What is Rape Culture?
By: Alexandra Tsuneta
Tags: Rape, Women, Feminism, Rape Culture, Equality

What is Rape Culture?

A comprehensive explanation of what “rape culture” means.

Photo by Jen Theodore on Unsplash

The term “rape culture” holds a lot of weight and many people seem to think that referring to an entire culture by using the word “rape” is a smidge over reactionary.

In our culture, the two highest crimes are homicide and rape: one in which there is no grey area — you have either killed somebody or not, and the other in which the entire area is still grey. When people come forward with their claims of being raped, they are often questioned, they are often told that this is a “serious accusation”, and their rapes or sexual assaults are often denied. We live in a culture in which victims of sexual assault and rape rarely come forward because they are afraid that they will not be believed, and even if they are believed, they will be blamed, shamed, and if there is a legal process it will ultimately lead nowhere.

First, I’d like to give you the definition of rape culture:

“Rape culture is a sociological concept for a setting in which rape is pervasive and normalized due to societal attitudes about gender and sexuality.”

Secondly, I’d like to give you some quick examples of rape culture that are often cast aside and not taken seriously:

Making “dropping the soap” jokes.

Separating art from the artist.

Mourning the deaths and celebrating the accomplishments of known rapists like Kobe Bryant and David Bowie.

Not knowing which of your favorite celebrities are rapists.

which of your favorite celebrities are rapists. Known rapists & abusers going on to have wildly influential and lucrative careers, some examples of this are Woody Allen, David Bowie, R. Kelly, Roman Polanski, & Mike Tyson. These are just a few — there are so many.

Saying stuff like “these are serious allegations” or “you could ruin his life” in response to somebody coming forward about their rape.

More obvious examples of rape culture are:

Robin Thicke’s song, “Blurred Lines”.

Mother’s who blame young girls for their rape because of their revealing or provocative selfies.

Cops asking rape victims what they were wearing, if they were drunk, and what they did to “deserve it”.

Rewarding men for having sex with as many anonymous womxn as possible.

Slut-shaming.

The “rape myth”.

Victim blaming.

Here are some insidious facts about rape:

Courtesy of RAINN

Perpetrators of sexual violence are less likely to go to jail or be prosecuted than any other criminals.

Only 230 out of every 1,000 sexual assaults are reported to the police. That means about 3 out of 4 go unreported.

One in every five womxn are victims of rape and/or sexual assault.

One in two trans men and womxn are victims of rape and/or sexual assault.

Out of all hate-crime related deaths, over 50% of them were trans people who were victims of sexual assault/rape.

On average, there are 433,648 victims (age 12 or older) of rape and sexual assault each year in the United States.

With all of these statistics taken into account, one can understand that we do in fact live in a rape culture. This is a culture that claims to abhor rape and yet goes on to allow rape to continue to happen without consequences. Many rapists go on to have wildly lucrative careers, their accusations slide by, and they continue to live their lives happily and without much conflict at all. However, many people who are victims of rape end up with life-long trauma.

Again, just going by statistics, many victims of sexual assault will go on to have life-long trauma:

Courtesy of RAINN

For more statistics please visit RAINN, here.

Rape culture is a culture in which victims suffer and perpetrators go on to continue to victimize other people. It is a culture in which the first shoes we must step into, as a result of a rape allegation, are the shoes of the rapist. It is a culture in which womxn are ostracized because they chose to speak up. It is a culture in which we are terrified to talk about our experiences of rape and sexual assault.

In order to combat rape culture, we must make it known that rape has no place within our culture.

Every single womxn or AFAB (assigned female at birth) person I know has been the victim of rape or sexual assault. Every single one. Currently, as a result of womxn finally feeling comfortable enough to talk about their experiences, many abusers are being called out, many businesses are speaking out about their role in allowing these abusers to work for them, and many men, womxn, and non-binary individuals are reckoning with how prevalent rape is in our culture.

Rape is so prevalent in the United States that Donald Trump, our president, has been accused of rape and sexual assault twenty-five times. He was recorded saying his famous “grab them by the pussy” line, and yet he is still essentially worshipped by his followers.

In order to combat rape culture, we must make it known that rape has no place within our culture. We must call-out offensive, sexist people and statements when they are said. It cannot be funny or normal anymore to say, “I hope he gets raped in prison” about your rapist (on the off chance he is held accountable) because that in itself is perpetuating rape culture. We must make womxn feel safe in this world that consistently works against them.

When somebody comes forward with their experience of rape/sexual assault we must not deny them that freedom. We must not defend their rapist. We must call out people who are rape apologists, and we must not allow these rapists to feel comfortable continuing to go on and lead comfortable and lucrative lives. We must hold people accountable.

I am asking you to hold yourself, your friends, and your family accountable for playing your part in rape culture. Maybe that just means admitting to still listening to R. Kelly, maybe that means calling somebody a “slut”, and maybe that means not listening to womxn when they come forward about their rape/sexual assault. Everybody has played their own part in perpetuating this culture, reckoning with that and making a change now is the only way that we can cause this culture to cease to exist.

I am asking you to step up, hold yourself and others accountable, and fight to change the world that we live in so that we are the last generation who has been traumatized like this. We need to change and that change will take every single one of us being proactive about demanding that we put an end to normalizing and trivializing rape.

It should not have taken one in every five of us to be raped for anybody to realize that this has been and continues to be a problem.