Rape culture
Encyclopedia
Rape culture is a term which originated in women's studies
and feminist theory
, describing a culture
in which rape
and sexual violence
against women are common and in which prevalent attitudes
, norms
, practices, and media
condone, normalize
, excuse, or tolerate sexual violence against women
. Examples of behaviors commonly associated with rape culture include victim blaming
, sexual objectification
and rape apologism. Use of the term has recently become more common.
The term was used as a title of a 1975 documentary film, Rape Culture, produced and directed by Margaret Lazarus
and Renner Wunderlich
for Cambridge Documentary Films, which depicted mass media normalization of violence against women. In a 1992 paper in the Journal of Social Issues entitled "A Feminist Redefinition of Rape and Sexual Assault: Historical Foundations and Change," Patricia Donat and John D'Emilio suggested that the term originated as "rape-supportive culture" in Susan Brownmiller
's 1975 book Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape.
movement is credited with popularizing the term via mass media reports about the protesters. The rallies aim to raise awareness of rape culture - which they define as a culture where "sexual violence is both made to be invisible and inevitable" - and to end slut-shaming and victim blaming.
are commonly employed to validate and rationalize
normative misogynistic
practices. For instance, sexist jokes may be told to foster disrespect for women and an accompanying disregard for their well-being. An example would be a female rape victim being blamed for her being raped because of how she dressed or acted. In rape culture, sexualized violence towards women is regarded as a continuum in a society that regards women's bodies as sexually available by default.
The root cause of rape culture is generally agreed to be the "domination and objectification of women". However, academic theory holds that rape culture does not necessarily have a single cause, and causes may be localized based on other social aspects of culture. For example, in South Africa the overriding "war culture" which emphasized masculinity and violence led to a culture in which rape was normalized
. A University of California Davis public document alleged that the enforcement of the following of social rules by women and the conditioning of gender roles were major causes. In a study of date rape
, gender-based miscommunications were held to be a major factor supporting a campus rape
culture. The general unwillingness of police and district attorneys to prosecute rapes where force was not involved or where the victim had some sort of relationship with the aggressor is also cited as a motivation for date rape and campus rape. Rape culture is also closely related to slut-shaming and victim blaming
, where rape victims are considered at fault for being raped, and it is argued that this connection is due to the presence of a culture that shames all female sexuality. That some rapes are not reported to the police due to fear that they would not be believed is often cited as a symptom of a rape culture, that they thought the police would not believe them is cited as a reason by 6% of women who did not report rape.
Although its use as a theory to explain the occurrence of rape and domestic violence
was focused on the rape of women, rape culture has been described as detrimental to men as well as women. Some writers and speakers, such as Jackson Katz
, Michael Kimmel, and Don McPherson
, have said that it is intrinsically linked to gender role
s that limit male self-expression and cause psychological harm to men.
published a strip which featured a male rape victim in the setting of a video game. After complaints about the content of the strip, a follow-up apology strip was published which many bloggers alleged was offensive to and made light of rape victims. This "dickwolves" controversy generated reactions even in mainstream media, particularly after Wil Wheaton
made a statement opposing the actions of Penny Arcade's creators.
In February 2011, seventeen United States veterans filed suit against the Pentagon and defense secretary Robert Gates
and former secretary Donald Rumsfield, alleging that they allowed a culture in the military where rape was unevenly reported and punished. In several of the plaintiff's cases, the victim was forced to work with the accused rapist after reporting them for sexual assault. Unit commanders often have heavy influence over military rape cases, and less than one in five cases are prosecuted. According to a 2011 Newsweek
report, 1 in 5 females and 1 in 15 males in the United States military reported having been sexually assaulted by servicemembers. (See also: Sexual assault in the United States military)
In March 2011, a group of 16 current and former Yale University
students filed a Title IX
complaint against the school with the US Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, alleging that the administration did not respond decisively to misogyny on campus, such as Delta Kappa Epsilon
fraternity members chanting sexist slogans. The fraternity was subsequently suspended for five years. Academic studies have examined fraternity cultures at other universities and discussed their roles in the creation of rape culture.
In March 2011, editorials on Salon.com
and The Huffington Post
criticised a New York Times article, saying that the article focused on victim-blaming on an eleven-year-old girl rather than the fact that she was raped. The article in question dealt with the November 2010 gang rape of the girl in Cleveland, Texas
.
When Roman Polanski
was arrested in Zurich in 2009 on sexual abuse charges
, more than 100 Hollywood figures signed a petition of support, which resulted in a public and media backlash against those who supported him and believed his accomplishments should mitigate his action.
In August and September 2011, Facebook
faced criticism in the United States and the UK for refusing to remove pages that allegedly supported rape culture. Although the pages were legal per free speech laws in both area, those criticizing the site claimed the pages violated Facebook's own content policies, which prohibit hate speech. A prominent petition to Facebook stated "Allowing such groups to congregate serves only to further normalise rape culture and the high instance of sexual violence that exists in society."
, have disputed the existence of rape culture, arguing that the common "one in four women will be raped in her lifetime" is based on a flawed study, but frequently cited because it leads to campus anti-rape groups receiving public funding. Sommers has also examined and criticized many other rape studies for their flawed methodology, and also states "There are many researchers who study rape victimization, but their relatively low figures generate no headlines." Other writers, such as bell hooks
, have criticized the rape culture paradigm on the grounds that it ignores rape's place in an overarching "culture of violence".
Women's studies
Women's studies, also known as feminist studies, is an interdisciplinary academic field which explores politics, society and history from an intersectional, multicultural women's perspective...
and feminist theory
Feminist theory
Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, or philosophical discourse, it aims to understand the nature of gender inequality...
, describing a culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
in which rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
and sexual violence
Sexual violence
Sexual violence occurs throughout the world, although in most countries there has been little research conducted on the problem. Due to the private nature of sexual violence, estimating the extent of the problem is difficult...
against women are common and in which prevalent attitudes
Attitude (psychology)
An attitude is a hypothetical construct that represents an individual's degree of like or dislike for something. Attitudes are generally positive or negative views of a person, place, thing, or event— this is often referred to as the attitude object...
, norms
Norm (sociology)
Social norms are the accepted behaviors within a society or group. This sociological and social psychological term has been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. These rules may be explicit or implicit...
, practices, and media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
condone, normalize
Normalization (sociology)
Normalization refers to social processes through which ideas and actions come to be seen as "normal" and become taken-for-granted or 'natural' in everyday life. In sociological theory normalization appears in two forms....
, excuse, or tolerate sexual violence against women
Violence against women
Violence against women is a technical term used to collectively refer to violent acts that are primarily or exclusively committed against women...
. Examples of behaviors commonly associated with rape culture include victim blaming
Victim blaming
Victim blaming occurs when the victim of a crime, an accident, or any type of abusive maltreatment are held entirely or partially responsible for the transgressions committed against them. Blaming the victim has traditionally emerged especially in racist and sexist forms...
, sexual objectification
Sexual objectification
Sexual objectification refers to the practice of regarding or treating another person merely as an instrument towards one's sexual pleasure, and a sex object is a person who is regarded simply as an object of sexual gratification or who is sexually attractive...
and rape apologism. Use of the term has recently become more common.
Origins and usage
According to the Encyclopedia of Rape, "The term rape culture originated in the 1970s during the 2nd wave feminist movement and is often used by feminists to describe contemporary American culture as a whole."The term was used as a title of a 1975 documentary film, Rape Culture, produced and directed by Margaret Lazarus
Margaret Lazarus
Margaret Lazarus is an American film producer/film director known for her work in documentary film. She and her partner, Renner Wunderlich, received an Academy Award in 1993 for their documentary Defending Our Lives, about battered women who were in prison for killing their abusers.- Biography...
and Renner Wunderlich
Renner Wunderlich
Renner Wunderlich is an American film producer/film director known for his work in documentary film. He and his partner, Margaret Lazarus, received an Academy Award in 1993 for their documentary Defending Our Lives, about battered women who were in prison for killing their abusers...
for Cambridge Documentary Films, which depicted mass media normalization of violence against women. In a 1992 paper in the Journal of Social Issues entitled "A Feminist Redefinition of Rape and Sexual Assault: Historical Foundations and Change," Patricia Donat and John D'Emilio suggested that the term originated as "rape-supportive culture" in Susan Brownmiller
Susan Brownmiller
Susan Brownmiller is an American feminist, journalist, author, and activist. She is best known for her pioneering work on the politics of rape in her 1975 book Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape, Brownmiller argues that rape had been hitherto defined by men rather than women; and that men use,...
's 1975 book Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape.
Slutwalk
Although it had been in academic usage since its inception, the term 'rape culture' was scarcely used in popular culture and the media until 2011. The SlutwalkSlutWalk
The SlutWalk protest marches began on April 3, 2011, in Toronto, Canada, and became a movement of rallies across the world. Participants protest against explaining or excusing rape by referring to any aspect of a woman's appearance...
movement is credited with popularizing the term via mass media reports about the protesters. The rallies aim to raise awareness of rape culture - which they define as a culture where "sexual violence is both made to be invisible and inevitable" - and to end slut-shaming and victim blaming.
Feminist theory
According to the rape culture theory, acts of sexismSexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
are commonly employed to validate and rationalize
Rationalization (psychology)
In psychology and logic, rationalization is an unconscious defense mechanism in which perceived controversial behaviors or feelings are logically justified and explained in a rational or logical manner in order to avoid any true explanation and made consciously tolerable by plausible means...
normative misogynistic
Misogyny
Misogyny is the hatred or dislike of women or girls. Philogyny, meaning fondness, love or admiration towards women, is the antonym of misogyny. The term misandry is the term for men that is parallel to misogyny...
practices. For instance, sexist jokes may be told to foster disrespect for women and an accompanying disregard for their well-being. An example would be a female rape victim being blamed for her being raped because of how she dressed or acted. In rape culture, sexualized violence towards women is regarded as a continuum in a society that regards women's bodies as sexually available by default.
The root cause of rape culture is generally agreed to be the "domination and objectification of women". However, academic theory holds that rape culture does not necessarily have a single cause, and causes may be localized based on other social aspects of culture. For example, in South Africa the overriding "war culture" which emphasized masculinity and violence led to a culture in which rape was normalized
War rape
War rapes are rapes committed by soldiers, other combatants or civilians during armed conflict or war, or during military occupation, distinguished from sexual assaults and rape committed amongst troops in military service...
. A University of California Davis public document alleged that the enforcement of the following of social rules by women and the conditioning of gender roles were major causes. In a study of date rape
Date rape
"Date rape", often referred to as acquaintance rape, is an assault or attempted assault usually committed by a new acquaintance involving sexual intercourse without mutual consent....
, gender-based miscommunications were held to be a major factor supporting a campus rape
Campus rape
Campus rape is the rape of students attending an institute of higher learning such as a college or university. The term references the campus on which these institutes are situated, although not all reported incidents occur on campus property....
culture. The general unwillingness of police and district attorneys to prosecute rapes where force was not involved or where the victim had some sort of relationship with the aggressor is also cited as a motivation for date rape and campus rape. Rape culture is also closely related to slut-shaming and victim blaming
Victim blaming
Victim blaming occurs when the victim of a crime, an accident, or any type of abusive maltreatment are held entirely or partially responsible for the transgressions committed against them. Blaming the victim has traditionally emerged especially in racist and sexist forms...
, where rape victims are considered at fault for being raped, and it is argued that this connection is due to the presence of a culture that shames all female sexuality. That some rapes are not reported to the police due to fear that they would not be believed is often cited as a symptom of a rape culture, that they thought the police would not believe them is cited as a reason by 6% of women who did not report rape.
Although its use as a theory to explain the occurrence of rape and domestic violence
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
was focused on the rape of women, rape culture has been described as detrimental to men as well as women. Some writers and speakers, such as Jackson Katz
Jackson Katz
Jackson T. Katz is one of America’s leading anti-sexist activists, and experts on violence, media and masculinities. An author, filmmaker, educator and social theorist, Katz has worked in gender violence prevention work with diverse groups of men and boys in sports culture and the military,...
, Michael Kimmel, and Don McPherson
Don McPherson
Donald G. McPherson is a former National Football League and Canadian Football League quarterback who was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1988 after a college career at Syracuse University during which he won the Maxwell Award, the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award and finished second...
, have said that it is intrinsically linked to gender role
Gender role
Gender roles refer to the set of social and behavioral norms that are considered to be socially appropriate for individuals of a specific sex in the context of a specific culture, which differ widely between cultures and over time...
s that limit male self-expression and cause psychological harm to men.
Prominent incidents and allegations of rape culture
In 2010, the webcomic Penny ArcadePenny Arcade
Penny Arcade may refer to:* Penny arcade, a venue for coin-operated devices* Penny Arcade ** Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, a series of video games based on the webcomic...
published a strip which featured a male rape victim in the setting of a video game. After complaints about the content of the strip, a follow-up apology strip was published which many bloggers alleged was offensive to and made light of rape victims. This "dickwolves" controversy generated reactions even in mainstream media, particularly after Wil Wheaton
Wil Wheaton
Richard William "Wil" Wheaton III is an American actor and writer. As an actor, he is best known for his portrayals of Wesley Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gordie Lachance in the film Stand by Me and Joey Trotta in Toy Soldiers...
made a statement opposing the actions of Penny Arcade's creators.
In February 2011, seventeen United States veterans filed suit against the Pentagon and defense secretary Robert Gates
Robert Gates
Dr. Robert Michael Gates is a retired civil servant and university president who served as the 22nd United States Secretary of Defense from 2006 to 2011. Prior to this, Gates served for 26 years in the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council, and under President George H. W....
and former secretary Donald Rumsfield, alleging that they allowed a culture in the military where rape was unevenly reported and punished. In several of the plaintiff's cases, the victim was forced to work with the accused rapist after reporting them for sexual assault. Unit commanders often have heavy influence over military rape cases, and less than one in five cases are prosecuted. According to a 2011 Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
report, 1 in 5 females and 1 in 15 males in the United States military reported having been sexually assaulted by servicemembers. (See also: Sexual assault in the United States military)
In March 2011, a group of 16 current and former Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
students filed a Title IX
Title IX
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a United States law, enacted on June 23, 1972, that amended Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 2002 it was renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act, in honor of its principal author Congresswoman Mink, but is most...
complaint against the school with the US Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, alleging that the administration did not respond decisively to misogyny on campus, such as Delta Kappa Epsilon
Delta Kappa Epsilon
Delta Kappa Epsilon is a fraternity founded at Yale College in 1844 by 15 men of the sophomore class who had not been invited to join the two existing societies...
fraternity members chanting sexist slogans. The fraternity was subsequently suspended for five years. Academic studies have examined fraternity cultures at other universities and discussed their roles in the creation of rape culture.
In March 2011, editorials on Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
and The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
criticised a New York Times article, saying that the article focused on victim-blaming on an eleven-year-old girl rather than the fact that she was raped. The article in question dealt with the November 2010 gang rape of the girl in Cleveland, Texas
Cleveland, Texas
Cleveland is a city in Liberty County, Texas, United States. The population was 7,605 at the 2000 census.-History:In 1854, a church and convent was built by Father Peter La Cour near the town's present site...
.
When Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...
was arrested in Zurich in 2009 on sexual abuse charges
Roman Polanski sexual abuse case
In March 1977, film director Roman Polanski was arrested and charged with a number of offenses against Samantha Geimer, a 13-year-old girl – rape by use of drugs, perversion, sodomy, lewd and lascivious act upon a child under 14, and furnishing a controlled substance to a minor...
, more than 100 Hollywood figures signed a petition of support, which resulted in a public and media backlash against those who supported him and believed his accomplishments should mitigate his action.
In August and September 2011, Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
faced criticism in the United States and the UK for refusing to remove pages that allegedly supported rape culture. Although the pages were legal per free speech laws in both area, those criticizing the site claimed the pages violated Facebook's own content policies, which prohibit hate speech. A prominent petition to Facebook stated "Allowing such groups to congregate serves only to further normalise rape culture and the high instance of sexual violence that exists in society."
Criticisms
Some writers, such as Christina Hoff SommersChristina Hoff Sommers
Christina Hoff Sommers is an American author and former philosophy professor who is known for her critique of late 20th century feminism, and her writings about feminism in contemporary American culture...
, have disputed the existence of rape culture, arguing that the common "one in four women will be raped in her lifetime" is based on a flawed study, but frequently cited because it leads to campus anti-rape groups receiving public funding. Sommers has also examined and criticized many other rape studies for their flawed methodology, and also states "There are many researchers who study rape victimization, but their relatively low figures generate no headlines." Other writers, such as bell hooks
Bell hooks
Gloria Jean Watkins , better known by her pen name bell hooks, is an American author, feminist, and social activist....
, have criticized the rape culture paradigm on the grounds that it ignores rape's place in an overarching "culture of violence".