**WARNING** GRAPHIC IMAGES AND CONTENT AHEAD
Rape Culture is an environment in which rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence against women is normalized and excused in the media and popular culture. Rape culture is perpetuated through the use of sexist language, the objectification of women’s bodies, and the glamorization of sexual violence or assault. This creates a society that disregards women’s rights and safety (Marshall University Women’s Center). In a rape culture, women encounter threatened violence that ranges from sexual touching, jokes, remarks, TV, music, advertising, sexual assault, and rape. Many of these ideas seem so normal, like advertising, music, or TV. This picture for example, is a controversial ad showing a woman being touched inappropriately by an a police officer.
Recently, there have been thousands of women globally that have come forward about their experiences with sexual violence. The #MeToo movement is one huge campaign that is raising awareness for all the women that have been exposed to sexual assault. The cases with Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, and most recently, Larry Nassar are just a few examples. Women are finally beginning to speak up about their experiences and how the actions of these men are not the “norm” in our world and should not be considered so.
According to Kassin, et. al, aggression is behavior that is intended to harm another individual. Any type of sexual violence falls under this category. There are two types of aggression: proactive and reactive. Sexual assault falls under proactive aggression, which is when harm is inflicted as a means to a desired end, or harming someone for personal gain. Larry Nassar did this when “treating” his Olympic gymnastics athletes and his patients at MSU. Recently, tons of celebrities have been accused of acting this way, thinking it was normal and that it wasn’t a problem. For years, no female victim said anything about the assaults because of this “rape culture” that has been embedded in our society.
There has been more news and awareness of the prevalence of sexual assault because women realize they are not alone, and are speaking out. It is leading to more and more cases of the mishandling of sexual assault and sexual violence. The women that spoke out against Larry Nassar have opened more cases about Michigan State University suppressing information related to sexual assault. The sexual assault problems there have spread to the athletic department, causing further investigation between players, coaches, and medical staff. Several basketball and football players have been accused of rape and sexual assault on campus.
Here is a link to a quick video about the sexual assault crisis with the athletic teams at MSU.
References
Chiari, M. (2018, January). Report: Michigan St. Suppressed Allegations Involving Sports Beyond
Larry Nassar. Retrieved from www.bleacherreport.com
Kassin, S. M., Fein, S., & Markus, H. R. (2017). Social psychology. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Image sources:
Image sources:
http://www.businessinsider.com/sex-violence-against-women-ads-2013-5#this-american-apparel-ad-which-shows-a-faceless-woman-on-her-knees-is-somewhat-ambiguous-16
http://affinitymagazine.us/2017/02/23/rape-culture-in-indonesia-whats-wrong/
Women’s Center. (2018). Rape Culture. Retrieved from www.marshall.edu
http://affinitymagazine.us/2017/02/23/rape-culture-in-indonesia-whats-wrong/
Women’s Center. (2018). Rape Culture. Retrieved from www.marshall.edu
It's interesting to see how people can think it's okay to rape, even though it is a crime. It is comparable to equal rights for blacks yet treating them poorly still.
ReplyDeleteGood point. I think many people understand that rape in general is wrong. But, when you get into the details of how the rape happened, people end up saying its fine because "they were drunk" or "she was asking for it" and don't want to consider it as rape.
DeleteWhen we had to look at advertisements earlier in the semester, I did mine on advertisements involving sex. It was amazing seeing what could be put out there like a woman giving a blowjob to a sandwich. I think that Harvey and Larry got away with what they were doing for so long because they weren't getting caught. And then that leads to bigger issues with Hollywood and MSU either covering it up or not looking into it enough. But I do think there should be more regulations on ads promoting rape culture. However, that leads to other problems like where do you draw the line and freedom of speech and yada yada.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I think companies are coming around and making less ads that promote rape culture. But, I do think this is because they are getting so much backlash if they do make a controversial ad. There still are companies out there that make questionable ads but they're getting away with it less and less.
DeleteThis blog post was interesting because I never really realized the prevalence of rape culture. There are so many advertisements and TV shows today that negatively incorporate rape culture. However, viewers have become desensitized to it because it is shown so often.
ReplyDeleteI had never really though about it either until I did this blog post. It is just so prevalent in our everyday society that we are just used to it. Now that people are starting to argue and complain about certain ads or shows, I am starting to see how this has been a thing for such a long time.
DeleteI think you raise some interesting points and questions regarding rape culture. For example, with more and more women now beginning to speak out against sexual assault and sharing personal experiences - how and why has society now finally begun to change people's views on the pervasiveness and normalization of rape, and sexual violence in general?
ReplyDeleteCertainly there are cases where rape culture has involved men as perpetrators but, men are also victims of sexual violence and targeted sexual assault and I feel like this is a side of rape culture that has yet to be more acknowledged and maybe even more explored with social psychological research. One example, which may focus more on sexual violence targeted towards men could look into rape culture associated with prison life (even though women are not an exception to this category).
I think a big part of the change in people's minds comes from social media. All the allegations are seen everywhere, on the news, on any social media site, etc. People are able to make campaigns (ie: #MeToo movement) to raise awareness about sexual assault and more and more people are understanding the importance of it.
DeleteKira makes a really good point. In general women are the victims of sexual assault. However, there are plenty of male victims as well. This is especially common in certain populations such as prisons like Kira mentioned, but also in the military. Publicly it hasn't been a secret that the military has struggled for decades with very high sexual assault rates (again, supporting the idea that rape is often about power more than pleasure). What is surprising is that even with drastic under-reporting (estimated that only about 10% or male victims report being assaulted), the male victim reports are still exponentially larger than females in the military. People don't like to talk about it, but this is a problem that effects a lot of different populations in a lot of different ways.
DeleteYou mention that sexual assault always fall under the category of proactive aggression, but I would disagree. While I concede that there are instances when sexual assault can be about pleasure for the perpetrator, rape is generally considered to be less about sex and more about control. In this case, I would argue that it would reside in the category of reactive aggression. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteI think that it depends on the situation. Now that you mention it, yes I think it can be reactive. I do think though that it can be considered either reactive or proactive. I guess it just depends on why the attacker committed the act.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Paige. Typically rape is about control, but there are some individuals who get pleasure from it. Rape can be an reactive/emotional aggression or proactive/instrumental aggression. It depends on the situation. I will say that people have become desensitized to it, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteI agree it depends on the situation. And it is pretty sad to see that rape culture is a thing and that situations like this are considered "normal".
DeleteI never really thought of TV, advertising, and music being part of rape culture, but it makes me sad to think about how little we really know about rape culture and how many things we just turn our shoulder to and don't think of the objectification the come with it. I really enjoyed this post though because I really admire all the women coming forward in the #MeToo movement and how more and more awful men are being brought forward because of their crimes that had gone unpunished for so long. It must have been really hard for the first women in the #MeToo movement to come forward.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I didn't even really know too much about rape culture until I did this blog post. And you're right, it is pretty sad that we have become so used to these things that we don't even think there's anything wrong with it.
DeleteWell written concise post Michelle. At the beginning, I was curious about this happening to a man and how that would typically play out because some men are harassed either by other men as pretty boys or women who have a different manner. Regardless, it is difficult to stop because of how much money is in the industry that is making this okay for our culture. Looking at MSU, how did the women being assaulted not talk with one another? I am not a women, therefore I don't know what is appropriate girl talk for this situation. I'm certain this will continue but knowledge is power regardless of who has it and this could cause change.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure why they didn't talk, especially because a lot of them knew each other. Maybe, it could have been because they were scared to talk about it with other people, since it is a pretty sensitive subject. Some people just aren't comfortable talking about this situation and don't know what to do.
DeleteNice post. It's disappointing that people with authority abuse their subordinates. I agree that positive reinforcement (desired pleasure and not getting caught) plays an important role and only makes the issue worse. I wonder if there are other motivators for rape besides pleasure.
ReplyDeleteThere were a couple comments above that mention that rape can happen to gain control as well. This makes sense for a lot of people that sexually assault someone in the workplace. It is too bad to see people with authority abuse their subordinates. It is nice to see these people being brought down by the brave victims that are opening up about their experiences.
ReplyDeleteI find it really hard to hear about how scared women who have been sexually assaulted are to come forward. Rape is a serious crime, but I don't believe it is treated as such. If any other crime is committed, say theft for example, the victim reports it almost immediately, but not with sexual assault. It makes me glad that the #MeToo campaign has become a thing to give those who have been raped the confidence and security to come forward. I hope this is a step in the direction of change.
ReplyDeleteThat's a really good point that I haven't though of. When it comes to other crimes, people report it immediately. This isn't the case with sexual assault. I think the reason for this is because of our rape culture and the fact that it has become normalized in our society to complete acts like this. People just aren't comfortable coming forward to talk about these scary situations.
DeleteInteresting how you mentioned positive reinforcement as a potential motivator for sexual assault cases involving Larry Nassar & Harvey Weinstein. It's unfortunate the ways certain institutions failed the victims in these cases for so long however, I think because women are starting to speak out on their own there is progress being made. It's important that we were able to see success in terms of the legal system (Nassar being sentenced). This could potentially serve as an example & positive reinforcement for any future victims that they can get justice too by speaking out and not being afraid.
ReplyDeleteI honestly wonder how many institutions have failed the victims in sexual assault cases. We have heard about situations with Penn State and Michigan State. I wonder how many other universities have completed similar acts.
DeleteI think that positive reinforcement is definitely something that plays into this type of behavior. I do wonder what the intentions are of the perpetrators however. Do you think that the intentions of the perpetrator matter? I.e. if someone sexually assaulted someone, but did not realize that they were doing it, would it still be considered an aggressive act?
ReplyDeleteI guess your example falls under another issue. People might not understand or realize they are sexually assaulting someone. I really don't know if that can be considered an aggressive act if they have nothing to get out of it. That's a really good question that I don't know the answer to (I don't think there can be a definite answer).
Delete