Lesson Twelve: Rape Culture

Rape Culture: Rape culture is the normalization of rape and sexual violence within a society. Rape cultures often excuse, tolerate, or condone rape. Examples of rape culture include: blaming rape victims for their rape, the supraliminal use of sexual violence or rape in advertisements, saying "I raped you!" after defeating someone in a game, and perpetuating the idea that "No" means "Yes" or "No" means "Convince me".

Sexual Objectification: Objectification is the lowering of a human being from a person, with their own thoughts and agency, to a mere object to be used. Women face objectification everyday. More specifically, they face sexual objectification, which is when a person is lowered to the status of an object to be used or viewed for sexual pleasure only. Simply, sexual objectification paints women as things that exist only to be used, consumed, or controlled by men sexually with no regard to what they actually think, feel, or want as individuals.

Victim Blaming: Victim blaming is when the victim of a crime is made responsible for said crime in some way. In rape culture, victims of rape and sexual violence are blamed for provoking their rapist by wearing revealing clothing, flirting with their rapist, allowing it to go that far, for not pushing the rapist off or away, for not vocally saying no, for passing out, etc. Victim blaming also accuses the victim for not following certain guidelines like constantly watching their drink, never taking food or drink from another person, for not being aware at all times, etc. This also means little to no blame is put on the person who consciously decided to force another individual into sexual acts.

Slut Shaming: A slut is slur used to reference any woman or girl who is considered to be promiscuous in behavior or appearance. Slut shaming is the act of making these women feel guilty, dirty, trashy, and/or inferior for their actions or perceived actions. Women can also be slut shamed for using birth control, being raped, or anything that deviates from natural or religious law. Men are rarely slut shamed and are usually regarded higher by their peers for taking part in these acts.

Advertisements Implying Rape: Advertisements that imply rape normalize the idea of rape and sexual violence, perpetuating rape culture. Women in these advertisements are always sexually objectified, usually made into products to be used and discarded by men. They make it appear as if the victim enjoys being dominated, deserves it in some way, and/or that the man/men raping her have a right to do so. These messages are clearly dangerous as women seeing it may begin to believe that their bodies belongs to men, and men seeing it may begin that women are only there for their pleasure.