Sexual Abuse and Rape Culture
Every year, rape costs the United States more than any other crime resulting in a total of $127 billion and $93 billion for sexual assault. Over the course of the past few months, we have heard numerous cases of sexual violence and abuse; these cases are astonishing because this is not something that should be ignored or dismissed. The stories told by victims have caught the attention of all people because it has become very prevalent in our society today. Countless women have been silenced by the authority of men, and these women have become too scared to speak out and seek accountability. This has gone on for too long and it has become less about sexual harassment but also about the abuse of power, especially
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They believe that this is a hoax or just a ruse made up by people because they want attention. Just last year at Grant High School, a teacher named David Lickey wrote a paper to a group of freshman students stating his views on rape culture claiming that is is not real and calling it “dubious”. A former student was outraged by this because she was a survivor of rape and this felt like a personal attack on her experience (Brabaw, paragraph 3 and 4). This goes to show that not everyone is aware of rape culture and sexual assault, and it can have negative impacts. Another misconception is that only women are victims to rape and sexual assault, but men are also victimized. Some men will call out other men on rape culture because they know that those actions were not acceptable. No matter the victim, all types of people are at risk; any gender, any race or ethnicity, any culture, any age. Throughout our history, most men don’t take accountability for the wrong actions they made, which has become the major issue and causes a rift between groups of people. More and more women have spoken out their personal testimonies of their experience with sexual harassment. They have and continue to use their voices to speak out against this injustice and the abuse of power that has tainted and scarred many innocent lives. The more people who join this movement it brings awareness to everyone so we, as one community can eradicate this issue. Now after everything I just said you might be thinking, how does this relate to me? Or, what can I do to help others who might have gone through with this? Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”. Sexual abuse and rape culture have become an increasingly hot subject in the past few months as hundreds of cases are being brought into the light because women are feeling
Furthermore, Griffin commonly sites credible studies and explores historical moments to provide context and support for her claims. One article in particular written by Griffin (1971) demonstrates her masterful use of ethos, “Rape: The All-American Crime.” This article was the first of its kind as it discusses rape from a feminist perspective and challenges common beliefs about rape. Up until this point rape and sexual violence was rarely discussed and when it was it was by a man. Griffin begins the article by explaining her credentials, describing her personal experiences with rape culture in America, and illustrating the urgency with which women and victims need to be heard.
Rape myths are at the center of the problem of how rape and sexual assault cases are looked at, and treated as in society. Rape myths vary, some excuse the rape, others try to minimize the severity of the situation, while others doubt the act even happened in the first place (Levit and Verchick, 196). Some examples of rape myths include: a victim was “asking for it,” a victim’s previous sexual history, regretful sex is not rape, a woman’s “no” means “yes,” and women lie about rape all the time. Rape myths are targeted towards women, not the rapist. Despite, rape myths being proved false by empirical evidence, they are still prevalent in society.
The correlation from the countries highlighted with the issue at hand is society’s global response, which is ignoring the issue. Victims are have self-learned through society’s response towards sexual assault and rape is to keep quiet and to be ashamed that it happened to them. Victim’s result to blaming themselves and thinking things such as: “I drank to much”, “It happened because of what I was wearing”, or “I didn’t fight back hard enough”. In countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Dar Fur sexual assault and rape cases are not talked about or ever recognized, but used as a weapon of war. In Spain and the United States such cases can be brought to trail but are extremely hard to try in court.
Throughout this documentary, viewers learn that many sexual assault cases happen on college campuses. However, many of these cases are often ignored by college administrators because universities want to keep rape statistics low and they have an financial incentive to do so. In the film it states that there are less than 8% of men in college that commit more than 90% of sexual assaults. This indicates that because
Native American women are twice as likely to experience rape or sexual assault compared to women of other races (Gebhardt and Woody 2012). Findings have shown that the needs of these women who do fall victim to sexual assault, just as many others, are not being
Its power is prominent in The Crucible, throughout history, and particularly in the current explosion of the new age movement against sexual abuse and rape culture. The officer of TUC’s women’s equality and employment rights department, Scarlet Harris, epitomizes this concept in a powerful quote, “There are valid reasons for not reporting, whether you’re Angelina Jolie or working in Tesco’s,... if you’re feeling degraded and humiliated by something in a professional setting, the fact that it happened is objectifying – you almost don’t want people to think of you in that way. Some of the response to Harvey Weinstein, too, has been shocking – not believing women, questioning, ‘Oh what did you think would happen if you went to the hotel room?”’ Harris’ concise analysis shows the societal negativity and shame that comes with voicing one’s story about sexual assault; it can be confining and induce fear.
The Hunting Ground; a powerful book that sheds light on the mistreatment and backlash that victims of sexual assault have received, including the so-called “rape-hoax culture.” , provides context for a growing social movement fueled by the stories and accounts of these victims. In a generation that is no stranger to the pressures of life, the appeal of sex, drugs, and alcohol to escape stress and demands, can create a hotbed for illegal activity, like sexual violence, on college campuses. Many young college students choose to go out to frat parties on the weekend to let loose and have fun, never thinking that they could find themselves unclothed on the dirty floor of a mysterious bedroom, with no recollection of how they got there. Even worse,
Arising from feminist activism in the 1970s, the term rape culture is generally defined as an environment that normalizes and propagates sexual assault and rape. Rape culture is characterized by victim blaming, rape myths, and the normalization and tolerance of sexual violence (Kessel 131). In the book chapter “Rape Myths, Language, and Portrayal of Women in the Media” written by Helen Benedict, the author names ten rape myths commonly found in the media coverage of sex crimes (Benedict 14-17). In this essay I focus on three of these myths: “rape is sex”(14), “the assailant is motivated by lust”(14-15), and “women deserve rape” (16) and how they are not only found in common medium but in peer-reviewed scientific literature. Acts of sexual violence
Many students don’t understand the extreme seriousness of sexual assault or even consider what behavior is acceptable. Along with the Administration not taking cases and telling victims there's nothing they can do or just not doing anything when they actually can. Rape on campuses isn’t new, in fact it’s horrifically common. One out of five young women who attend college will be sexually assaulted. For the longest time and still currently the problem is rationalized, and in a sense accepted.
Margaret R Miles writes that Western culture in American Christianity sets out to have evolved into a rape culture. This portrays the myths that are involved with our culture in the United States. Women are sadly unequal to men in our society creating a standard towards women in media, religious beliefs, and clichés that make it difficult to be able to disconnect men from women. The first brief section she writes about is how rape is universal.
Jazmin Mcdonnell PSYCH 300 Tues 6:30-9:20pm The Hunting Ground I never thought of rape epidemic as how it was described in the movie, because that word is usually connected to deadly diseases, or out breaks. And it’s sad because being that I am woman I was always aware of sexual assault and how often it occurs to women in general but maybe its because unlike other deadly diseases that get broadcasted on every news cast imaginable, the subject of rape, or sexual assault is merely brushed under the table. This movie really opened my eyes to it all, you see because it’s the cultural norm I feel not only in America but around the world that rape or even sexual assault for that matter to not be taken serious in the eyes of the media, only
This is something parent should teach their children this isn’t a thing that should be accepted and should respect each other’s boundaries. There are some cases where men were victims of sexual assault but its similar to sexual assault or sexual harassment in the workplace they have too much pride to come forward to say they have been sexually assaulted. They are in fear that they’ll be made fun of and lose their manhood which isn’t true at all. In conclusion, there are differences between men and women when it comes to sexual assault/sexual harassment. Both genders are affected by these problems but it does seem for a female is it a lot worst then it is for men.
In a culture that normalizes “locker room talk” that encourages males to “grab women by the pussy,” and in a culture that perpetuates a rape culture in which any victim of sexual assault or rape will be silenced, judged, and not believed and in a culture that allows perpetrators of sexual assault or rape to receive punishments that amount to nothing more than a firm scolding, there is no space for men to talk about their emotions or to recognize and support their vulnerability. In such a culture, male victims will continue to be silenced, mocked, and shamed and the effects of that will remain toxic and make it extremely difficult to create a culture in which everyone is treated with respect and dignity – a society in which no one has to live in fear of a rape culture. The voices of male victims are screaming to be heard and we have to throw away the current model of what it means to be a man, and
This paper will analyze the problem of Jessica as the female perpetrator of the sexual abuse of a male named Trevor. The scope of the problem, the relevant short and long-term sequelae, its etiological theoretical explanations and the empirical evidence in their support, and both risk and protective factors will be explored. The paper will conclude with a critical analysis of related discursive elements, assumptions and value hierarchies, and the role of structural factors in shaping the problem conceptualization. When attempting to understand the scope of the problem of female perpetrated male child sexual abuse (CSA), one would generally look to incidence and prevalence rates.
Rape culture can be defined as society 's normalization of sexual violence, assault and harassment. (Barry, 2015) Such a definition may be ridiculed as a harsh generalization of modern society as a whole. However, when one delves into the recent scandals of non-consensual sexual misconduct and alleged rape at the hands of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, who acted inappropriately with female actresses for decades within full knowledge of his colleagues, it is clear that the females in question were dismissed as fantasists by their peers or Weinstein’s actions utterly trivialized as 'part and parcel ' of life in the entertainment industry. Fearful of the detriment allegations against a stalwart such as Weinstein, the women aforementioned were