Does Rape Culture Exist?

mushybees · 2015-03-15T11:44:34+00:00

Does our culture victim blame?

Depends on your definition. As bill burr says, if i get bit by a rattlesnake, your gonna have a few questions, like 'what were you doing? Were you fucking with it?' or when a house burns down the firemen dont just pack up and leave, they sift through the debris to find the cause. Likewise, if a person is raped, we should be asking questions like 'where did it happen? Were you walking home at night through a dark alley? Was it someone you knew? Did you actually say no? Did you flirt with someone and get them to buy you drinks all night then get blackout drunk after which you were raped? Questions like these need asking, because the answers will inform our preventative measures. That is, if our goal is to reduce the occurrence of rape. If thats blaming the victim, then yeah.

Does it sexually objectify women?

Yes, our society sexually objectifies women. And it financially objectifies men. Solid evolutionary reasons for both.

Do we trivialize rape and deny widespread occurrences?

The only crime that occurs less often than rape in my country is murder. Do i deny it is widespread? Absolutely. Do i think, when it happens, it is trivial? No. And neither does anyone else. Note however, a hookup between two tipsy teenagers that one or the other regrets the next day is NOT rape.

edit: compulsory thanks for the gold kind sir

jamminnummeruno · 2015-03-15T11:25:26+00:00

"Rape Culture Does Not Exist" :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH6td2Sc5U8&list=WL&index=71

Rape culture exists for men, in our jail systems and in certain religions. Female teacher vs male student rape cases (He wanted it) is also an example of rape culture.

"Why Is Rape Sincerely Hilarious" :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ikd0ZYQoDko

GoyzNdaHood · 2015-03-15T11:34:54+00:00

This victim of statutory rape was forced to pay child support. So yea I'd say rape culture is real.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/02/statutory-rape-victim-child-support/14953965/

DuusieDos · 2015-03-15T12:51:37+00:00

Yes and no. Remember this little gem: If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.

Feminist dogma functions like religious dogma. It's a subjective determination. Rape culture exists in the capacity that the individual can observe what they deem to be evidence. That's why even though it's defined as being a systemic form of oppression, you often hear people arguing it's existence from a socio-political perspective. When it's too hard for feminists to find instances of oppression in the law (systemic) they instead argue the problem is with the people (socio-political) and that it's because the people are under the influence of the patriarchy (which brings it back to systemic).

Whether or not rape culture is a real thing however, is irrelevant. What we should be focusing on is not arguing to dogma, but the tools it proposed to solve issues. obliteration of the burden of evidence seen in "yesmeansyes" that follows from blindly believing anyone claiming to have been assaulted is a scary medieval concept. Well not exactly medieval; since rape culture is actually a dogma used by the KKK to justify the lynching of black people in the late 1900 and early 2000. Try to remind some feminists of this; they've all forgotten.

chocoboat · 2015-03-15T18:22:38+00:00

Do we live in a murder culture? A theft culture? An assault culture?

I never hear those terms being used. But our culture actually is way more OK with those things than with rape.

We see those things all the time in TV and movies. We can simulate all of these activities as a form of entertainment, in video games. Often it's a protagonist performing those acts, and it's seen as a positive thing.... Jack Bauer is hurting those innocent people because it accomplishes a greater good, it's the only way to get the terrorist to talk! (Or whatever.)

Our video games make murder seem especially trivial. Hundreds of millions of fake people are shot and blown up and become temporary fake corpses.

Not for rape though. There's no rape in video games. Our society is far more disgusted by rape, and simulating it for entertainment is seen as horrible (even while simulating killing has been fine for many decades). You virtually never see it in movies, and when you do it's always shown as the horrible and awful thing that it truly is.

And how are different types of criminals treated in prison? Killers are respected, seen as strong and dangerous. Thieves are respected, seen as ambitious and smart, trying to live the good life. Rapists are treated like shit.

So you're going to have a hard time convincing me that we live in a rape culture. Our society almost universally abhors rape, to the point where suspected rapists sometimes fear for their lives because of vigilante justice. You don't see this happening for other crimes.

Yes, there will always be some idiots out there who think that crime isn't a big deal or they just don't care about it. But if that's proof that we live in a rape culture, then we also live in an arson culture and an identity theft culture and a jaywalking culture, and whatever else. Pretending that the acts of an immature, idiotic minority represent all of society is dishonest and pointless.

And, as others have pointed out... in the rare circumstance when people actually openly admit that they approve of a rape, it's virtually always the rape of a man. Prison rape is either a hilarious joke, or it's a well-deserved punishment. Or that young boy should consider himself lucky that he was raped.

I just don't understand the "rape culture" crusade from feminists. It's obvious that the rape of women is taken seriously and is seen as a horrible crime by almost everyone. What exactly would it take for a culture NOT to be described as a rape culture? That's a serious question, I'd genuinely like to know the answer to it.

I can only assume that this whole thing stems out of frustration from the fact that rapists often get away with their crime, due to the fact that rape is a particularly difficult crime to prove. But society's inability to identify and lock up all rapists does not mean rape is tolerated and supported by the majority of society!

mushybees · 2015-03-15T12:11:58+00:00

I personally do not understand objectification. I think it's a silly concept. So somehow because we dress up a woman (or a man) sexily, a woman who has HERSELF pursued modelling as a career, to sell something, she is somehow automatically viewed as less than human by everyone?

She is "objectified" and somehow through some process that utterly eludes me, she is now the equivalent of an object that we desire. Is it because I don't care about her personality and just want to bang her or what? I can want to bang people I don't know and still not treat them like chairs or a piece of lettuce.

I just don't get the problem. I hate that everything gets simplified to fit into every shit theory people have. People and society are a lot more complex than muh patriarchy or "rape culture" tries to tell us.

And somehow whenever the system fails a woman it's indication of evil patriarchy and reflects the entire rape cultural society we live in.

Also yes, we trivialize rape a lot. We also exaggerate it a lot. By we however, I mean feminists. Rape is one of the least occurring violent crimes and yet it's being treated like an epidemic.

KushTheKitten · 2015-03-15T11:15:49+00:00

Nope.

therock6658 · 2015-03-15T13:10:10+00:00

No.

Was Sage Gerard's video posted on this subreddit yet?

Edit: I see it now. Thanks.

ParanoidAgnostic · 2015-03-15T11:19:35+00:00

If you use the feminist definition of "rape" then yes.

Because most sane people can tell the difference between consentual sex between two drunk people and a guy holding a woman down while he forces himelf on her.

EvilPundit · 2015-03-15T11:20:31+00:00

Does rape culture exist? Does our culture victim blame? Does it sexually objectify women? Do we trivialize rape and deny widespread occurrences?

No
Only if the victim is a man
Yes
No

cock_pussy_up · 2015-03-15T11:55:07+00:00

Western culture, in general, is virulently anti-rape (at least the rape of women and children; they don't care about men as much). In other cultures rape may be seen as more socially acceptable.

KrisK_lvin · 2015-03-15T21:41:17+00:00

Does rape culture exist?

Perhaps a more interesting question is what ought to be done if we were to agree that we did in fact live in a rape culture.

Of the many issues that I have with the core ideas common to all the dominant brands of Feminism is the fact that more often than not, the so-called 'solution' often seems to be in place well in advance of the problem(s) they are purportedly a response to.

Anorexia, teen pregnancies, homelessness, rape and sexual violence, workforce representation and so on - at every turn, the solution is always essentially the same: society needs to be 're-educated'. What form does this re-education take?

Well, generally it's a kind of ghastly therapising form of struggle session. You probably think I'm exaggerating and I certainly wish I were, but then you see adverts like this one and read about real programmes like this.

The latter programme, incidentally, begins in bold type with the mission statement:

Zero Tolerance is a charity working to tackle the causes of men’s violence against women

It then goes on to explain that "[t]oo many women in Scotland, and around the world, experience violence from men … ".

Naturally, the document explains that boys must be educated to be … well, not boys basically. Even their toys are designed to transform them into the oppressors of tomorrow. As they helpfully explain:

At their worst, some ‘boys’ toys’ encourage a particular kind of aggressive masculinity, based on fighting and war. These include toys such as the ever-popular Nerf guns.

I take some comfort in the fact that this offensively ludicrous bullshit is almost a century old, as anyone who has read H.H Munro's ('Saki''s) satirical short story, The Toys of Peace will know - the story involves a pair of well-meaning progressives who feel that toys aimed at boys promote violence and war but which ends with the line:

"Eleanor," he said, "the experiment --"

"Yes?"

"Has failed. We have begun too late."

I take rather less comfort in the knowledge that the people who run that Just Like Child Zero Tolerance campaign will be implementing the fanciful theories of middle class white women on boys from, I imagine, working class families for a social experiment whose results they have absolutely no fucking idea of what-so-ever.

They are overtly demonising all boys as future oppressors and rapists and that is not only a fucking disgrace in and of itself but it is also a potentially harmful one (if children are chastised for something 'bad' that they haven't actually done, there comes a point where some of them will start to recognise that 'bad' things are things to fear and things to fear are things of power).

2015-03-15T11:29:45+00:00

Does our culture victim blame?

Not so much anymore, due to feminist activism. There is a push among mra's to suggest the issue is women failing to minimize risk. There is plenty of victim blaming when its men.

Does it sexually objectify women?

Yeah, men are probably objectified in worse ways.

Do we trivialize rape and deny widespread occurrences?

Not so much now, due to feminist activism - except when its men.

Eulabeia · 2015-03-15T18:53:28+00:00

What would prove that we do NOT live in a rape culture?

If all it takes for one to claim that we live in a rape culture is some instances of people "victim blaming" rape victims, what makes that observation useful?

I think the purpose of the term is just to get people to think that rape happening everywhere all the time with many people condoning and even encouraging it. Which is obviously ridiculous.

GenderNeutralLanguag · 2015-03-15T19:04:27+00:00

Rape Culture is an unfalsifiable construct. It is a tautology. Yes, we do live in a "rape culture" because every culture every where at all times with out exception in a "rape culture". If a culture exists, it is a "rape culture". Even if the SCUM manifesto was enacted and 90% of men where murdered with the other 10% being locked in cages as breeding stock, it would still be a "rape culture" where women are sexually objectified and the rape of women denied and trivialized.

GeorgeP_67 · 2015-03-15T22:41:29+00:00

Rape culture and victim-blaming are not prevalent. These things happen sometimes in society, but they're a small occurrence. For example, if you went to a neighborhood where gangs are very active, there would probably be a lot of guys who think it's acceptable to rape a woman to punish her for something. You could say there's a rape-culture in these communities. But it's not the case for society at large, quite the opposite in fact, however the phrase is often used to imply that the majority of society supports rape.

As for victim-blaming, I think it's important to clarify what we mean by that. Telling a victim she deserved what happened, or being a jerk and telling her "Oh, if you had done this or that then it wouldn't have happened"? Yes, that's victim-blaming.

But in my experience, many feminists claim that even just teaching women how they can protect themselves is victim-blaming. When asked, feminists usually provide the following explanations:

Women should be free to do what they want, they shouldn't have to worry about criminals (that true in theory, but let's be real: the world just doesn't work that way).
Saying women can protect themselves always leads to women being blamed when they don't protect themselves (untrue, and even if it were true that still wouldn't be a reason not to educate people on how to ensure their own safety. Do feminists want women to be raped out of principle?).
Another reason I suspect, after seeing how feminists treat rape victims, is that some feminists just purposefully try to sabotage efforts to prevent rape. The patriarchy and rape culture are the biggest arguments of feminism these days. Rape victims are the movement's fuel and ammo. The more victims, the longer feminism stays relevant.

Objectifying women: yes, that happens a lot. But again, what we call "objectification" has to be defined. For example, you could say porn is objectifying, but that's kind of the purpose of porn so it's not really a good thing to complain about.

On the other hand, if a woman is making a presentation, and people in the audience ignore the topic of her presentation and just discuss her looks and how attractive she is, that's the wrong kind of objectification. That's not why she's there, and it's probably hurtful to her that people only care about her looks and not the topic she's there to talk about.

On the internet, if a woman posts a photo or video of her favorite hobby, her pet, her graduation, her new car... Anytime a girl shows her face and her looks are absolutely not the topic at hand, there's always a douche bag who thinks he's nice to post a comment about how attractive she is.

And it's even worse to do it online than in real life, because what are the fucking chances that you'll ever meet this girl? Even if you could meet, what are the chances she'd want to go out with you just because you left a comment that said "Wow you're hot" on her youtube video? At least in real life you could have the excuse that you're actually trying to hit on her... Not that it makes it much more OK.

I've asked several women if I was imagining a problem that doesn't exist or if they felt the same, and they tend to agree. They say that it feels like no matter what you do, people will always ignore it and focus on your looks. Imagine if your accomplishments didn't matter to anyone and all they cared about is how pretty you are.

I think this problem irks me because it's a widespread attitude in society and it's easy to fix. It just takes people to realize that it's a problem. I don't know, I just think about the fact that I don't want my daughter to grow up feeling like her accomplishments and personality don't matter.

Is rape trivialized? No. If anything, feminists trivialize it with exaggerated stats that are constantly debunked as excessively high, or by expanding the definition of rape to absurd lengths. When I was growing up, rape was a crime committed by force, under threats of violence, or by taking advantage of someone who was asleep. Today, rape apparently includes having sex with someone who only wants to have sex with you because they just had a few glasses of wine.

But despite these feminist excesses, I think most of society is receptive to the fact that rape happens and is a terrible thing.

rocelot7 · 2015-03-15T23:00:59+00:00

Yes. But only in prison.

KnowsNataliePortman · 2015-03-15T12:45:10+00:00

It's not as bad as In the past, but yes there is still a rape culture in America. It is harder to see if you've never experienced it, but cases like Steubenville, while an extreme example, do still happen today. Many victims are too scared to come forward because of the negative impact it can have on their own lives. These aren't just things made up by evil radical feminists, victim blaming and shaming do happen and due to the nature of the crime it is impossible to prosecute many (most?) instances of sexual assault which contributes to this. This all goes for women and men for the record. I would just encourage this sub to look at the issue objectively instead of hiding behind this anti-feminist partisanship that permeates every thread here.

-er · 2015-03-15T14:53:15+00:00

Rape Culture Culture exists.

2015-03-15T15:32:37+00:00

troll thread. move along.

Title	Does Rape Culture Exist?
Author	KushTheKitten
Upvotes	26
Comments	29
Date	March 15, 2015 11:10 AM UTC (11 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/2z44bi/does_rape_culture_exist/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/does-rape-culture-exist.985751 https://theredarchive.com/post/985751

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