Tiffany Smallwood

English 2010
Kati Lewis
November 15, 2016
What is Rape Culture?
In todays age, we live in a society that teaches young girls dont get raped. There are
entire companies out there whose target market are women and their protection; selling pink stun
guns and canisters of pepper spray designed to look like hairspray. When instead we could be
teaching boys dont rape. Rape culture can be defined as a societal norm that places the blame
of sexual assault on the victims.
Rape culture is about desensitization. Monday morning you walk in to the office and you
hear your coworkers talking about Sunday Night Football; Oh yeah, the Bengals got raped last
night! Nobody bats an eye. How many times do you tune in to primetime television and see a
crime show where they are investigating the rape and/or murder of a young woman? It seems the
topic of rape has become a form of entertainment, an easy plot arc.
Rape is a very real and growing issue within our society more and more we are teaching
our youth that, she was asking for it or the mentality of, boys will be boys. The rise in
related assaults has been considered a huge danger on our society and an overwhelming
sociological issue. Rape is defined as a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse or
other forms of sexual assault without a person's consent. It is something occurring not only in our
nation but internationally, across the globe the ramifications are being handled in various ways.

We spend much time, money and resources investigating, punishing and looking at the
perpetrators and because of this we forget about the victims entirely.
Brock Turner: a name we all know and I wont say love. Receives a 6-month jail sentence
for the rape of a young women, of the sentence, he spends only 3 months in jail. (Grinberg,
2016) When I look at the news stories covering this, I dont see Brock Turner, Alleged Rapist to
go to Trial. Instead I see things such as Former All-American Swimmer Accused of Rape.
What does a history of sports have to do with the allegations of rape? It builds up the defendant,
makes him look not so bad. The victim on the other hand? Maybe she shouldnt have drank so
much she passed out. That is rape culture.
Unfortunately, not in all cases can the victims manage to get their lives together. Many
cases get ignored and in response the victims end up acting out. When a case of sexual assault is
brought to the attention of the police, they perform a medical rape kit on the victim. Despite the
fact that the technology to analyze DNA has been around for decades, hundreds of thousands of
sexual assault kits all over the country go without conclusive results. This is because not
everyone is in the database; unless the perpetrators DNA and fingerprints have been previously
collected, whether from working a government job or due to a previous crime, its unlikely this
technology will help find the culprit leaving them at a dead where eventually the case gets
pushed aside to focus on other pressing matters. ("What Is a Rape Kit? | RAINN") Because of
this mentalityto push aside the problemmany cases of sexual assault inevitably fall deep
within the cracks and are forgotten all together. In some cases it pushes the victim to take
matters into their own hands; not always is it in the right ways. In 1999 one case of child
molestation left ignored, lead to a murder case and the two youngest children to be convicted as
adults for first degree murder.

Slut Shaming is another part of the rape culture we experience every day. In 2010 there
was a high profile case in Australia where the rapist was acquitted because the woman was
wearing skinny jeans. The defense argued that she couldnt be raped because her jeans were
supposedly too tight for anyone to pull off without her help or consent. (Goldsmith, 2010) The
fact that a woman can be blamed for a rape based simply on the clothes she was wearing is a
method of slut shaming. Hearing arguments like she was dressed too promiscuously that
screams she was asking for it! is part of the problem of rape culture in society. A woman does
not wake up in the morning, stand in front of her closet and think to herself Id really like to be
raped today, what can I wear to accomplish that?
This sort of behavior in the justice system discourages women from even reporting such
atrocities. In a report published by Rainn looking at 1,000 cases of rape, only 344 were even
reported to the police. What is even more startling in that number is that only 63 reports even led
to an arrest, and of that only 13 cases got referred to a prosecutor, only 7 lead to a felony
conviction, and only 6 were incarcerated. ("The Criminal Justice System: Statistics | RAINN")
With numbers like that, it can be discouraging to even think about reporting a rape, added on top
of the humiliation and blame victims are often subject to.
In addition to facing the world stamped with a new brand of raped on their forehead,
the physical aftermath faced by victims is very real. The physical and emotional scars left are
catastrophic. Some long-term physical effects of sexual violence include, but are not limited to:
chronic pain, gastrointestinal disorders, gynecological complications, sexually transmitted
infections, cervical cancer and overall genital injuries. Some immediate mental consequences
include denial, fear, guilt, anxiety and overall symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. These

effects can also branch out affecting sleep due to flashbacks causing insomnia and panic attacks.
The psychological effects of sexual assault can be some of the worst pushing on ones psyche in
many cases leading to contemplation and attempts of suicide ("Sexual Violence:
Consequences")These consequences sometimes can last the entire life of the victim as an
everyday reminder of the trauma they endured.
All and all we see that sexual assaults and abuse is a growing problem in society and the
effects victims face are never ending. Sadly, not enough victims get the help they deserve. There
are many support groups for victims, counseling and therapy opportunities available but even
this isnt always enough. Yet, we continue to perpetuate the rape culture we live in. The next time
youve suffered a crippling defeat, think instead of referring to the loss as being raped. The
next time you hear of a woman being assaulted, instead of asking Yeah, but was she drunk?
ask instead what can be done to prevent such things from happening at all.

Works Cited

Goldsmith, Samuel. "Jury Acquits Accused Rapist; Rules Woman's Skinny Jeans so
Tight, She Must Have Helped Remove Them." NY Daily News. N.p., 2010. Web. 13 Nov.

2016.
Grinberg, Emanuella. "Brock Turner Set to Leave Jail Early." CNN. N.p., 1 Sept. 2016.
Web. 13 Nov. 2016.

"Sexual Violence: Consequences." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. N.p.,

2016. Web. 13 Nov. 2016.

"The Criminal Justice System: Statistics | RAINN." The Criminal Justice System:

Statistics | RAINN. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2016.

"What Is a Rape Kit? | RAINN." What Is a Rape Kit? | RAINN. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov.
2016.