I see the phrase, “You can’t wear a mini skirt, show cleavage, and be all over someone then expect him not to rape you. It’s like dangling a piece of meat in front of a hungry dog,” in an article by Ophir Shemer. But men are not hungry dogs that can’t control themselves; men are human beings that should be able to control themselves. Today, rape might as well be legal. Our current society normalizes and makes rape invisible due to our societal arrogances about gender and sexuality. Society tells us that rape is bad and rapists are looked down upon, but everyday rape cases and rape victims are put aside and there is no justice for offenders. Rape culture is a term that was invented by feminists in the 1970’s and it was intended to show the different
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As a consequence of rape culture, women are convinced that it’s their fault for allowing themselves to be raped. Ophir Shemer from Feminspire states, “This vilification creates issues not only for rape victims but for the entire female population.” Rape culture is directly correlated to our rights as women. It attacks our right to say no, it attacks our right to wear what we want to wear, and it attacks our right to be free human beings. When a woman says yes too many times she is labeled as a slut, but when a women says no too many times she is labeled as a prude. Rape culture has led to a belief in some men that when a woman says no, that she shouldn’t be taken seriously. Maybe she was laughing and flirting in which she was being a “tease” and “leading guys on” so she was asking for it right? If she really didn’t want to have sex with the offender, she should have fought him off right? WRONG. Rape culture says that a woman who wears mini skirts, tight dresses and shirts, or anything that hugs their curves that she is misleading men and that her clothes are an indication of her sexual availability and consent. Why would a woman be wearing such clothes if she weren’t intending of having sex with someone? She was asking for it. In Roxanne Gay’s article, “The Careless Language of Sexual Violence,” the author writes about how news media often blames victims for their rape, such as in the case of the Cleveland, TX gang rape in 2011. An 11-year-old girl was raped by a group of 18 men, and yet, the author of an article in the New York Times felt the need to question the girl’s choice in clothing. “Residents in the neighborhood…. said she dressed older than her age, wearing makeup and fashions more appropriate to a woman in her 20s. She would hang out with teenage boys at a playground, some said.” Instead of discussing this 11-year-old’s outfit, we need
As a consequence of rape culture, women are convinced that it’s their fault for allowing themselves to be raped. Ophir Shemer from Feminspire states, “This vilification creates issues not only for rape victims but for the entire female population.” Rape culture is directly correlated to our rights as women. It attacks our right to say no, it attacks our right to wear what we want to wear, and it attacks our right to be free human beings. When a woman says yes too many times she is labeled as a slut, but when a women says no too many times she is labeled as a prude. Rape culture has led to a belief in some men that when a woman says no, that she shouldn’t be taken seriously. Maybe she was laughing and flirting in which she was being a “tease” and “leading guys on” so she was asking for it right? If she really didn’t want to have sex with the offender, she should have fought him off right? WRONG. Rape culture says that a woman who wears mini skirts, tight dresses and shirts, or anything that hugs their curves that she is misleading men and that her clothes are an indication of her sexual availability and consent. Why would a woman be wearing such clothes if she weren’t intending of having sex with someone? She was asking for it. In Roxanne Gay’s article, “The Careless Language of Sexual Violence,” the author writes about how news media often blames victims for their rape, such as in the case of the Cleveland, TX gang rape in 2011. An 11-year-old girl was raped by a group of 18 men, and yet, the author of an article in the New York Times felt the need to question the girl’s choice in clothing. “Residents in the neighborhood…. said she dressed older than her age, wearing makeup and fashions more appropriate to a woman in her 20s. She would hang out with teenage boys at a playground, some said.” Instead of discussing this 11-year-old’s outfit, we need