Yuan, N., Koss, M., & O 'Brien, J. (2009). Rape. In Encyclopedia of Gender and Society (Vol. 2, pp. 701-705). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.…
Because Popular culture depicts a “typical” rape as being perpetrated by “sick” or crazy men where the rape is a “sudden, violent attack by a stranger in a deserted, public space, after which the victim is expected to provide evidence of the attach and of her active resistance” (Williams, 1984). This stereotype script frames rapists as strangers and the literature refers to such a description as the “classic” rape scenario (Williams, 1994).…
Rape culture is a term that was coined by feminists in the United States in the 1970’s. It was designed to show the ways in which society blamed victims of sexual assault and normalized male sexual violence. It can also be defined as a complex set of beliefs that encourage male sexual aggression and supports violence against women. Rape culture includes the images, language, laws and other everyday phenomena that we see and hear everyday that validate and perpetuate rape. Rape culture is the jokes, TV, music, advertising, legal jargon, laws, words and imagery, that make violence against women and sexual coercion seem normal. Research has shown that violent media encourages youth to be very tolerant of aggression towards a romantic partner and…
Why does rape exist and what causes it? What is it about our society that makes rape one of the fastest growing violent crimes in this country? “Rape culture” is defined as “rape culture is a setting in which rape is pervasive and normalized due to societal attitudes about gender and sexuality.” Society normalizes rape by objectifying and sexualizing women in situations that have no use of something with “sex appeal.”…
Rape Culture is a culture in which multi-media (radio, television, movies, music, social sites); news stations, politicians, public and social institutions, religious groups, and the general masses condone sexual assault by normalizing or trivializing male sexual violence and by blaming survivors for their own abuse.…
According to Burt (1980), rape myths are defined as ‘prejudicial, stereotype or false beliefs about rape, rape victims and rapists’ that serve as a kind of denial and justify male sexual aggression towards women. Burt (1980) identified the examples of rape myths such as 1) “she asked for it”; 2) “it wasn't really rape”; 3) “he didn't mean to”; 4) “she wanted it”; 5) “she liked it”; 6) “rape is a trivial event”; and 7) “rape is a deviant event”. Rape myths vary among societies and cultures(Burt 1980). Rape myths are also highly related to why the rape cases are under-reported (Grubb and Turner 2012). However, they consistently follow a pattern, which they blame the victim for their rape, express a disbelief in claims of rape, exonerate the perpetrator…
References: Kopper, B.A. (1996). Gender, gender identity, rape myth acceptance, and time of initial resistance…
In the beginning of this article it describes on how rape became. The cause is “medicalized” a social problem. The two sociologists interviewed a sample of men who had been sent to prison for rape. The men talked about their motives on why they committed these violent acts. An assumption is that male sexual aggression is unusual or strange. The feminist perspective views rape as an act of violence and social control to “keep women in their place.” They also view pornography as an important element in a larger system of sexual violence. Many convicted rapists justify their rapes by saying that their victim enjoyed herself despite the use of a weapon. Many argued, they had been instrumental in making her fantasy come true. A rapist might see his act as a legitimized form of revenge or punishment. Some of the men said that they raped their wives or other significant women to get even with them. Men believe they have the right to punish and discipline women. Rape is used “to put women in their place.” Men take out their anger issues on women to feel more powerful and know that someone is less than them. Indeed a number of men indicated that the decision to rape has been made after they realized they were in control of the situation. One man explained, “Rape gave me power to do what I wanted to do without feeling I had to please a partner or respond to a partner.” In conclusion all these men justify their crimes as being in control and getting even with women. They felt like having committed rape was fine and didn’t have a conscience.…
Many of the attitudes, beliefs, and mistaken ideas about rape have been with us for centuries. By looking at myths, such as "women ask for it," and "women secretly enjoy rape," from a historical perspective, lead us for better understanding how they evolved. Women are still seen as the property of men, are protected as such. Men and women are still taught to occupy very different roles in today's world. Men are usually in power positions, and women are seen as passive. This socialization process is changing, but slowly.…
According to the Wikipedia website (www.wikipedia.com),” rape culture is a concept used to describe a culture in which rape and sexual violence is common and which prevalent attitudes, norms, practices, and media normalize, excuse, tolerate, or even condone rape.”…
The contention that rape should be regarded as an asexual act has done nothing to remedy this. Nor will it. As activist and writer Wendy McElroy points out, "there can be as many motives for rape as there are for murder and other violent crimes … Rape is every bit as complex." Insisting that no rape is ever "about" sex but is rather about an individual man acting on a patriarchal mandate to sow terror by exercising "power" does a disservice to us all. (qtd. in Baker)…
Every year there are roughly 293,000 victims of sexual assault and this number increases as time goes by. Rape happens in every corner of the world and many live with the traumatic memories, unable to get rid of them. They remember the pain and some decide to either cut themselves, take drugs or they choose to commit suicide. And its not just women out there who get raped, boys do too. The percentage of women who have experienced an attempted or completed rape is 16 percent and the percentage of men who have experienced an attempted or completed rape is 3 percent, not zero. The lower percentage is perhaps because of men’s greater power to fight off the potential…
America is known for its many diverse cultures. Mostly, these cultures are celebrated and widely accepted, however, there are some that are not so easily accepted. Since the 1970’s, there has been an ongoing debate on whether or not America has a “rape culture.” The term rape culture was introduced in the United States in the 1970’s by feminists who wanted to display how society normalizes sexual aggressions, behaviors, and violence. Rape culture includes everything from unwanted “catcalling” to rape jokes to movies that focus on male characters getting girls drunk in hopes that they will have sex with them.…
Boswell, Spade, Scully and Marolla explore and examine the perception of rape. Boswell and Spade’s article on collegiate rape culture focuses on the different environments and their effect on gender relations. Scully and Marolla’s article on the vocabulary of rapists mainly focuses on how rapists explain and justify their actions. Fraternity brothers and convicted rapists share certain perceptions and reactions towards rape and its victims. They are both involved within a pervasive rape culture that blames female victims for their attacker’s crimes, but it denotes rapists as insane criminals, which leads to the invisibility of rape culture within the ‘normal’ society.…
According to Merriam-Webster dictionary rape is “unlawful sexual activity and usually sexual intercourse carried out forcibly or under threat of injury against the will usually of a female or with a person who is beneath a certain age or incapable of valid consent”. Rape is a horrible act that can ruin a victim’s life permanently, by causing severe mental trauma and also the risk of trading STD’s between the perpetrator and the victim. Although our country views rape a very malicious crime we have decided that rapists cannot be executed (Coker v. Georgia, 1977), because it is according to the Supreme Court “in a split decision on June 29, 1977, ruled that capital punishment is grossly disproportionate to the crime of rape and is therefore prohibited by the Eighth Amendment as cruel and unusual punishment.”…