This week, my good friend Camilla (who incidentally has a fantastic blog over here) pointed me towards this article, which got me thinking.
I appreciate the writer's thoughts on the topic, and I absolutely agree that we do need to question our attitude towards rape when it focuses on the victims rather than the perpetrators. However, her argument doesn't quite hit the mark for me - to replace the term 'rape culture' with 'rapist's culture', as she seems to be suggesting, is actually a step in the wrong direction.
To be raped can sometimes seem almost ephemeral, and it is often important to reify the relationship by making the connection that one was raped by x. One doesn't simply become the victim of rape, someone needs to make the decision to rape. This isn't reiterated often enough, and it needs to be. It needs to be, because until we do, society makes the attitude that a victim should feel shame more than a perpetrator, acceptable.
But that brings me to the crux of the definition I propound of 'rape culture': it is about society. Rape culture is the state of society which engages in slut shaming, victim blaming, and propagating rape myths. Rape culture is telling victims that they have to forget that they have been raped. Rape culture is the belittling of rape in jokes. Rape culture is the use of the word 'frape'.
Rape culture is where we let rape happen. We LET rape happen.
The majority of people don't rape, but many of them perpetuate a culture where rape is allowed to happen.
Rape culture is a society which is complicit in the perpetuation of rape.
Thank you for the trackback (is that the right terminology?)
ReplyDeleteI was going to comment back and then got distracted and blah blah woof woof, but yes, I do agree with you that part of the problem is putting the emphasis on only one half of the equation, and I suppose that is the problem I have with rape culture; we so often talk of rape in ways that make it sound like a spontaneously occurring disease rather than the action of one person on another. "Zie was raped" over "Someone raped hir." and the former does disappear the protagonist somewhat. The thing floating round in my mind is a rapist>raped culture, meaning that the rapist is privileged over the victim, but it looks like I mean there are more rapists than rape victims, which, Bah, maths and its fixed definitions of symbols!
Are you saying that culture privileges rapists over those who are raped? If so, I would suggest that it is partially true. Society is, as I say, very good at letting rape happen, but when that rape fits the definition which we can all accept (i.e. stranger rape) then society will be righteously outspoken at how such a horrific thing has occurred.
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