THE MEDIA AND RAPE CULTURE
The lines of sexual assault and rape have become blurred through the media. While the drive for sex may come from hormones and other biological factors, the entitlement that male college students have derives from social cues and media representation of masculinity. In her book Fraternity Gang Rape, author Peggy Sandy comments that “those men who object to this kind of behavior run the risk of being labeled as ‘wimps’ or, even worse in their eyes, ‘gays’ or ‘faggots’. Society’s definition of “masculinity” is one of the key elements in the rape culture. The behavior seen in the mainstream media sets a precedent and an expectation that many males feel the need to meet. In Transforming a Rape Culture, Emily Buchwald …show more content…
Many examples of rape culture are seen in films rated PG or PG-13. In any movie or TV show when a man and women argue, then he forces her to kiss him, which she may first resist, but eventually melts into it is advocating sexual assault as romantic and desirable. Even many popular music videos, accessible to any age, have many of the same elements of oversexualization and aggressive sexual violence. Advertisements found in the media have an impact on young adults perception of rape. A study done at Southwest Oklahoma State University examined the effects two music videos had on student’s perceptions of rape. The experiment had one group watch a music video that contained high levels of over sexualization, and the other group watch a music video with low levels of sexualization. These two groups were then asked to complete a survey asking who is to blame for a rape case. Generally, the group that watched the highly sexualized music video had less sympathy for the victim and found them more blame-worthy. This study gives some direction to the conclusion that media does indeed have a strong effect on young people in particular response to their perception of rape. Other studies have surveyed those who are avid television soap opera viewers on their perception of rape cases. The conclusions were generally the same, over sexualization of women leads both genders to believe in the “rape …show more content…
The media’s way of twisting the vocabulary enforces the “rape myth” by incorporating the phrase “no means no” into everyday vocabulary takes away from its seriousness. Previous laws have been made to clarify “consent”. These laws stated that unless someone explicitly says “no” to sexual intercourse it can not be considered rape. California has recently put into place the Yes-Means-Yes law, which states that when engaging in sexual activity both parties must give “affirmative consent”. This new law hopes to be more effective than the previous No-Means-No law, which stated that as long neither partner explicitly says no, engaging in sexual activity is okay. Legislations like Yes-Means-Yes will prove necessary in combatting rape, and sexual assault that happens on college campuses nation wide. This new piece of legislation will help in thoroughly investigating claims of sexual assault as well as educating students about consent. Various groups and organizations are making an effort to put an end to rape culture specifically targeting college campuses. An agency called “men can stop rape” has created a campaign advocating an to end sexual violence and rape. This idea contrasts the traditional efforts that believe that men are the problem of rape. “Men can stop rape” is working with educational programs and advertisement to promote their campaign. As shown by the ways that media can have an impact on students perception of rape,
The lines of sexual assault and rape have become blurred through the media. While the drive for sex may come from hormones and other biological factors, the entitlement that male college students have derives from social cues and media representation of masculinity. In her book Fraternity Gang Rape, author Peggy Sandy comments that “those men who object to this kind of behavior run the risk of being labeled as ‘wimps’ or, even worse in their eyes, ‘gays’ or ‘faggots’. Society’s definition of “masculinity” is one of the key elements in the rape culture. The behavior seen in the mainstream media sets a precedent and an expectation that many males feel the need to meet. In Transforming a Rape Culture, Emily Buchwald …show more content…
Many examples of rape culture are seen in films rated PG or PG-13. In any movie or TV show when a man and women argue, then he forces her to kiss him, which she may first resist, but eventually melts into it is advocating sexual assault as romantic and desirable. Even many popular music videos, accessible to any age, have many of the same elements of oversexualization and aggressive sexual violence. Advertisements found in the media have an impact on young adults perception of rape. A study done at Southwest Oklahoma State University examined the effects two music videos had on student’s perceptions of rape. The experiment had one group watch a music video that contained high levels of over sexualization, and the other group watch a music video with low levels of sexualization. These two groups were then asked to complete a survey asking who is to blame for a rape case. Generally, the group that watched the highly sexualized music video had less sympathy for the victim and found them more blame-worthy. This study gives some direction to the conclusion that media does indeed have a strong effect on young people in particular response to their perception of rape. Other studies have surveyed those who are avid television soap opera viewers on their perception of rape cases. The conclusions were generally the same, over sexualization of women leads both genders to believe in the “rape …show more content…
The media’s way of twisting the vocabulary enforces the “rape myth” by incorporating the phrase “no means no” into everyday vocabulary takes away from its seriousness. Previous laws have been made to clarify “consent”. These laws stated that unless someone explicitly says “no” to sexual intercourse it can not be considered rape. California has recently put into place the Yes-Means-Yes law, which states that when engaging in sexual activity both parties must give “affirmative consent”. This new law hopes to be more effective than the previous No-Means-No law, which stated that as long neither partner explicitly says no, engaging in sexual activity is okay. Legislations like Yes-Means-Yes will prove necessary in combatting rape, and sexual assault that happens on college campuses nation wide. This new piece of legislation will help in thoroughly investigating claims of sexual assault as well as educating students about consent. Various groups and organizations are making an effort to put an end to rape culture specifically targeting college campuses. An agency called “men can stop rape” has created a campaign advocating an to end sexual violence and rape. This idea contrasts the traditional efforts that believe that men are the problem of rape. “Men can stop rape” is working with educational programs and advertisement to promote their campaign. As shown by the ways that media can have an impact on students perception of rape,