When
I told my friend I was going to write about rape culture, she looked at me with
confusion and asked what is that? She thought it was a cult of people who
believed rape was an okay thing to do. I can admit that I had no idea what rape
culture was for a while. Many people are not aware of the significant amount of
rape and sexual assault that goes on in our country. It is important to define
what rape culture means. Rape culture is a culture where rape is a common
occurrence and remains prevalent because of the societies views on gender roles
and sexuality. America, for instance, is thought to be a well-known rape
culture because of its views of the sexes and their gender roles. Women are
seen as objects to the sexual predators that are men.[1]
There
has long been a history of unequal rights and privileges regarding race and
gender. To this day, women are still not treated the same as men. African
Americans and racial minorities are not always treated the same by the racial
majority even though they should be at this point in time. Since the 18th
century, women have lost the majority of the rape cases in court to their white
male assailants. Seldom did a woman win a case like this unless they had a long
history of chastity. If a black man was accused of raping a white woman, well
that was a different story. The law officials would hang the black man unless
the public got to him first. Slavery was a big cause of this issue. White men
could own basically anyone. They could own black men and women as slaves, and
they could own their wives. It was not illegal for a man to rape his wife or
for a slave owner to have black women slaves just for their sexual needs.
Since, the end of slavery and since women entered the work force, they have
gotten more rights to protect themselves. [2]
Because
of the history our country has with rape, the change has been slow. Today rape
is still prevalent. It has been studied that college campuses have been seen to
have more cases of date rape of acquaintance rape. This means that the
individuals involved know each other at least to some extent. Often times
alcohol is involved as well, whether it be at a fraternity party or any other
type of party. Men are the predators and women are the prey. The common theme
in rape culture is that men are dominant and women are passive. The men will
get them drunk and alone so they can exert their dominance over the woman. [3]
Rape
can occur anywhere. It is because of America’s history with rape, views of
gender roles and the double standard that we live in a rape culture. It is
still prevalent today and is a working progress to get the issue settled and
gone for good. Hopefully one day this will not be an issue anymore.
[1] University
of Minnesota Duluth, "The Rape Culture: An American Epidemic." http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/jhamlin/3925/Readings/rapeculture.html.
(Accessed 31 Mar. 2014).
[2] Sarah Begley, “’Redefining Rape’: A
Brief History of Rape in America,” The
Daily Beast, 22 August 2013, www.thedailybeast.com/witw.
(Accessed 31 Mar. 2014).
[3] Boswell,
A. Ayers, and Joan Z. Spade. "Fraternities and Collegiate Rape Culture:
Why Are Some Fraternities More Dangerous Places for Women?." Gender
and Society. no. 2 (1996).
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