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What we mean by "Rape Culture"

Original post by RandZul'Zorander

I personally think the term is effective. It may not necessarily be rape in all the cases but I certainly think that the attitudes/practices can and do lead to rape. So to me it seems appropriate. I also am unable to think of a better term for what we are talking about so...I'm pretty resigned to this one lol

I agree with you actually. It is only the fundamentalist 'MUST CRUSH FEMINISM' attitudes that seems to be forcing its way into the mainstream culture that makes the term rape culture difficult because it immediately puts these types up in arms.

I don't understand why promoting respect for people around you is automatically seen as a feminist issue and trampled all over as a result. The irony is I am also, and always have been strongly against the way many women treat men. Yet I am constantly branded 'feminazi' etc etc

Reply 41

vickidc18

OP

15

Of course male rape does happen and we should be doing more to combat it!! I would encourage any victim of sexual violence to report it to the authorities. I find it disgusting that people joke about the rape of men :frown:

Most rapes & sexual assault does happen to women though which is why we tend to focus more on rape of women. I'm saying rape culture isn't about saying "Look lets rape some women" it's saying trying to put blame on the victim and shame which makes people less likely to report it. If a so called "slut" has slept with a lot of men previously then a man she didn't want engage with sex with rapes her it's still disgusting and emotionally terrible for the woman. The man has taken the will and freedom away from her.. You will never understand what it feels like to have control of your body taken away from you. But somehow thats ok because she's slept with lots of different men?

Reply 42

PQ

Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

Original post by redferry

Urgh that's nearly 1 in every 20 people think she is totally responsible for nearly all of those *vomcano*

yep - and it is spread pretty evenly between men and women respondents (there seems to be a tendency for women to hold the victim responsible if she has been drinking, dressed sexy or slept with a lot of partners - men more likely if the victim fails to say "no" clearly or flirts).

Also those who hold the victim totally responsible seem to increase with age which is one positive thing - attitudes are changing.

But there does seem to be a core group of people (both men and women) who think victims of rape are totally responsible. And this makes up ~1/20th of the population so the chances of those people being on a jury, working in law enforcement etc is high enough to be concerning.

Reply 43

Spetznaaz

12

Original post by Aivicore

Agreed.

Much as I find the points in the OP valid, I'm more concerned (and associate 'rape culture') with the idea that it's okay to prey on vulnerable or drunk or "slutty" women who have had multiple partners before. Most people will argue that they don't think it's okay, but in reality people see it as *somewhat more excusable* than assaulting a sober, well-dressed woman.

There is a distinction between "preying" and "assaulting".

If i went out, and had only had a few drinks and started chatting to a girl drunker than me, we hit it off and went home and had sex, i'm guessing you, and most feminists would say i raped her.

It's not wrong to have sex with someone who is drunk. It is wrong to have sex with someone who is too drunk to consent.

Original post by redferry

Oh I'm sorry I'll make sure I split them into separate paragraphs next time. Us silly feminists, were just all the same!

Look at what you just said. I misread your post, and even said you have a point. I made no comment on how you should format your typing in a better manner (pointed the blame at my reading not your writing), and yet you make this snarky comment acting as if i've said something i didn't.

Unfortunately I have met a number of such people and had someone try to do this to me and then get really angry when I pointed out (after leaving, this was sober the next day) it really wasn't cool :frown:

luckily I was asleep not actually passed out.

Yeah and i wonder what % of people out of everyone thinks it's okay. I've lived long enough to know that the majority of U.K citizens do not think it is okay to have sex with someone who is passed out. If you really believe the MAJORITY think it's okay (which is what you imply by claiming a "rape culture" exists) then you are nothing short of delusional.

You're lucky enough not to have mixed with sports club circles at university I assume?

You're right i haven't really. But for one thing they do not represent the rest of society and yet again the majority of them do not think like this (okay i don't have first hand experience, but i doubt there is a correlation between being involved with sports and opinions on rape)

That isn't true - cultures can be in the minority as long as a body of people think like this. I truly believe a small body of people do think like that, or at least that is my experience. I'll give another, less obvious example. A guy feels up my leg, I take him to one side and say look that's not OK, it makes me feel uncomfortable in the nicest manner humanly possible. He then precedes to have a massive go at me for 'making him feel like a pervert'. I don't know but to me it all feels like a big part of the same thing, whether you want to give it the label of rape culture or not - a lack of respect for women's rights over their own body. Personally I think rape culture is a bit over dramatic, but I wouldn't deny that there was a culture of disrespect towards women which is rife at unoversity. I didn't give a crap about women's rights really I was all like that all old **** were all equal. But then these sorts of things started happening and as soon as I started to speak out about them I got branded a feminist, like it was some sort of nasty insult. I would never have associated myself with the feminist movement otherwise.

I'm not 100% sure about that. From a quick wiki search, rape culture is described as:

"Within feminism, rape culture is a concept that links rape and sexual violence to the culture of a society"

We could debate the wordings, but i'll pass that for now. If you're saying rape culture means "in our society a small minority of people think it's okay to rape" then i'd... actually no i wouldn't agree. Even rapists know rape is wrong they just don't care.

But yes in our (and any) culture a small minority of people will rape and do other bad things. Calling it a culture implies, to me and most people i reckon, that rape is prevalent and somewhat accepted by society, which is not the case at all.

If we have a rape culture, it must mean we have a murder culture, theft culture, drug culture etc (i suppose we kinda do have a drug culture). Ugh, i've said culture in my head so many times its lost all meaning.

Guys like that are dicks and most people would agree. I've been felt up myself before mind by women. It's not okay to feel someone up without their consent, but yes it happens mostly in clubs where everyone is drunk and looking for mates.

The thing with you feminists is, you act like it's so hard for women, yet never think about what it's like for men.

Man goes out - Much more chance of getting the **** kicked out of them for no reason. Us men get just as much abuse as you women in everyday life, just what we receive includes violent threats and violence itself.

I have never ever seen that happen but if it did happen to you that is just as bad. No one sober should take advantage of someone's drunkenness in that way. Technically because she is a woman it would not legally be rape, however it would be classed as sexual assault and if she penetrated you assault by penetration which is the same as rape in all but the name. I don't necessarily agree with those laws but that is the way it is.

And i've never seen sober guys take home drunk girls but i'm not claiming it doesn't happen (i'm just too pissed to notice if it does or not). I'm well aware of our outdated unjust rape laws saying a man can't be raped due to a technicality in how it's worded.

Even if the sexes were reversed it would not automatically be rape. Having sex with a drunk girl is not rape, look it up if you don;t believe me. Having sex with a female too drunk to consent is rape. BIG difference.

And no, when i woke up with a cracking hangover and my mates all taking the piss out of me, i didn't blame the women, all i blamed was myself, i got too drunk and i know when i'm drunk i'm more likely to do stupid things. Lesson learnt - Hasn't happened since.

So you don't think guys driving to clubs to pick up girls so drunk they can barely walk is predatory?

If a guy drives to a club to pick up women who are too drunk to consent, yes that is "predatory" AND illegal and morally wrong.

If a guy drives to a club to pick up women who are drunk, but not too drunk to consent..

I'm undecided on that one. Drunk people are easier that's true, however they still know what they are doing. Many of them are out looking for sex anyway.

I suppose it would depends how things went down. Women approaches guy is very forward, wants to take him home - Okay in my books.

Guy approaches woman, is being very pushy, keeps buying her alcohol to get her more drunk, trys getting her home under false pretenses etc - Not good.

But, if you are going to take a drug that makes you more likely to have sex with someone, don't be surprised if you wake up next to someone. Most people go out to get smashed and find a mate for the night anyway.

My point is, it's a large grey area when it comes to that kind of thing, it's safe to say too drunk to consent = not okay. Where / how you work out what is to drunk to consent is another story. Don't generally have one night stands msyelf anyway.

Oh lawd, i got roped into another feminist thread :frown:

Original post by Cobbler

So being against rape is only for feminists?

What? How exactly did you draw that conclusion?

Most people are against rape and most people aren't feminists.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 44

Welsh_insomniac

14

Original post by vickidc18

Of course male rape does happen and we should be doing more to combat it!! I would encourage any victim of sexual violence to report it to the authorities. I find it disgusting that people joke about the rape of men :frown:

Most rapes & sexual assault does happen to women though which is why we tend to focus more on rape of women. I'm saying rape culture isn't about saying "Look lets rape some women" it's saying trying to put blame on the victim and shame which makes people less likely to report it. If a so called "slut" has slept with a lot of men previously then a man she didn't want engage with sex with rapes her it's still disgusting and emotionally terrible for the woman. The man has taken the will and freedom away from her.. You will never understand what it feels like to have control of your body taken away from you. But somehow thats ok because she's slept with lots of different men?

Surely that should be referred to as victim culture then? Because we do the same for every crime. Whether it's sexual assault, to rape, to theft or murder.

Reply 45

username878045

17

Original post by redferry

I agree with you actually. It is only the fundamentalist 'MUST CRUSH FEMINISM' attitudes that seems to be forcing its way into the mainstream culture that makes the term rape culture difficult because it immediately puts these types up in arms.

I don't understand why promoting respect for people around you is automatically seen as a feminist issue and trampled all over as a result. The irony is I am also, and always have been strongly against the way many women treat men. Yet I am constantly branded 'feminazi' etc etc

I think partly the problem with the term rape culture is the language used, not just the rise of anti-feminism. While culture doesn't mean the same as society, and rape culture could just be limited to a small section of society, it is often misrepresented as something we all live in. It is often assumed that rape culture is a problem with the culture of all of society, rather than an unpleasant minority. Personally, I'd change the name from 'culture' to something less encompassing, something that describes the behaviours better. I'm not even sure a general term is necessary for the collective group of behaviours rape culture describes (e.g. slut shaming and victim blaming). Clearly some people do behave in this fashion. It's the claim that this amounts to a culture that is misleading, and often results in people taking confrontational stances. We have to ask ourselves whether the term does more harm than good.

Reply 46

Mikasa Ackerman

Original post by Spetznaaz

We could debate the wordings, but i'll pass that for now. If you're saying rape culture means "in our society a small minority of people think it's okay to rape" then i'd... actually no i wouldn't agree. Even rapists know rape is wrong they just don't care.

this isnt true tho because some rapists dont even think they are commiting rape when they actually are look at some of the statistics on this thread so clearly they dont think its wrong

Reply 47

Monkey.Man

Original post by The Wild Youth

Isn't there such a thing as levels of severity? Yes, of course a more severe rape culture exists in the middle east, but why can't it also still prevail in the western world? Should rape culture only be defined by the culture you find in the middle east? Of course it shouldn't.

Just because it's different doesn't mean it doesn't exist

oh yeah of course, it's "a relative degree of rape culture", that's going to make the cut for the feminists
right, so it's just like the degree of paeodophilia, theft, arson, burglary, etc in that case. we live in an arson culture, and we shouldn't deny it just because other countries are hugely worse off in terms of arsons

Reply 48

Mikasa Ackerman

Original post by PythianLegume

I think partly the problem with the term rape culture is the language used, not just the rise of anti-feminism. While culture doesn't mean the same as society, and rape culture could just be limited to a small section of society, it is often misrepresented as something we all live in. It is often assumed that rape culture is a problem with the culture of all of society, rather than an unpleasant minority. Personally, I'd change the name from 'culture' to something less encompassing, something that describes the behaviours better. I'm not even sure a general term is necessary for the collective group of behaviours rape culture describes (e.g. slut shaming and victim blaming). Clearly some people do behave in this fashion. It's the claim that this amounts to a culture that is misleading, and often results in people taking confrontational stances. We have to ask ourselves whether the term does more harm than good.

i think the culture link is to stuff like sexulisation of women in the media like just using womens bodies to advertise stuff a lot of adverts even just have their bodies showing with their heads out of shot. This dehumanizes women leading to increase in sexual violence and rape.

Reply 49

username878045

17

Original post by Mikasa Ackerman

i think the culture link is to stuff like sexulisation of women in the media like just using womens bodies to advertise stuff a lot of adverts even just have their bodies showing with their heads out of shot. This dehumanizes women leading to increase in sexual violence and rape.

While what you talk about does exist, I'm not sure it's generally thought to be part of rape culture.

You also seem to suggest that provocatively dressed women could be dehumanised, and this would lead to an increase in violence and rape. It's rather confusing how people can say this yet still deny that dressing provocatively increases your chances of being raped.

Reply 50

Spetznaaz

12

Original post by Mikasa Ackerman

this isnt true tho because some rapists dont even think they are commiting rape when they actually are look at some of the statistics on this thread so clearly they dont think its wrong

The statistics posted in this thread are not reliable. The thing about statistics is, it is very easy to manipulate them, especially when we are talking about responses to questions. Questions are worded in a specific way to provide the results that are wanted.

1 in 4 men thinks it's not rape if she says no?

Most of those 1 in 4 probably didn't mean if someone flat out says no, and they force themselves on them. Women say no all the time before sex. Don't know why, maybe it makes them feel better if they play hard to get.

There's a big difference for example, you're seeing a girl, in bed together kissing etc, and you start sliding your hand down there and she's like "no we can't" but you keep sliding your hand she doesn't stop you, it's all playful, you're both giggling away etc she starts moaning away, things proceed etc.compared to say you meet a girl and are kissing then you try and go further and she says "no stop" and you continue even though it's clear she doesn't want to go any further.

The statistics do not differentiate between this, thus making it look like more men think rape is okay than actually do.

"There are lies, damned lies and statistics"

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 51

username878045

17

Original post by Jhansen23

you've read that completely out of context.

your abstract came under the heading:

5 - Is there enough evidence to prosecute?

The CPS is saying the complete opposite to what you are inferring and actually expands on the lists of myths given by the OP by including gay men and prostitutes.

They know about these myths and will challenge them in the courtroom in support of the victim

yes they were encountering these myths and stereotypes regularly in rape trials and have decided to do something about it by giving the prosecutors (in defence of the victim) specialist training.

So the Law is aware of rape culture.

Thanks to the OP for bringing awareness to this.

I think you misunderstand PQs point. She was saying that the CPS dismiss these myths, hence they must be prevalent, else the CPS would not waste time discussing them. She was saying exactly what you just said.

Reply 52

Mikasa Ackerman

Original post by PythianLegume

While what you talk about does exist, I'm not sure it's generally thought to be part of rape culture.

You also seem to suggest that provocatively dressed women could be dehumanised, and this would lead to an increase in violence and rape. It's rather confusing how people can say this yet still deny that dressing provocatively increases your chances of being raped.

i think the culture aspect plays a big role its a big part of the definition of rape culture:

"Rape culture includes jokes, TV, music, advertising, legal jargon, laws, words and imagery, that make violence against women and sexual coercion seem so normal that people believe that rape is inevitable. Rather than viewing the culture of rape as a problem to change, people in a rape culture think about the persistence of rape as “just the way things are.”

and sexulisation of women in the media plays a big part in that its not about dressing provocatively its about removing the human aspect ie just showing the womans body while her head is out of shot, constantly in submissive poses and vacant eyes

Reply 53

redferry

19

Original post by Spetznaaz

Look at what you just said. I misread your post, and even said you have a point. I made no comment on how you should format your typing in a better manner (pointed the blame at my reading not your writing), and yet you make this snarky comment acting as if Ive said something i didn't.

Sorry, that was mean of me. I just took umbrage to you generalising about femenists. We aren't some homogenous blob, each has their own views and opinions and we all behave differently!!

Yeah and i wonder what % of people out of everyone thinks it's okay. I've lived long enough to know that the majority of U.K citizens do not think it is okay to have sex with someone who is passed out. If you really believe the MAJORITY think it's okay (which is what you imply by claiming a "rape culture" exists) then you are nothing short of delusional.

Too many for my liking is the only answer I can really give to that!

I never said it was the majority, that is not in any way what is/implied by saying rape culture exists. I would say that rape culture is definitely a minority culture. Just because a culture holds the minority view doesn't mean it doesn't exist!

You're right i haven't really. But for one thing they do not represent the rest of society and yet again the majority of them do not think like this (okay i don't have first hand experience, but i doubt there is a correlation between being involved with sports and opinions on rape)

I'm fully aware of this but it does have a negative impact on any girls unfortunate enough to have to stray into their sphere of influence.

I can only say from my experience with sports teams at 1 uni but there was definitely a correlation between being involved in certain sports and their attitudes towards women.

I'm not 100% sure about that. From a quick wiki search, rape culture is described as:

"Within feminism, rape culture is a concept that links rape and sexual violence to the culture of a society"

Hmmm I guess that sort of encompasses what I'm talking about. But for me it includes things that are non violent too. It says A society so clearly doesn't imply the whole of society.

We could debate the wordings, but i'll pass that for now. If you're saying rape culture means "in our society a small minority of people think it's okay to rape" then i'd... actually no i wouldn't agree. Even rapists know rape is wrong they just don't care.

I don't know. There are rapists like that... And then there whole thing I'm talking about where it is genuinely seen as OK to behave like that towards women. And this is not just me 'being all feminist' either, my housemate left a sports team at undergraduate because that culture got to much for him and he was really uncomfortable with the way they treated and talked about girls. And he's just yournaverage bloke.

But yes in our (and any) culture a small minority of people will rape and do other bad things. Calling it a culture implies, to me and most people i reckon, that rape is prevalent and somewhat accepted by society, which is not the case at all.

As I've said, it is a minority culture - but still prevalent enough that it has a negative impact on a lot of people.

If we have a rape culture, it must mean we have a murder culture, theft culture, drug culture etc (i suppose we kinda do have a drug culture). Ugh, i've said culture in my head so many times its lost all meaning.

I would definitely say there is a drugs culture in a lot of areas. Not so much a murder or theft culture as as far as I am aware there aren't many/any community's within which that is viewed as acceptable behaviour. As has been pointed out this week - violent rapiats aren't really part of 'rape culture' as they know what they are doing is wrong.

Guys like that are dicks and most people would agree. I've been felt up myself before mind by women. It's not okay to feel someone up without their consent, but yes it happens mostly in clubs where everyone is drunk and looking for mates.

The thing with you feminists is, you act like it's so hard for women, yet never think about what it's like for men.

Again with your generalising all feminists.

Would you feel any differently if I told you I have never accepted a drink off a guy I wasn't about to buy one back for? That I support a male mental health charity? That I have continuously supported extended paternity leave for men through blogging, petitions and debate? I've stood up for guys in clubs that are getting started on, I've helped numerous male friends open up about their mental health and seek help and I have helped a male friend seek help and prosecution for sexual assault? In all honesty, what have you done to further men's rights?

I weight men's and women's struggled equally. But the way I am treated by certain people gets to me because it effects me on a regular basis. Feminists speak out against the issues that effect them directly through human nature, just as black people speak out for black rights over white rights, or gay people for gay rights over women's rights.

Man goes out - Much more chance of getting the **** kicked out of them for no reason. Us men get just as much abuse as you women in everyday life, just what we receive includes violent threats and violence itself.

I reiterate above. Although I have been hit by more men on nights out than my boyfriend or most of my mle friends have. Twice for telling them to stop assaulting me and once for trying to prevent a guy starting on my male friend.

And i've never seen sober guys take home drunk girls but i'm not claiming it doesn't happen (i'm just too pissed to notice if it does or not). I'm well aware of our outdated unjust rape laws saying a man can't be raped due to a technicality in how it's worded.

I've seen it happen in Leeds and Bristol. It happened to a friend of mine and then he started stalking her and leavong voicemails of him ****ing. Creeptastic.

Even if the sexes were reversed it would not automatically be rape. Having sex with a drunk girl is not rape, look it up if you don;t believe me. Having sex with a female too drunk to consent is rape. BIG difference.

I have absolutely no problem with guys having sex with drunk girls. Very drunk girls when they are sober, in a predatory manner, however, I do take issue with!!!

And no, when i woke up with a cracking hangover and my mates all taking the piss out of me, i didn't blame the women, all i blamed was myself, i got too drunk and i know when i'm drunk i'm more likely to do stupid things. Lesson learnt - Hasn't happened since.

A sober woman took you home? How weird. She sounds like a right nasty price of work. Girls who behave like that seem to think all guys are up for it 24/7 - a horrible outdated attitude that is incredibly sexist.

If a guy drives to a club to pick up women who are too drunk to consent, yes that is "predatory" AND illegal and morally wrong.

If a guy drives to a club to pick up women who are drunk, but not too drunk to consent..

I'm undecided on that one. Drunk people are easier that's true, however they still know what they are doing. Many of them are out looking for sex anyway.

I suppose it would depends how things went down. Women approaches guy is very forward, wants to take him home - Okay in my books.

Guy approaches woman, is being very pushy, keeps buying her alcohol to get her more drunk, trys getting her home under false pretenses etc - Not good.

It was more guy approaches woman, won't let her leave to join her friends, follows her around plying her with drinks until she can barely walk, drives her home in his car. I'm not even saying my friend didn't agree to sex, but that he made sure she was in such a state she could barely talk so she probably wasn't about to anyway.

Seen it happen twice in two different cities. The first time I took a total stranger under my wing and walked her home. The guy was pretty much having to carry her out the club and I'd been keeping an eye on him all night. Second time my friend was so drunk that even getting in some creepy guys car and following her home would not dissuade her from letting him in. Earlier in the night shed been asking me to get him away from her...

She was sick on my shoes in thanks :tongue:

But, if you are going to take a drug that makes you more likely to have sex with someone, don't be surprised if you wake up next to someone. Most people go out to get smashed and find a mate for the night anyway.

My point is, it's a large grey area when it comes to that kind of thing, it's safe to say too drunk to consent = not okay. Where / how you work out what is to drunk to consent is another story. Don't generally have one night stands msyelf anyway.

Oh lawd, i got roped into another feminist thread :frown:

Yeah I know its grey. Its morally reprehensible in my eyes and I feel you have to have a pretty bad attitude towards women to behave like that -ie exploiting that grey area - that's all I can say about it.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 54

RandZul'Zorander

11

Original post by Spetznaaz

The statistics posted in this thread are not reliable. The thing about statistics is, it is very easy to manipulate them, especially when we are talking about responses to questions. Questions are worded in a specific way to provide the results that are wanted.

1 in 4 men thinks it's not rape if she says no?

Most of those 1 in 4 probably didn't mean if someone flat out says no, and they force themselves on them. Women say no all the time before sex. Don't know why, maybe it makes them feel better if they play hard to get.

Care to give some evidence as to this? Particularly the bolded and italicized bits?

You can't just say they are not reliable and not actually provide evidence as to why not. You say because stats are easy to manipulate but haven't demonstrated any manipulation in these cases.

There's a big difference for example, you're seeing a girl, in bed together kissing etc, and you start sliding your hand down there and she's like "no we can't" but you keep sliding your hand she doesn't stop you, it's all playful, you're both giggling away etc she starts moaning away, things proceed etc.compared to say you meet a girl and are kissing then you try and go further and she says "no stop" and you continue even though it's clear she doesn't want to go any further.

The statistics do not differentiate between this, thus making it look like more men think rape is okay than actually do.

"There are lies, damned lies and statistics"

Considering the statistics are specifically in reference to rape and sexual assault they do seem to differentiate between the two situations you give.

Reply 55

Jhansen23

13

Original post by PythianLegume

I think you misunderstand PQs point. She was saying that the CPS dismiss these myths, hence they must be prevalent, else the CPS would not waste time discussing them. She was saying exactly what you just said.

yes you are quite correct. apologies PQ :smile:

Reply 56

redferry

19

Original post by PQ

yep - and it is spread pretty evenly between men and women respondents (there seems to be a tendency for women to hold the victim responsible if she has been drinking, dressed sexy or slept with a lot of partners - men more likely if the victim fails to say "no" clearly or flirts).

Also those who hold the victim totally responsible seem to increase with age which is one positive thing - attitudes are changing.

But there does seem to be a core group of people (both men and women) who think victims of rape are totally responsible. And this makes up ~1/20th of the population so the chances of those people being on a jury, working in law enforcement etc is high enough to be concerning.

Either that or people get more rapey with age :tongue:

Women's attitudes are as bad as men's but I guess that doesn't really lead them to act in the way that men have the opportunity to do as a result.

It needs tackling across genders though, in my experience certain groups just back up each others views across genders with slut shaming etc.

Reply 57

Welsh Bluebird

3

OP and anyone else who uses such a ridiculous term clearly has no idea what the word 'culture' means.

Good grief.

Reply 58

redferry

19

Original post by PythianLegume

I think partly the problem with the term rape culture is the language used, not just the rise of anti-feminism. While culture doesn't mean the same as society, and rape culture could just be limited to a small section of society, it is often misrepresented as something we all live in. It is often assumed that rape culture is a problem with the culture of all of society, rather than an unpleasant minority. Personally, I'd change the name from 'culture' to something less encompassing, something that describes the behaviours better. I'm not even sure a general term is necessary for the collective group of behaviours rape culture describes (e.g. slut shaming and victim blaming). Clearly some people do behave in this fashion. It's the claim that this amounts to a culture that is misleading, and often results in people taking confrontational stances. We have to ask ourselves whether the term does more harm than good.

I actually really agree with you on this. Its a difficult one. There definitely is a culture amongst a certain subset of society that is centred around disrespecting women. Butt he amount that go on to genuinely rape, to me don't amount to a large enough proportion to justify the term rape culture.

Its difficult though because rape is so hard to prosecute and even if DNA evidence is found often people still get off by claiming it is consensual.

I also think that the vast majority of rapes that happen within this 'culture' or whatever you want to call it aren't reported because even the girls themselves don't see it as rape or if they do they know nothing will come of it. It makes things very difficult because it means all we can go on really is anecdotal evidence and although I have experienced it first hand a lot of men, even those not part of it themselves, seek totally blind to it. In fact not even men. People in general.

Reply 59

RandZul'Zorander

11

Original post by Mickey O'Neil

OP and anyone else who uses such a ridiculous term clearly has no idea what the word 'culture' means.

Good grief.

culture |ˈkəlCHər|
noun
1 the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively: 20th century popular culture.
• a refined understanding or appreciation of this: men of culture.
• the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group: Caribbean culture | people from many different cultures.
• [ with modifier ] the attitudes and behavior characteristic of a particular social group: the emerging drug culture.

hmmmmmmmm the bolded seems to fit just fine with the term.

What we mean by "Rape Culture"

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