American culture in the 1970’s witnessed a pivotal shift in the public understanding of sexual violence. The second wave feminist movement brought about the first public discussions of rape as a personal experience and a widespread social problem. Modern understanding and modes of criticism of rape largely stem from this moment that publicized issues, which previously had been private matters.
Before this time, since there had been no public discourse concerning sexual violence there could be no widespread ideological development. The anti-rape movement brought the terms rape, consent, and rape culture into the public discourse changing how both the words themselves and the emotionally charged concepts and experiences were perceived. Ancient Rome had no social movement comparable to
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.
McMartin Preschool trial was a case of sexual abuse during the 1980’s in Manhattan Beach, California. The preschool was owned by the McMartin family were charged with several acts of sexual abuse of the children who attended the daycare. The moral panic started when a mother Judy Johnson; accused a preschool teacher; Raymond Buckey for molesting her two-year-old son. Judy son has informed her that he had painful bowel movements. After that, the police department sent out a letter informing parents of the students at the McMartin school to question their children if they have been sexually abused, which caused the parents to panic.
Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town is a in-depth look at the issue of sexual assault on college campuses as told through the stories of students at the University of Montana in Missoula. Through the narratives, author Jon Krakauer ties in statistics and information creating an effective work that stands as emotionally compelling while remaining grounded and applying these stories to the greater problem of sexual assault. It tackles one of the biggest problems surrounding sexual assault in general, the treatment of the accused compared with the treatment of the accuser. Though Missoula focuses on the victims, it does provide much of the necessary background and possible motivations for the assaulters. These insights contribute
Cathy Young, in her article titled “Feminists want us to define these ugly sexual encounters as rape. Don’t let them,” takes up the claim that the definition of, and by consequence social and legal ramifications for “rape” has extended past the scope of reason. Young explored her claim by providing examples of personal sexual encounters she has had with various men, and how she does not feel as though these men should be thrown under the bus, where modern feminists would be quick to the task. She goes on to describe the ways in which possible counter arguments are flawed logically. Young takes up an opposing viewpoint to an increasingly popular feministic mantra in order to convince those unconvinced or unfamiliar with third-wave feminism that
Every sixty-eight seconds, an American is sexually assaulted, and it is stated that only twenty-five out of every one thousand perpetrators will see the consequences of their actions (RAINN). Now, imagine if the world was a place where victims felt as if they could speak up and receive proper assistance without question and judgment. Imagine if every sexual assault case concluded with justice for the victim. Laurie Halse Anderson tells her own story of sexual violence and the struggles of the aftermath through the eyes of high school freshman, Melinda Sordino, in her work Speak. Throughout the novel, Melinda internally fights with herself on who to protect, herself and other females around her, or her attacker’s reputation.
The article explains how sexual assault continues to be a problem until this very day. When someone is sexually assaulted, it is very hard for them to cope with the fact that someone has touched them in the wrong way. For the ones who commits the assault, it will only become worse for them. A National Study says, “The main source of inmates’ knowledge of prison sex appears to come from their conversations with other inmates”(Response to the Prison Rape Elimination Act). Some inmates could portray the role of acting as if they are there for the victim to talk to, but there are other things that could result from this.
Therefore, candidates have to take this issue seriously when campaigning in hoping of winning an election. Despite feminism rightfully on the rise, this event at Columbia University has stemmed a fiery crusade against sexual violence and domestic violence on college campuses around the world, especially in the United
When questioned about rape, especially most women, they might think or even picture a stranger coming out of a dark place to assault someone. But in reality there’s more to it. According to the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, “About half of all people who are raped know the person who attacked them. This is known as date rape — forced sex that can happen not only on a date, but also somewhere like a party with someone the victim may know, like, or even be interested in.” Furthermore, social critic and feminist, Camille Paglia, has been discussing this persisting issue about date rape with a personal stance that many women may disagree with.
[7] In his book, “Missoula,” John Krakauer analyses the issue of rape in the college town of Missoula. Krakauer begins his work by quoting the article False Allegations of Sexual Assault: Rape is unique. No other violent crime is so fraught with controversy, so enmeshed in dispute and in the politics of gender and sexuality… And within the domain of rape, the most highly charged area of debate concerns the issue of false allegations. For centuries, it has been asserted and assumed that women “cry rape,” that a large proportion of rape allegations are maliciously concocted for purposes of revenge or other motives.
However, from the late 1970s through 2008, rape and sexual assault rates, as measured by the National Crime Victimization Survey, steadily declined (Mears, 2010, p. 82). This survey, however, does not consider all crimes that are considered sexual crimes. There is no existing data on all the various crimes that could be considered sexual crimes. Over the past 30 years, according to a new
Some people believe that rape isn’t that big of deal, while others say that society should provide better information to the public about rape. The public needs to be better informed about rape because society blames the girls for getting raped and because everyone should know what to do when they are caught in the situation of rape. Society should provide better education to the public about rape because girls shouldn’t be the ones that are being told how not to get raped. For example, families are not informing their children as well as they should be. In the article, “My Teen Boys are Blind to Rape Culture,” Allard describes how she has noticed her sons are not well educated in rape culture.
Rape has been defined as a nonconsensual sexual acts of violence, and for many centuries, it was a widely known phenomenon in the private life and women had to face the repercussions of the violent act without receiving justice and prosecuting her perpetrator. Many years has since passed and in the year 2016, there are Federal Laws such as the 14th and 19th amendment, along with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that ensure the perpetrators are punished and that women are protected however, there are many obstacles in the way of achieving rape law reform like old laws based on misogynistic theories, laws differentiating state by state, unfair treatment by the government and law enforcement that prevent women from fully being protected. Women have
Building upon earlier work, they used approximately 4,500 female college students to report their sexual victimization. The analysis revealed few incidents, including rapes, are reported to police and/or campus authorities, a high portion disclosing to close friends. Gillibrand, K., Rubenfeld, J., Sulkowicz, E., Hargitay, M., Sullivan, T., Biden, J., & ... Sommers, C. H. (2014). The Debate: How should college campuses handle sexual assault?.
“Although concerning sexual practices between adults and children have existed throughout history and across cultures, whether such behavior was conceived of and defined as ‘abuse’ has been dependent on the societal values of the particular period” (Denov, 2004). In today’s society, sex offending has become an increasingly, concerning phenomenon that individuals must become more aware of. Although generally regarded as a male phenomenon, over time, female perpetrators have become equally important as male perpetrators. Due to the lack of public awareness, female sexual predators go unreported. As a result, society must become more aware of female sexual perpetrators, as many incidents of females assaulting both young men and women have gone unreported for some time.