The United States has faced many epidemics in its lifetime; however this is one of the few that they are not alone in. Rape is a world-wide epidemic because there is is no widely accepted definition of what it actually is. Common phrases that men and women have been taught since grade school have led to the normalization of rape throughout the world. Attitudes, beliefs, and mistaken ideas about rape have been with people for centuries. Rape culture exists, and there’s several ways to fix it, but only if people work together.
Rape culture can be defined as “an environment in which rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence is normalized and excused in the media and popular culture” (Rape Culture, Victim Blaming, And The Facts). There are several ways that rape has become “normal” to society. One of the main, most known reasons is the language people use. In many cases of rape, people tend to blame the victim with a phrase similar to “She asked for it!” The phrase “Boys will be boys!” is also commonly used. While it seems like an innocent thing to say, it is actually trivializing sexual assault and rape, making it seem that men are rapists by nature.
Victim blaming is a huge issue. It is often justified by what the woman is wearing. Men in particular use provocative clothing as an excuse because according to them, if someone dresses like that then they deserve to be raped. A very recent and tragic example of this occured in Ireland. In November of last year, a middle aged man was declared not guilty of his rape accusations after his lawyer cited the seventeen year old girl’s lace underwear as evidence (Ingber). It is a common tactic used by defense lawyers to discredit women who have the bravery to go to court. Recently, lawyers have used clothes and even fake tans as evidence of women “asking for it” (Ingber). People often make accusations such as “she shouldn't have been there, she should’ve screamed louder, or she shouldn't have drank that much”(Ingber). These common accusations prevent many women from sharing their story. What person would want to have the embarrassment of her underwear being held up in court as evidence? Consequently, the teenage girl commited suicide just days after the trial. The whole event resulted in protests throughout the world with women holding up underwear and using the phrase “#ThisIsNotConsent.” While protests do prove to be beneficial in raising awareness about an issue, it is not enough to end the rape culture.
People are often surprised when cases such as these come to light and assume that it was an anomaly. However, they are really symptomatic of cultures that failed to remove the grey areas and promote messages to their children about how women are submissive and sexually passive. Throughout their lifetime, women are taught to “try not to get raped” as they grow up. Instead, people should try to spread the message to men to not be rapists. Women should not be responsible for protecting themselves against men during everyday activities. Not all men are rapists by any means. Most men, in fact, are not rapists and will never rape a woman. Society likes to pretend that rape is not a huge widespread issue, that it is just a few bad people and their actions that people focus on. Instead of focusing on the outpouring of sexual assault stories and saying “How can I help?” men tend to focus on things like “It wasn’t me!” Believers of the rape culture do not see all men as rapists. They know that there are a lot of wonderful men in the world who respect women and treat them how they’re supposed to be treated. Men tend to take offense to the fact that when rape is discussed, people usually talk about man on woman rape. This is a problem because anyone could be raped by anyone, but the most reported rapes have been men on women, which is why people tend to talk about that more.
The rape culture is a societal issue where rape is normalized due to the messages about gender and sex. Sexual violence has become the norm and victims are blamed for their own assaults. It has gotten increasingly worse, to the point where women are too afraid to come forward with their stories. It must come to an end. Men and women need to work together and pass along messages about empowerment. It must be solved, for the safety of women in the future.
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