Soon we move from the emergency room to the SART cottage, a much less clinical environment, where the nurse examiner interviews the survivor before performing the physical exam. Plenty of time for me to wonder whether I had really made an impact. We live in a rape culture with a system of beliefs and traditions that support and encourage male violence against women. Our society is infatuated with the link between sex and violence. The media romanticizes it.
Violence is sexy and sexuality is violent.
Men and women are portrayed as sexual adversaries. The more willful and independent a woman is, the more she needs to be forcefully overpowered, and the more erotic the chase. Yet, television and film can only act as a mirror for society's own entrenched ideas. It may be less acceptable in today's society to openly blame a survivor of sexual assault. Maybe you won't hear too many people say the survivor was asking to be raped because of the way she was dressed, but many of these destructive myths and attitudes are still pervasive.