Rape-Free Culture Research Paper

Rape culture, which was coined as a culture during the second wave of feminism during the early 1970’s and was, according to the encyclopedia of rape, “often used by feminists to describe contemporary American culture as a whole.” Rape culture, by definition though, is “a culture in which rape and other sexual violence (usually against women and gender diverse peoples ) are common

It has been conveyed that if a guy is in a group with other guys especially in a setting with alcohol, like a party the guy will act more sexually aggressive towards women. Some researchers believe that college guys can pick out girls who are less able to defend themselves, or mark girls whose behavior like binge drinking deteriorates their credibility. Date rapes account for only 13% of college rapes, and gang rape of college girls, which is several guys taking turns raping a girl is also on the rise (Pryor, 2013). Another issue that places women at jeopardy is if they were victims of sexual assault before in childhood or as a teenager. These women are twice as probable to be raped in college as those who do not have a history of sexual assault (Pryor, 2013). In addition if you a women has been sexual maltreated in college once then there is a good chance the women could be victimized again. Research on campus rape has established that a small number of victims are repeat victims (Pryor, 2013). Current research into college campus rape has found proof that there is an upsurge in sexual assaults amongst guys who are in fraternities. Fraternities symbolize a brotherhood but their beliefs of being a follower can be harmful to women. Fraternity

Now as a College student, speaking of rape culture is definitely an obligation. Reading the “The myth of the college ‘rape culture’” article in the NY post by Naomi Schaefer, she talks about the survey Harvard did as part of an effort by the American Association of Universities to quantify sexual assault on campus. The survey where bit vague but it looked like it was more of an alcohol problem more than a rape problem. The statistics show that most of the victims and the offenders drank alcohol or did drugs voluntarily. Yes there are some cases where the rapist was just a mad man that like raping but on campuses this is rarely seen. Quoting two things from Scaefer “On campuses where students are encouraged to see every bad sexual decision as an assault, incapacitated is a way students can explain away their behavior” and “Once you dig through all of the data collected here, there is no evidence that women are

The casual misinterpretation of the concept of rape extending all the way to its widespread comical usage is ghastly. The term is used when a sports team beats another sports team by a wide margin, or when someone’s electric bill is higher than it was the on the previous billing statement. In this context, rape is being devalued. Rape is not about uncontrollable sexual desire; one only has to listen in on a Call of Duty game to see that. When that kid crows, “I raped you!” he’s not complimenting his opponent; he is saying he defeated him, dominated him, and humiliated him. That is what rape is about, and that should scare society. The author of Transforming a Rape Culture, Emilie Buchwald, describes rape culture as “a complex set of beliefs that encourage male sexual aggression and supports violence against women.” Whether private or public school, rape is still an epidemic being covered up by university systems. We all have a part to play in allowing rape culture to exist—so, we can all do something to eradicate it.

“Rape is called the most underreported violent crime in America. In a large national survey of American women, only 16% of the rapes, approximately one out of every six, had ever been reported to the police.” (aardvarc.org) Another issue that goes along with rape culture is the fact that it is not reported very often. This is usually, from my knowledge of volunteering at a rape crisis center, because the victim is embarrassed, is scared of retaliation from the rapist, or is emotionally traumatized by the experience. This causes an issue for the victim as well as other members of society. When a rape is not reported the rapist is left free to assault someone else, or even the victim again. To say that only one out of every six victim’s reports being raped leaves five rapists enabled to assault others.

With a rape happening at regular intervals in the United States, calling assault a significant issue is just putting it gently. Today's era was brought up in a society that has driven numerous individuals to accept that, in certain occasions, an assault is okay. It has turned into a social standard in numerous nations, most dominatingly in the United States. From a youthful age, young ladies are taught to not get assaulted as opposed to young men being taught not to assault. This is all a piece of assault society. Assault society is the social standardization of assault. It is the externalization of ladies and the animalization of men. Assault society lets us know that "young men will be young men" and there is nothing that

Although the term Rape culture wasn’t coined until the 1970’s the practices associated with the term have been used to mistreat women for several centuries. Rape culture refers to the several aspects of culture such as art, science, and history that tolerates the sexual assault of women; people often mistake rape culture as something that is only seen through music or in the past, but the act of using vituperating language towards women and telling sexual explicit jokes are examples of rape culture. The political, social, and philosophical practices of the American society contributes to the oppression of women in the form of rape culture; although rape culture is deeply rooted in our society it could be diminished by enforcing stricter rape

Researchers have been documenting the disturbing rates of sexual assault in post-secondary environments for nearly 30 years. It has become a growing concern within university and college settings. According to the Ontario Women’s Directoire, sexual violence is “any violence, physical or psychological, carried out through sexual means or targeting sexuality”, and includes harassment, abuse, assault and rape (2013, p.3). In spite of the fact that all genders experience sexual violence, findings conclude that women are most likely to be victims, while men are most often the perpetrators (Ontario Women’s Directoire, 2013). Rape culture is embedded in our society, and unfortunately this influences university culture. Rape culture has lead to sexual

Rape culture is something else mentioned in the documentary and how in America, it means that boys are taught at very young age that to be a man, they must suppress their emotions and become dominant while being superior to women. This perpetuates a toxic messaging in our culture has devastating effects that also contributes to violence in our culture, as well as our rape culture. This can be seen by the documentary addressing the bro code and how even if there is a rape one does not say anything to not go against the group. This even happens when men see that something is wrong and how society has put pressure on them not to go against each other. Another contributor to rape culture is that men are taught to be womanizers and that sexual conquest

Despite the historical progress that has been made toward gender equality, women remain in an unequal position, with their social and political reach limited by inherent gender biases in the public sphere. Nearly all aspects of society have been constructed on masculine terms, effectively preventing women from securing fairness through the law. The disparity of political power in particular maintains male dominance, with the law favoring a masculine perspective, even in regard to women’s issues. Consequently, the contemporary challenges women now face stem from the fact that the social and political arenas have been constructed on power relations that delegitimize women.

An assignment I had in my Sexuality in a Diverse Society course promoted relativist thinking. My assignment was to write a paper on rape culture and to determine if rape was motivated by sexual desire or power. In my paper I stated, the American cultures view rape as something that is motivated by sex while other cultures view rape as a way to exert power. I also stated, both cultures blame the victim for the attack and not the perpetrator. Furthermore, in my personal opinion I think rape is only motivated by power and not sexual desire. When looking at scholarly articles to support my paper, there was an equal amount that focused on rape motivated by power and rape motivated by sexual desire.

Further support is supplied by Fisher et al. (2000) who reviewed the 1997 National Institute of Justice study on rape and reported that between one-fifth and one-quarter of women within college campus report rape cases within each year. It was further stated that, “Women within college campuses, and the social values and believed associated to campus rape are at greater risk for rape and other forms of sexual assault than women in the general population or in a comparable age group” (Fisher et. Al pg. 3). Based on other findings in a study conducted by Martin et al. (2009) 20–25% of female undergraduates experience rape in their college life. However, though rape among male students occurs at a lower rate, the students also report rape cases.

Even though the first amendment states freedom of expression, statistics show rape and sexual assault numbers have risen due to the presence of rape culture in modern society. Rape culture promotes more assaults and violent acts, not only towards women but also towards men. Some evidence rape culture is present in today’s society are rising statistics showing that only three out of a hundred rapists see jail time and that over 17 million American women are victims of sexual assault every year. Rape culture is seen in every aspect of daily American life, even if people do not realize it.

A cause of rape culture is the objectification and domination of woman. Men are taught to assert their dominance and superiority, and some will do that with or without consent. Men see women as objects waiting to be used and conquered whether it is at home, the work place, or in the media. A woman’s body is not her own, but merely used for the pleasure of a man. A solution to this problem would not be, telling women what to wear, how to act and what they can or cannot do; but it is teaching males at a young age to not rape women by discussing it with them, telling them how that affects people, the consequences of it, and telling them that it is never okay.

and the U.S. Rape culture is easily identifiable on campus as it is a public institution where individuals live, work and study. According to academic professors, Crystal Mills and Barbara Granoff (1992), the main factor that contributes to CSA is the use of date rape (Mills and Granoff, 1992: p. 504). Victims do not report their assault to the colleges and universities’, because the institution will try and suppress the bad news from going public and saving its reputation; in addition, victims do not want to risk being stigmatised within the campus environment (Anderson and Doherty, 2008: p. 13). Subsequently, there is an issue of what is considered rape such as, what actions can be accounted for rape? Or how can you distinguish a real victim? Thus, this can be reflected upon the way society’s view within culture, politics and social conditions. For instance, if the victim did not struggle against the rape, they may not be viewed as a rape victim, and upon investigation of the incident, their emotional responses will be reported and this will decide whether the victim is being truthful or lying about being raped (Anderson and Doherty, 2008: p. 5). Meanwhile, the administration officials of the colleges and universities would have questioned the victim’s accounts, and this can lead to