Rape culture

This article is about the concept of rape culture. For the 1975 film, see Rape Culture (film).

Rape rates (police reported) per 100,000 population, 2010–2012
Rape
Types
Effects and motivations
By country
During conflicts
Laws
Related articles
Portals
icon Law portal

Rape culture is a setting, as described by some sociological theories, in which rape is pervasive and normalized due to that setting's attitudes about gender and sexuality.[1][2] Behaviors commonly associated with rape culture include victim blaming, slut-shaming, sexual objectification, trivializing rape, denial of widespread rape, refusing to acknowledge the harm caused by sexual violence, or some combination of these.[3][4] It has been used to describe and explain behavior within social groups, including prison rape and in conflict areas where war rape is used as psychological warfare. Entire societies have been alleged to be rape cultures.[5][6][7][8]

The notion of rape culture was developed by second-wave feminists, primarily in the United States, beginning in the 1960s. Critics of the concept dispute its existence or extent, arguing that the concept is too narrow or that although there are cultures where rape is pervasive, the very idea of rape culture can imply that it is not the rapist who is somehow at fault, but rather society as a whole that enables rape. Critics of that line of criticism have disputed the notion that only one party needs to be at fault, noting that the perpetrator can be the primary wrongdoer, those who help cover it up or harass the victim acting as accomplices, and that thus, also according to them, the wider society and culture can still be blamed for its collective influence on these individuals.

Two movements have addressed what they either fully or partially perceive as being rape culture or a role being played by rape culture, i.e. SlutWalk and Me Too. Though their rationale for claiming and including that the role of rape culture as being party to the particular social blights and crimes that they are fighting can vary, these movements have helped spread people's stories through hashtags[9] and provide an online space where victims of different types of sexual violence can confide in each other.

  1. ^ Olfman, Sharna (2009). The Sexualization of Childhood. ABC-CLIO. p. 9.
  2. ^ Flintoft, Rebecca (October 2001). John Nicoletti; Sally Spencer-Thomas; Christopher M. Bollinger (eds.). Violence Goes to College: The Authoritative Guide to Prevention and Intervention. Charles C Thomas. p. 134. ISBN 978-0398071912.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference herman was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Attenborough, Frederick (2014). "Rape is rape (except when it's not): the media, recontextualisation and violence against women". Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict. 2 (2): 183–203. doi:10.1075/jlac.2.2.01att.
  5. ^ Rozee, Patricia. "Resisting a Rape Culture". Rape Resistance. Archived from the original on 13 January 2013. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  6. ^ Steffes, Micah (January 2008). "The American Rape Culture". High Plains Reader. Archived from the original on 24 November 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  7. ^ Maitse, Teboho (1998). "Political change, rape, and pornography in postapartheid South Africa". Gender & Development. 6 (3): 55–59. doi:10.1080/741922834. ISSN 1355-2074. PMID 12294413.
  8. ^ Baxi, Upendra (August 2002). "The Second Gujarat Catastrophe". Economic and Political Weekly. 37 (34): 3519–3531. JSTOR 4412519.
  9. ^ Stern, Danielle M. (3 April 2018). "Embodied Interventions: Feminist Communication Pedagogy and Rape Culture". Women's Studies in Communication. 41 (2): 108–112. doi:10.1080/07491409.2018.1463769. ISSN 0749-1409. S2CID 149595407.