The Issue Of Rape And The United States Essay

“Before the rape I felt good. My life was in order. I was getting ready to get married. Afterward everything changed. I kind of lost who I was as a person…

“Rape is as American as apple pie,” says blogger Jessica Valenti. She and other feminists describe our society as a “rape culture” where violence against women is almost invisible. According to feminists, films, magazines, fashion, books, music, and humor cooperate in conveying the message that women are there to be used, abused and exploited.(Kitchens, 2015)

Often times men and women are given tips to ensure their safety such as walking in pairs, wearing appropriate attire, and carrying pepper spray. A common myth surrounding rape on campuses is that the perpetrator is often a stranger that is waiting for the opportune moment to take advantage of a young scandalously clad woman walking alone in the dark to her dormitory. This is often not the case since the majority of perpetrators know the victim. The fact that there are flyers and pamphlets available on most campuses for preventative measures that women can take to prevent themselves from being rape victims testifies to a society in which a woman’s safety is her responsibility and there are few preventative measures that are taken from having men grow up as sexual predators. One woman argues that this is because “rape culture reflects a society or community grounded in patriarchal privilege and gender inequity” (Gordon 116). American history tells a tale of a culture that was built on patriarchy, and feminists may argue that America is still highly patriarchal and this contributes greatly to rape culture. As a matter of fact, cross-cultural studies have supported that there are cultures in the world that have an extremely low incidence of rape. One anthropologist studied this data and came to the conclusion that “the specific gender dynamics in matrilineal cultures reduce the significance of man's

17.7 million: The number of women who have been involved in attempted or completed rape. 293,066: The number of rapes in the U.S. a year. 284,275: The number of sexual offences that result in no conviction or jail time. 49,013: The number of repeat offenders still on the streets, most committing around 6 rapes. 4,000-17,000: The range of pregnancies resulting from rape. 107: The number of seconds between rapes in the U.S. 35: the percentage of men that would rape if they knew they could get away with it. 3: The number of rapes, out of 100, that will result in any prison time at all. 1: the number of likely victims that will seek help or justice for what happened. The statistics show that a woman is more at risk of sexual assault in the U.S. than in any other developed nation. The United States has one of the highest rape rates in the world. Yet there are still those out there that don’t believe that rape actually exists. Victims of rape are forced into a societal confinement that encapsulates them in their own self solitude.

Sexual violence is a significant social and cultural problem within America and all over the world. Within the United States nearly 1 in 5 women – or nearly 22 million – have been raped in their lifetimes. Arrest rates for sexual assault cases are low as they are hard to investigate because of the effects of the trauma itself. According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, approximately 12% of the 283,200 annual rape or sexual assault victimizations from year 2005-2010 resulted in an arrest at the scene or during a follow-up investigation. Findings from the same survey revealed that more than one-third of women reported experiencing a sexual assault at some point during their lifetime. Within American society, rape constitutes an experience

Rape is defined as the commission of unlawful sexual intercourse or unlawful sexual intrusion. Rape laws in the United States have been revised multiple times over the years, and they vary from state to state. Most states choose to label the crime of rape as a sexual assault. Sexual assault is divided into three degrees: first degree, second degree, and third degree. A person is guilty of rape in the first degree if the person engages in vaginal intercourse: with another at least four years younger than the offender; or with another person by force and against the will of the other person. A person is guilty of rape in the second degree if the person engages in vaginal intercourse with another person: by force and against the will of the other

Every two minutes, somewhere in the world, someone is sexually assaulted. Of these approximately 248,000 victims, about 87,000 were victims of completed rape, and 70,000 were victims of sexual assault. Up to 4,315 pregnancies may have resulted from these attacks. Calculations based on the (National Crime Victimization Survey). Rape is often misunderstood. For one reason rapist are usually portrayed as a stranger, his motivation is entirely sexual, and the victim is always a young and sexy female. The truth is not all rapes are the same. The victim doesn’t have to be a young beautiful Female, older woman, men and kids get raped to. The victims, rapists, and motivation can be very different depending on the one committing

While there are many problems in the world, like poverty, famine, cancer, and an abundance of carbon emissions into the planet, there is one that has been in the back of my mind for quite some time: rape culture. This issue is vastly popular in the world of bloggers and social networking site, tumblr. It’s slowly progressing into an important issue that the public is acknowledging. Reviewing the issue’s historical, social, political, cultural and economic perspectives will entail rape culture’s controversy.

“Twenty to twenty-five percent of women will experience a completed and/or attempted rape during their college career” (Gray). That is about one in four or five women. “Half of the students that go to Baker University are women” (“Baker University”). That would mean that ten to thirteen percent of the female students on campus have either been raped or rape has been attempted against them. I have used five articles to examine the link between the belief in a just world and how much blame a victim receives based on the support victims get from friends and family, and any differences based on gender of the perpetrator and victim.

In the United States individuals of both genders are being sexually violated, yet way too often their offenders often get off scot free or with very little punishment. Rape culture exists because we don't believe it does. The first step to ending such culture is to name the real problem, which is victim-blaming. We treat victims like they’re responsible, which would be obscenely different for any other criminal charge. When a sexual assault is reported on the news the first questions the media asks are about the victim’s sobriety, clothes, or sexuality. The right question is, “What made the attacker think this was acceptable?” Changing a mind set that has been engraved in us for centuries is going to be strenous, yet not impossible. It starts

A lot of people get raped every day. Rape is very traumatizing especially if you know the person who raped you. Lots of foster children were raped at one point in their life. Some were raped by their birth parents and some by their foster parents. Most of these children are scared for their life because most children who are raped in their foster home are generally abused physically too. Adults can also be raped. They are most likely raped by their bosses or a stranger. Most rapes are performed by those who have been raped before. Just like woman, men can be raped.

In today’s society, victims of domestic violence and sexual assault often experience some form of victim blaming. Victim blaming occurs when society partially condemns the victim for what has happened to them. This tendency to assign criminal responsibility to the victim occurs in all segments of our society regardless of race, gender, social class, or occupation (Hamilton, 1979). Currently, rape is a big issue throughout society. The word rape is defined as sex without consent. Rape is about power and dominance, not sex. The cultural message in America is “don’t get raped” as opposed to “don’t rape.” Many public figures have been known to blame victims of sexual assault for their situation. In 2012, during an interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan,

A judge sentences a 50-year-old teacher only 30 days in jail for raping a 14-year-old student and defends it by saying that she “seemed older than her chronological age.” A mother blames teenage girls taking ‘sexy’ selfies for tempting her sons. CNN grieves that the “promising” lives of two high school football players have been ruined because they have been charged with rape, and spends very little time discussing the trauma of the 16-year-old victim. A politician distinguishes “legitimate rape,” while another states that pregnancy from rape is “something that God intended to happen.” This is rape culture.

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.

College-age adults are known to be high risk for sexual violence and most studies show that one in three women have experiences some type of sexual assault whether it was through physical force or harassment. These statics are known by most women on college campuses to ensure that women know and understand that this could happen to them. The issue is more than ensuring that women are aware of how protect themselves and know how to avoid these situations because it shouldn’t even be happening. When women are taught that they should know how to defend themselves we are saying that this type of behavior is normal and inevitable. We should shift from this dynamic and start teaching both men and women that this behavior is completely unacceptable and that sexually assaulting or harassing someone is NOT normal. This paper will mostly focus on incidents of rape and sexual assault on college campuses and what the outcome and reactions of these incidents were.