User:Shiningroad/Rape culture

Rape culture is a feminist concept that describes a culture in which rape is common and is accepted and even encouraged. In a rape culture victims of rape may be blamed (victim blaming) or punished for what happened to them. The United States and India, as well as other places, have been described as having rape cultures.

What makes a rape culture?

There is dispute over how to define the concept of 'rape culture'. A definition from the book Transforming a Rape Culture states, "A rape culture is a complex of beliefs that encourages male sexual aggression and supports violence against women. It is a society where violence is seen as sexy and sexuality as violent. In a rape culture, women perceive a continuum of threatened violence that ranges from sexual remarks to sexual touching to rape itself. A rape culture condones physical and emotional terrorism against women as the norm." Examples of attitudes that are considered by some to be manifestations of rape culture include those in national laws. Crime statistics may also be used as evidence for rape culture.

In India it is legal to rape someone if you are married to them. The government said that making it a crime would weaken traditional family values. Rape is one of the most under-reported crimes in America.

Criticism

In The Encyclopedia of Rape, Sabine Sielke distinguishes between the popularity of rape as a trope in American media and 'real violence', saying, 'The term rape culture misleadingly hints that rape occurs more frequently in a culture that talks about rape intensively than in cultures that deny its existence.'.

References

Category:Feminism Category:Rape