The Concept of Rape Culture - Essay Example

Afra Al-Yahmadi Lisa Wilson WS 01 Dec 5th Rape Culture This topic has been a bone of contention for quite a long time. Rape has been a very big issue in the societies all over then the world. Rape culture was a word developed by feminists and activists against rape. This culture is defined as a situation where men believe that violence against women is not entirely a bad thing. Feminists define the culture as men finding it exciting to sexually assault women and that they find pleasure in it. Rape culture defends the culture of violently harassing women and in the process affects their emotional well-being. The feminists define rape as physical sexual assault carried by an individual to another (Bart and Pauline 126). This paper will look into the case of rape culture and try to find out how women have been denied justice against rapists in the society. It will try to show how rapists have been defended by the media and justice institutions. The descriptions of rape culture and the injustices against women in the society will be based on a movie called ‘The Accused’ which was released in the year 1988. Rape culture will always blame the victims of rape. The media and justice institutions will look at rape in a way that blames the victim to suggest that the victims were the cause of the happening of this act. In the movie, Sarah Tobias, the victim of a gang rape by three men, is accused by the defendant of being drunk during the night of the rape. He says that she was provocatively dressed and seduced one of the rapists. Her history of flirting with men is brought to this case to accuse her blame her behavior. It is with these accusations of Sarah’s clothing and her past history of flirting with men that the defendant uses to blame Sarah Tobias who is the central character in the movie. This shows how rape culture always tries to find as little as it can, small loop holes to blame the victim. The talks of how Sarah was raped in a crowded bar by three men. The three men raped her in turns and repeatedly on a pinball machine. As one was holding her pinning her down, the other continuously raped her. All this time a crowd of men were in the bar did not stop the three men from raping Sarah. Instead they went on to cheer these men to rape Sarah. She is taken to the hospital and meets her attorney who is the prosecutor of the case. The movie has its main setting in a court room. Although Sarah is continuously raped, even her attorney reluctantly defends her because of her history and how she was provocatively dressed. Rape culture always has a way to make the victims feel guilt even though they are the ones who were assaulted. This shows how rape culture always blames the victims of rape. The men say that the woman (Sarah) wanted it. This traumatizes her and makes her feels that she is the one to be blamed. She even cuts off her hair. Rape culture also takes the cases of rape as a casual matter. It trivializes the assaults of women being raped. In the movie, Sarah’s boyfriend does not find the situation of Sarah’s rape as a big issue. After she was raped, he still went ahead to seduce her and ask her to have sex with her. This has serious impact on Sarah as she sees that her friend is not concerned of how she was raped. Although Sarah was raped, he goes ahead to ask her to have sex with her. She thinks that he is only concerned with his need for him to be satisfied but does not care about she feels after being raped. Therefore, Sarah decides to chase him out of her house and breaks up with him. It shows how men do not take into their interest of how a victim of rape would be emotionally affected after a rape incident (Bart and Pauline 135). Rape in the rape culture is normally jokingly discussed. The perpetrators and their supporters usually joke about how a rape took place. In ‘The Accused’, the people in the bar did not find Sarah being raped a very big issue. Although Sarah was being raped, they cheered the perpetrators to continue rape Sarah and jokingly told them that she asked for it. The attorney of Sarah, while interviewing her, jokingly told her that she had provocatively dressed during the night of the rape and thought that she was the one who caused the men to rape her. Sarah’s boyfriend saw the whole process of Sarah being raped as a joke. He went on to seduce her instead of helping her to go through the traumatizing moments of her life which shows that he was not concerned about her (Chin and Jeffrey 45). The setting of this movie in a big way depicted how the rape culture tolerated the act of sexual abuses and harassment. The crowd in the bar tolerated the act of Sarah being sexually assaulted as they watched. No one had the courage to stop this inhumanly act but instead cheered and enjoyed it. Sarah’s attorney reluctantly defended her in court and prosecuted her spectators but the judge did not pass a judgment against them saying there was no evidence to show that they encouraged sexual assault. Her attorney tolerated her being raped because he thought that she encouraged the act by dressing in a provoking manner. He also thought that her history of flirting with man and the fact she was intoxicated was also the cause of her being raped (Bart and Pauline 123). The movie goes ahead to give false accuses on Sarah. She was accused of wanting to have sex with the perpetrators because of how she was dressed. A friend of the perpetrators, having been present in the bar did not want to testify in court of how he saw Sarah being raped. He was determined to give false statement against Sarah. This pictures how the rape culture always gives false accusations and the statistics of these false accusations against the victims of sexual assault is increasing each day. The false accusations will always go a long way to deny the victims of sexual assault the justice they deserve. This has led to increase in cases where the perpetrators of sexual assaults get away with this violence. This always torments the victim and may lead to post traumatic stress diseases that affect their lives (Chin and Jeffrey 75). Rape culture has been the center of publicly describing the victims’ dressing, state of mind, motives and their behavioral history. In the case of Sarah, she was investigated in court as dressing in a suggestive and provocating manner that led to the perpetrators raping her. Her history of flirting with men was also the point of their argument to justify the perpetrators’ acts. Her state of mind was also thought to be a cause of her being raped. The defendant argued that Sarah was drunk and suggested of sexual encounter with the three men. This state of victim was the basis of justification of why Sarah was raped. It goes on to reduce the sentencing of the perpetrators in prison and letting go the spectators who encouraged the raping of Sarah. Rape culture has the makes the act of sexual abuse and gender violence an act of merciful deeds. This violence is normally pictured in movies and television programs. They are presented in a way to make them look presentable and justifiable in the eyes of the viewers. This has led to people encouraging gender based violence and sexual assaults and harassment in the community. For example, the movie ‘The Accused’ has a setting in which most of its character see the act of rape as a normal thing. The people who were in the bar, where Sarah was gang raped saw it as an exciting and fulfilling act for them. To them, it was a lifetime fantasy that was fulfilled. In the social setting, rape culture puts across the notion that men are dominant in the society. The men raped Sarah on a pinball game machine and made it look like a game to them and the spectators. They are seen as being sexually aggressive and may be violent to satisfy their sexual urge. In this movie (‘The Accused’), the perpetrators were pictured as being dominant over Sarah. Before she was raped, one of the perpetrators who were dancing with Sarah grabbed her and pushed her onto a pinball machine. Sarah tried to get away from him but he was too strong for her. The other men grabbed her and pinned her down while one of them raped her. They were sexually aggressive and their main goal was to satisfy their sexual desires. They did not care if they were hurting her (Briscoe and Constance 56). On the other hand, the women in this rape culture are pictured has being submissive to the man and are seen as sexually passive. Sarah is in pictured as a person who flirted with men but was not so much interested in sexual intercourse. The movie has brought out Sarah as being submissive in the way she dealt with the perpetrators. She could not fight them off and had no choice in letting them have their way. This shows that rape culture gives privileges to the men and undermines the woman. This brings gender based conflicts in the society increasing hatred between men and women. This has gone a long way in rape culture in the society. Men in the society take upon themselves to impress women and their friends. The rape culture encourages men to perform violent action against women to show that they are real men. In the movie, the perpetrators raped Sarah in public to show the crowd that they are dominant and are good in their sexual activities. This normally puts the women in danger of experiencing the wrath of men. The justification of the men capabilities to perform will in most cases will encourage sexual assaults and rape. The culture also has pressured woman to be sexual active. They will normally be forced into sexual encounters which will make them suffer physically and emotionally. Sarah was forced into sexual encounters by three men in a bar and publicly assaulted sexually. They thought that by letting her go will make her become cold in terms of sexuality. They raped her with the aim that she will be sexually active (Briscoe and Constance 76). The movie pictures Sarah as being promiscuous. The rape culture assumes that only these promiscuous people will end up being raped. Sarah had the behavior of heavily flirting with men. Before she was raped, the producer shows the viewer of how she was into flirting. She also wore very suggestive and provoking dresses that brought sexual urge to these men. Sarah was also acted loosely in how she handled herself in the bar. Being a bar waitress, she drank too much alcohol and became intoxicated. All these factors led to her being raped by the three perpetrators. The rape culture has a concept that men are not supposed to be and only weak men are raped. This concept encourages men to go out and show themselves to other that they are very dominant and cannot be abused by their female counterparts. This concept always work to the disadvantages of women because they will always harassed by men. The accusations of rape are normally taken lightly in the rape culture. In the movie, Sarah’s case was taken lightly by her attorney at first. She did not want to prosecute the spectators who cheered the perpetrators who raped Sarah. She did not see them as being guilt. Sarah’s boyfriend did not see Sarah’s rape case as being so serious. He even seduced her to have sex with her instead of comforting her after the traumatizing incident. The rape culture sees that women should be taught how to avoid being raped instead of forbidding men not to rape women. In the movie, the perpetrators argued that Sarah acted in ways that suggested she wanted sex. Sarah’s attorney also thought that her dressing and her history of flirting with men was not good for her. He said that this is what caused her to be raped by the perpetrators. It shows that men think that the women should learn to carry out actions that will lead to men raping them. They did find it as their duty to find ways in which men raping women should be stopped. Rape culture, in general, has always been biased against women. The men in this culture are believed act violently against women and this is not taken seriously. Feminists define the culture as men finding it exciting to sexual assault women and that they find pleasure in it. The victims are denied justice in many cases while the perpetrators get away with the act. Those perpetrators who are sentenced to prison will receive minimum sentences which will be to their advantages. Works Cited Bart, Pauline B. "Book Review:Intimate Violence: A Study Of Injustice Julie Blackman; The Female Fear: The Social Cost Of Rape Margaret T. Gordon, Stephanie Riger; Battered Women As Survivors Lee Ann Hoff; Women And Rape Cathy Roberts; Fraternity Gang Rape: Sex, Brotherhoo." Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society: 527. Print. Briscoe, Constance. The Accused. London: Ebury ;, 2011. Print. Chin, Jeffrey. "Rape Culture." Teaching Sociology: 117. Print. Read More