Eradicating Rape Culture

The Steubenville rape case and CNN’s disturbing response to the conviction of the two football players illustrate the pervasiveness of rape culture in American society. As Blogger Lauren Nelson highlighted in her piece, “So you’re tired of hearing about rape culture,” politicians, news pundits, athletes, teenagers, men, and women have displayed some or all the characteristics of rape culture recently—victim-blaming, shaming, and (online) bullying, objectifying women, demonizing sexually active women, perpetuating the notion that (young) men, especially athletes, are entitled to act upon women’s bodies without their legal consent, and sympathizing with those judged guilty.

Stop Rape

Rape culture has a long history in the United States. Many of us may be familiar with slaveholders’ use, or the threat, of rape as a tool of domination—a way to maintain slave populations and to control female and male slaves. Of course, rape existed before American slavery. But rape culture does boast a legacy of helping to fuse race, gender, and sex into American social, political, and economic relations, as well as our understandings of femininity and masculinity, power and privilege.

Of course, rape culture has changed over time. It often manifests itself in a puritanical collective shaming and blaming of the victim. Rape is not a matter of social justice, or of individual liberty, but a matter of individual responsibility “not to get raped.” Thus, many often presume that the woman is the one who is denying responsibility for her conduct, projecting the blame to particular men who assumed that the woman “wanted” sex. We eschew male personal responsibility, collective responsibility and action, public policy, and mass education for individualized, and sometimes obnoxious, solutions, some in which are grounded in a sexist, puritanical view of women’s sexuality and a myopic view of rape:  women should not dress like “sluts,” women should not drink too much, women should not change their mind leading up to having sex, women should walk in pairs at all times, women should carry guns for their protection, not to mention GLBTQ victims who “participate in a deviant culture.” We must live in a rape culture if writer and rape survivor Zerlina Maxwell’s call to teach men not to rape seems outlandish to some.

Maxwell

This legacy and its argument—that women are often to blame for rape—has shaped the politics, culture, and larger background of the Steubenville case. Activist-writers Nelson, Jessica Valenti, and Zerlina Maxwell have established this context well. Republican Todd Akin’s coinage of “legitimate rape,” other male Republicans’ opposition to renewing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), and Republicans pushing for post-rape transvaginal ultrasounds in Virginia, Wisconsin, and Michigan—an explicit form of structural violence—illustrate the political context. (And let’s not forget the numerous cases of women having to purchase their own rape kits.) Considering how the Steubenville case revolved around a couple of its football players, there is little surprise that sportscaster Brent Musberger’s creepy comments about Katherine Webb during the Bowl Championship Series football game put certain aspects of rape culture that manifests itself in male-dominated sports in full display. You know, if you are a guy, you are entitled to date attractive women, as long as you can toss a football. Nelson’s examples of how messages that taking advantage of inebriated women is reproduced and disseminated in alcohol advertisements points to the way that rape culture has infiltrated the market.

So how does one go about confronting rape culture? While we should infuse values of anti-sexism into our institutions, it is important that many of us men who have not contributed our voices and bodies to speaking out about rape do so. Just like many blacks told whites to organize their own communities during the late 1960s, we would become useful allies if we take the initiative to educate ourselves, talk about rape openly, and hold each other accountable.  Maxwell’s suggestions of how men can stop rape are vital. We can still be great athletes, entertainers, businessmen, politicians, scholars, and men without tying our masculinity to the control of women’s bodies.

Teach Don't Rape

Also, note that I am not advocating for updated notions of male protection and vigilantism. Such calls are paternalistic and misguided because they reinforce puritanical notions of womanhood and male privilege. Defining the boundaries of womanhood would ultimately remain in our hands if we took such an approach. These forms of “rape prevention” also tend to rely on punitive violence.

We should not settle for individual responses, we need social and institutional responses. We need mass education on the subject.  This educational effort should extend beyond the usual advocacy organizations and seminars on sexual harassment and violence that one may find in colleges and universities. Liquor and beer companies tell their consumers to consume moderately and not to drink and drive, why not tell their consumers that one should not take advantage of an inebriated person? Due to their influence and access to large networks of young men, sports leagues and organization such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Hockey League (NHL), and even ESPN should devote resources to educate young men about rape as well.

One example of an alcohol advertisement that  Nelson offers as an example subtle messaging.
One example of an alcohol advertisement that Nelson offers as an example subtle messaging.

Ultimately, this is more about considering what it would take to construct a world without rape could look like. What values will we choose to institutionalize? Sexual assault is a matter of social justice, individual liberty, and bodily integrity. It is also an opportunity for us men to reconsider harmful notions of masculinity that aid and abet sexual assault. Mass education is a must, though, precisely because most are not even aware that they perpetuate such harmful notions about rape. Also, like many instances of domestic violence, not all of the men who have committed sexual assault are “evil” men who stalk the alleys at night, many victims already know the accused.

I am aware of the fact that we would not prevent every instance of sexual assault if we tried to pursue all of the solutions that activists such as Maxwell have prescribed. However, the fact that we cannot be perfect should not deter those of us who have not gotten involved from trying to eradicate rape culture. I do not want to ridicule any one person from taking whatever precautions to remain safe. Yet, these types of individual solutions subject women to a puritanism that is itself oppressive and they do nothing to get at the source of the problem. I know I focused much of my attention on men raping women and not sexual assault of children and gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, and queers.  I would argue about other forms of violence, it is part of the same system.

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Michael Derry

As sad and shocking as the sympathy for the Steubenville rapists is, it’s even more surprising when you think about how much our society loves vengeance. The CNN response was not merely about taking note of the serious impact the consequences their crime have on them; it feels more like the implication that what they did wasn’t really that bad and that, somehow, the defendants’ ‘bright future’ should have been taken into account.

I agree that mass education should be implemented. I think it should be integrated as a key part of sex education in public school, not just at the university level. If nothing else, a serious focus on defining rape and consent more clearly would be a good start.

Not to nit-pick, but in your second-to-last paragraph, you end with “many victims already know the accused.” I think it would be more accurate to say that ~most~ victims already know the accused. Depending on the study, 70%, 80%, or 90% of victims know their attacker. As an under-reported crime, I imagine that a perpetrator who is known is less likely to be reported. Cultural norms can, and do, cause victims not to even realize that what they experienced was rape. This is why mass education is such an important step.

Janette

As a survivor it is incredibly difficult everyday to stomach the illogical and horrendous things that men and women say who don’t believe rape culture exists, think feminism is women trying to oppress men, and victim blame. I just have to thank you for understanding and acknowledging this problem. It really does give me hope when I hear words like yours coming from a man because without both genders working together this problem will never be stopped.

Gameitect

Thanks. I hope this aspect of our culture can be changed.

I just found a petition related to the concept. It’s a White House petition titled “Make Consent a Mandatory Part of Sex-Ed in Public Schools.” http://wh.gov/sLrH

It’s a very small step toward the small step of mass education on the topic… but at least it’s something.

Donna Alexander

Thank you for writing this. I absolutely agree with mass education, not just in schools, but also coming from media, businesses and other large scale institutions which have a huge effect on how we think and act as human beings. I have linked this post to something I wrote about Victim Blaming. Thanks again.

Slane Girl, In Solidarity | Nursing Clio

[…] To quote fellow Nursing Clio Blogger, Austin McCoy,  modern rape culture manifests itself “in a puritanical collective shaming and blaming of the victim.” Despite the potential multiple acts of sexual abuse that occurred, the vitriol is directed […]

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