Whenever you hear of a sexual assault of a woman do you find yourself questioning, "Why was she out so late? What was she wearing that could have provoked this to happen? Why would she get drunk around men and expect nothing to happen?"
Well, whether you're male or female, I regret to inform you but you are a victim of rape culture. This phenomena is disputed by many people who think that rape culture is just Feminist "mumbo jumbo" that makes no sense.
I regret to inform you once again although this is a term coined by feminists, it is indeed very true and relevant. "What is rape culture?" you maybe asking. Rape culture is the rape and sexual violence to the culture of a society, and in which prevalent attitudes, norms, practices, and normalize, excuse, tolerate, or even condone rape (Azari, 2014). It exists in many ways such as telling girls and women to watch what they wear, how much they drink, how to carry yourself, how many and what kind of people to sleep with and to act within in your gender specific roles. If these rules are not followed by the female and she happens to get sexually assaulted then it would be at her expense. So why is this a problem?
The development of rape culture in our society can begin to disintegrate when society no longer continue to encourage the toleration of rape or the blaming of victims in any circumstance. If this continues and fully develop, this will extend the oppression of women in our society again. In order to find the solution to this phenomena, it is important to look at the factors that contributes to rape culture.
One factor in particular is socially constructed gender roles. The term gender is a social construct that society follows. In addition to socially constructing gender there is also an establishment of their roles. Gender roles are something that is conditioned, or embedded in individuals early in their lives. For instance, newborn babies are given color association based on their gender; blue for boy and pink for girls.
People also learn early in age about gender roles through the toys that are marketed. Toys such as baby dolls, kitchenettes, and Easy Bake ovens help condition girls for expected gender roles. The baby doll is to teach girls how to be nurturing and to prepare for child rearing. The kitchenettes and easy bake ovens are to teach girls how to be home keepers. For boys, they have action figures in which the males have sculpted bodies and are made to battle one another, these toys give boys the idea that they are to be more aggressive. This then contributes to the gender stereotypes.
By not excusing, encouraging, or ignoring rape amongst men/women and by educating men and/or boys that rape under any and every circumstance is frowned upon and they would have to suffer consequences, can help deter rape culture. This can be stopped by first eliminating the gender specific roles and gender stereotypical attitudes expected of women and men.
