of sex, the lack of evidence of some people's claims, not knowing the number of people who lie about being raped, not knowing the number of people who were raped and never report it, and the conflicting studies, to throw out so many hard numbers as fact like so many of these organizations do is to be taken with a grain of salt, I believe. All sorts of claims made about rape are unfounded, especially claims that support rape culture. It doesn't exist in America. I'd believe it if I saw some concrete evidence, but as of now, I see none, and the genders are treated pretty much equally in America, thank goodness.