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Contact: Chitwan Khosla, Features Editor
M4 features@theotherpress.ca

What's rape culture?

» Defining and explaining the term

Natalie Serafini
. Editor-in-Chief
re “editor

Fi, @theotherpress.ca

R2 culture. It’s an
uncomfortable term, and
one that gets bandied around
alot. For some, it’s become
a buzzword; for others, an
accusation, a confusing
statement, or a tragic reality.
Rape culture has been
defined many times over, in
different ways. I tend to define it
rather generally as a society that

  

facilitates sexual violence against :
: and many other factors can

: influence how an individual

: experiences rape culture. For

: example, a study which spanned
: from 1995 to 2010, reported

: that “approximately nine per

: cent of all rape or sexual assault
: victimizations reported in the

: [National Crime Victimization

: Survey] involved male victims”’— :
: leaving another gi per cent of
: women and trans individuals.

people, but even that has a lot of
ideas that need to be unpacked.

It’s been defined more
precisely by Lynn Phillips, of the
University of Massachusetts-
Amherst Communication
Department, for the Huffington
Post: “a culture in which
dominant cultural ideologies,
media images, social practices,
and societal institutions support
and condone sexual abuse by
normalizing, trivializing, and
eroticizing male violence against
women and blaming victims for
their own abuse.”

I want to note immediately
that men are also sexually
abused and raped, and face their

: own issues in coming forward;
: it is problematic that people

: think men “can’t” be raped,

: or that they should “man up.”

: Ignoring violence—sexual and
: otherwise—against trans people
: is also problematic, especially
: considering the statistics that
: show these forms of violence

: disproportionately affect trans
: individuals.

So, when we discuss rape

: culture, we need to be inclusive
: because it affects everyone,

: while also recognizing that

: it affects different groups
disproportionately. Race,

gender identity, sex, sexuality,

Ok, so rape culture

: normalizes sexual violence, and
: affects all people in different

: ways. How does this actually

: manifest, in plainer language?

We see rape culture when

people doubt victims of sexual

: violence whether it’s a single
: victim, several, or dozens.

: A recent and a high-profile

: example includes ex-CBC

: employee Jian Ghomeshi, as
: people preferred to believe

: his innocence over the ever-
: increasing number of sexual
: assault survivors.

Or, in the case of Bill Cosby,

: the fact that people have ignored
: allegations of his drugging and

: raping women for decades;

: have believed Cosby over the

? many women who have stepped
: forward; and that, even when

: documents from a 2005 civil

: lawsuit showed Cosby admitting
: to giving Quaaludes to women

: he intended to have sex with,

: people still defend him.

Of course, there’s a problem

: with being too swayed by the

: court of public opinion—our

: justice systems maintain

: innocence until proven guilty,

: and rightly so. But there’s a fairly

large gap between suspending

: judgement, and vehemently

: defending those who have been
: accused of rape and sexual

: assault, against all evidence

: and reports of their guilt. The

: latter is a manifestation of rape
: culture.

We don’t just see people

: believing abusers over victims,

(Y Prepare your ballots!

(¥ Communicating with other

intelligent civilizations in the universe

And more!

: and defending them despite

: evidence of their guilt. We see
: people side with rapists and

: sexual abusers, even after the

: trial and sentencing have passed. :
: what they see as bias against

: men; to say consent can still

: be given even when one of the

: parties is almost unconscious;

: to shout #NotAllMen. There will
: still be campaigns to end sexual

: violence which place the onus

: on victims to learn self-defence,

: cover themselves up, stay sober,

: and avoid the shadows when

: they walk alone. Sex crimes will

: still go unreported, because no

Back in 2013, many

: continued to defend the

: Steubenville rapists after their

: sentencing, even though they

: had filmed their own crime.

: CNN correspondent Poppy

: Harlow went so far as to say,

: “Incredibly difficult ... to watch
: what happened to these two

: young men that had such

: promising futures, star football
: players, very good students,

: literally watched as they believed :
: their lives fell apart.”

And of course, rape culture

: is evident in the way people

: blame victims: for what they’re

: wearing, for drinking, for being
: out alone at night, and any

: number of other reasons. It’s

: disheartening that the simple

: fact of being in a public space—
: including our own colleges and

: universities—can put individuals :
: at risk of sexual violence. UBC’s

: rape chant scandal from two

: years ago is chilling, while

: Caroline Heldman writes for the
: Huffington Post that “one in five
: female students and six per cent
: of male students will experience
: sexual violence during their

Image from Brownpoliticalreview.org

: college years.”

I know a lot of people will

still be frustrated and confused
: by the term rape culture. People

will continue to complain about

one wants to step forward only

: to be blamed, shamed, and
: doubted.

If you see problems in the

way that society is handling

: issues of rape and sexual abuse,
: I’m throwing down the gauntlet:
: contribute constructively to

: the discussion, and voice your

: concerns respectfully. Don’t

: share sexist memes, get all your

information from questionable

: sources, and claim to understand
: acomplicated, nuanced issue

: when you've only heard sound

: bites. The issue cannot be

: addressed while large factions of
: society ignore evidence on the

: subject, then masquerade as if

: they’re experts.