It Takes A Village To Rape A Woman Analysis

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Reading Response #4
1. Explanation of “It Takes a Village to Rape a Woman” with reference to Kobe Bryant. Jackson Katz (2006) discusses rape culture in Chapter 9 of his book, The Macho Paradox. Rape culture is the centerpiece of Jackson’s argument in this chapter. It is a feminist notion that was developed decades ago as a way of explaining the emergence of rapists, as well as their identification. The concept states that rapists are not limited to a small population of mentally unstable or deviant individuals, but rather consists of normal individuals that are products of a culture that sexualizes women and promotes sexual violence. Katz decided to name Chapter 9 with the phrase, “It Takes a Village to Rape a Woman.” I believe that Jackson chose this title to make it stand out as a deliberately provocative one. He is trying to display the learning effect that we discussed in class; that is, to make the learning experience an effective one we must first make the environment an uncomfortable one. The suggestion that Katz is making with the phrase is that it is not just one individual that rapes a woman, but rather a collection of factors that includes the
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Looking at mass media from his perspective, it is a method of creating mass consciousness by projecting rape culture to the public. Social dominance and cultural control is achieved through corporations that display the sexualization of women on a daily basis through the media. Pornography isn’t necessarily a form of mass media, but it people can access it with the same level of ease as they can the media. As a result, boys from a young age are instilled with this perception of how women should be treated through the viewing of pornography that affects their treatment of women in the future. Thinking of mass media from Ezzell’s perspective, one can conclude that it is the most powerful forms of instilling rape culture

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