Society needs to confront rape culture’s toxicity

Maytinee Kramer/ Assistant Opinion Director

According to a 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, “sexual violence, stalking and intimate partner violence are major health problems in the United States.” Our understanding of these forms of violence has gradually grown over the years, but rape culture is still perpetuated by society, and gives men the idea that they can get away with things simply because “boys will be boys.”

Rape culture is a complex of beliefs, but for the most part, normalizes and condones physical and emotional terrorism against women. What people need to realize is that all forms of sexual assault and harassment are traumatic, instead of brushing them aside. In other words, there needs to be a cultural shift to fix rape culture.

As defined by the United States Department of Justice, sexual assault includes “sexual activities as forced sexual intercourse, forcible sodomy, child molestation, incest, fondling, and attempted rape.” However, most people don’t know what rape culture looks like, therefore they don’t understand what rape culture is.

When talking about rape culture, we have to consider cultural practices that we commonly engage in together as a society that excuse or tolerate sexual violence. Moreover, we need to look at the way society thinks about rape.

It’s the idea that only certain people rape — and only certain people get raped; it’s reprimanding women to “be more responsible” or “don’t dress a certain way”; it’s the assertion that wives, sex workers and sisters can’t be raped; it’s the man who forces himself onto an attractive woman because “he couldn’t help himself” and so much more.

All of this is the myriad ways in which rape is tacitly and overtly encouraged.

More often than not, sexual assault, rape and general violence are ignored, trivialized, normalized or made into jokes. Women and victims of rape culture are oppressed and blamed, leaving them feeling alone, trapped, and ashamed.

While it’s crucial to take action to stop rape culture from saturating our culture and contributing to this toxic mindset, it’s even more important that everyone has a clear understanding of what falls under the umbrella of sexual assault.

In partnership with PSA from the “It’s On Us” campaign, former Vice President Joe Biden recently tweeted, “The correct word for sex without consent is rape. Period.”

All incidents need to be taken seriously and treated as crimes and it’s important to confront rape culture as the toxic it is.

 

DISCLAIMER:

The opinions presented within this page do not represent the views of Panther Press Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect individual perspectives of contributing writers and/or members of the University community.

 

Photo taken from Flickr.

About the Author

Maytinee Kramer
Call me May. I’m a senior double majoring in Asian studies and broadcast media and minoring in international relations. I’m a K-pop and Disney junkie, but I also enjoy watching anime and cosplaying. Some of my favorite shows are “Once Upon a Time,” “Supernatural,” and “Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma” while my favorite music artists are 2PM, GOT7, DEAN and Eddy Kim. After college, I hope to work as a news anchor, but I’d eventually like to host a show/segment that focuses on traveling. I am fluent in Thai and currently learning Japanese and Korean.

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