Despite numerous efforts by various contingents, rape culture has maintained its place in the status quo. Rape culture refers to the collective ignorance, disparagement, normalization and comedic trivialization of sexual violence by society. Perhaps stemming from a history of patriarchal dominance as well as anti-feministic and misogynistic view of women as instruments of pleasure for the opposite sex. Unfortunately, this stagnancy in the curtailment or even eradication of this culture can be explained via the fundamental theory of system justification. This theory refers to the tendency of humans to unconsciously or unconsciously justify the existing status quo and is prevalent amongst disadvantaged groups. System justification argues that
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This was a highly publicized case about a male college student who sexually assaulted an unconscious ad intoxicated female visitor. The defendant, Brock Turner, was charged with assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated woman, sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object, and sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object in March 2016. Unfortunately, victim blame mentality has played a part in inhibiting the progression from the dominant rape culture. This occurs when victims of assault are blamed for not taking “necessary measures” to prevent the action against them. This was apparent in the case of the victim of the Stanford case who fell prey to the mentality saying, “For a while, I believed that that was all I was… just a drunk victim at a frat party found behind a dumpster, while you are the All American swimmer at a top university, innocent until proven guilty, with so much at stake.” This statement substantiates the theory of system justification in victim blaming where the obviously wronged rape victim blames herself at some point for the tragedy that befell her. The victim’s internalization of injustice stems from a society that sometimes holds the belief in a ‘just world’ where the outcomes of one’s behavior is well deserved. Undoubtedly, this mentality inculcates the inferiority of the disadvantaged …show more content…
This culture is constantly validated using common rhetoric like “she asked for it” or “Men will be men”, “she didn’t say no”, “she shouldn’t have been wearing that”, “she shouldn’t have been drinking” and so much more. It is obvious then that such a brutal crime is implicitly or explicitly bolstered by society; a society that subjects victims to sexual assault vicious stigmatization and forces them to assume some responsibility for their affliction. Undoubtedly, system justification plays a major role in the rape culture that is prevalent in society
This was a highly publicized case about a male college student who sexually assaulted an unconscious ad intoxicated female visitor. The defendant, Brock Turner, was charged with assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated woman, sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object, and sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object in March 2016. Unfortunately, victim blame mentality has played a part in inhibiting the progression from the dominant rape culture. This occurs when victims of assault are blamed for not taking “necessary measures” to prevent the action against them. This was apparent in the case of the victim of the Stanford case who fell prey to the mentality saying, “For a while, I believed that that was all I was… just a drunk victim at a frat party found behind a dumpster, while you are the All American swimmer at a top university, innocent until proven guilty, with so much at stake.” This statement substantiates the theory of system justification in victim blaming where the obviously wronged rape victim blames herself at some point for the tragedy that befell her. The victim’s internalization of injustice stems from a society that sometimes holds the belief in a ‘just world’ where the outcomes of one’s behavior is well deserved. Undoubtedly, this mentality inculcates the inferiority of the disadvantaged …show more content…
This culture is constantly validated using common rhetoric like “she asked for it” or “Men will be men”, “she didn’t say no”, “she shouldn’t have been wearing that”, “she shouldn’t have been drinking” and so much more. It is obvious then that such a brutal crime is implicitly or explicitly bolstered by society; a society that subjects victims to sexual assault vicious stigmatization and forces them to assume some responsibility for their affliction. Undoubtedly, system justification plays a major role in the rape culture that is prevalent in society