Rape culture exists in North America

I will first present my argument supporting the new debate statement. Then I will rebut Con's statements.A Significant Minority of People in America Support Rape CultureAbove is the statement I am attempting to prove. In specific, over 25% of Americans promote the belief or customs that trivialize unlawful sexual activity, or suggest that unlawful sexual activity is acceptable in certain circumstances. I believe this is definitely true. To argue this, I will begin by focusing on one person in particular who espouses and represents rape culture: Donald Trump.Donald Trump has stated that he has committed unlawful sexual acts. In specific, he said:"I just start kissing [women]. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. ... Grab 'em by the p*ssy. You can do anything." [14]Non-consensual sexual touching is sexual assault, and is illegal in the United States. [15] Trump saying sexual assault is acceptable in certain circumstances is, without question, an example of rape culture. There are two points I want to make in regards to Trump's statement:1) A Significant Minority of Americans Believe American Men Support Rape CultureAfter Trump's comments were released, a scientific study was conducted to determine the public's reaction. When asked "Do you think Donald Trump's comments about women on the recently released video are typical of the way men sometimes talk to each other about women?", 47% of Americans polled said Trump's comments were typical of men. [16] In other words, 47% of Americans polled believe American men typically make statements that promote rape culture. Likely, they would not call it supporting rape culture, but I have already shown above that that's what it is.2) A Significant Minority of Americans Support Rape CultureThe second point I want to make involves Trump himself. Trump apologized for his comments, and recanted that he had ever sexually assaulted anyone. [17] Normally, that would be sufficient evidence to show that he no longer promotes rape culture. Unfortunately, he went on to trivialize his comments by dismissing them as simply "locker room banter". [17, 18] As per the definition, trivializing sexual assault promotes rape culture, and so by downplaying his comments, Trump continues to promote rape culture.Recent polls show over 40% of Americans supporting or voting for Trump [19]. Though I think it would be incorrect to say a majority of Trump's supporters consciously support rape culture*, simply by supporting Trump's bid for Presidency, all of Trump's supporters are promoting rape culture, as I will explain.The President of the United States is the highest office in the land, and the President is a role model for all Americans. Having someone who promotes rape culture as President will, at least in a small way, legitimize and normalize the act of promoting rape culture. Therefore, everyone who supports Trump's bid for Presidency is furthering the legitimacy of promoting rape culture, simply by the act of their support. To put it a different way, everyone who voted for Hitler furthered the anti-Semitic cause, even if they themselves were not anti-Semitic. Similarly, over 40% of Americans polled are contributing to the promotion of rape culture, even though many may not personally agree with the idea.* There is definitely some segment of Trump's supporters that openly supports rape culture, given the signs and gear that have been brought to Trump's rallies [20]SummaryArgument #1P1: Trump has said that Sexual Assault is acceptable in certain circumstances, which supports rape cultureP2: A significant minority of Americans admit American men (as a group) make similar statements which support rape cultureC: A significant minority of Americans support rape cultureArgument #2P1: Donald Trump promotes rape culture by trivializing unlawful sexual activityP2: President is the highest role model in AmericaP3: Having Donald Trump as president would, to some degree, legitimize or normalize rape cultureP4: A significant minority are promoting Donald Trump to become PresidentC: A significant minority are promoting, thus supporting, rape culture, even if unintentionallyRebuttal of Con's ArgumentsCon argues that things communicated on the Internet are often reactionary, and often less consideration is taken when typing online than when talking to someone in person. Arguments easily escalate, and people often use extreme language to communicate emotion. Even so, Con believes that rape threats are "disturbing" and "abhorrent". I agree with all of the above.What concerns me about Con's arguments is when Con states that Internet communication is not "real life", and that using abusive language online is not "reality". It is both enlightening and disturbing to consider that people believe the Internet is not real, and therefore feel justified to treat people differently online than they would in person. There is no evidence to show that Internet communications are any less real than in-person communications.Furthermore, Con states that the threats quoted in Round 1 were likely not "legitimate threats", explaining that for threats to be "true", they have to match the wishes of the one making the threat. Unfortunately, threats do not work that way.A Threat is defined as "An expression of intention to inflict evil, injury, or damage". [21] Note, that it is the expression of intention that defines a threat, not the intention itself. When someone wrote "imma kill u and rape u", it didn't matter whether or not the writer intended to follow through or not. Just writing that they were going to do it was enough to make it a threat. Therefore, all the threats listed in Round 1 were "legitimate threats" because they all expressed intention.In summary, just because things were said over the Internet in no way makes them less "real" or harmful. Similarly, just because people may not have intended to follow through on rape threats, does not make the threats any less real. These rape threats remain a statement condoning or encouraging rape, which is by defnintion rape culture. The conclusion from Round 1 holds firm: Rape culture exists in America.14. http://www.telegraph.co.uk...15. https://en.wikipedia.org...16. http://www.cbsnews.com...17. http://www.nytimes.com...18. https://www.donaldjtrump.com...19. http://www.cbc.ca...20. http://nymag.com...21. http://www.merriam-webster.com...