I’ve been cautiously waiting for the day I’d be ready to write this article. I always figured it was too provocative, too controversial, too offensive (as if my content wasn’t already controversial enough.) But, I think the time has come to tackle another feminist quandary that has surfaced from the depths of Tumblr. The idea that the western world lives in a so-called “rape culture.”

Let’s start like I always do, with definitions, because I do so love picking them apart until they become threadbare. According to Wikipedia, rape culture is “a sociological concept used to describe a setting in which rape is pervasive and normalized due to societal attitudes about gender and sexuality. Behaviors commonly associated with rape culture include victim blaming, slut shaming, sexual objectification, trivializing rape, denial of widespread rape, refusing to acknowledge the harm caused by some forms of sexual violence, or some combination of these.”

In layman's terms, it means that we live in a society where rape is normalized and not properly dealt with.

Starting off with the first point, which states that rape is normalized, we can start breaking apart this argument. A country where rape is normalized is Saudi Arabia or India, but not America and the Western nations. Rape is normalized when no one thinks or cares about it anymore, and the citizens of the society pay no attention to it. Rape is normalized when nothing is done to the rapists; instead, the victims are punished.

This, again, is not America.

We live in a country where our justice system holds rapists accountable and they are persecuted.

There are laws governing these actions and they are enforced to the best of their ability.

I know what some people will say: what about those statistics that say out of 100 rapists, only one will actually be held accountable? Once again, you have been misled by statistics. Numbers have much more meaning than at first glance.

Prosecuting a rapist is a difficult act. Rape in of itself is a messy case.

To charge someone as guilty of rape, you do need evidence.

And this evidence is hard to gather, because how do you really procure evidence of rape besides witness testimonials?

And even then, we know that eye-witness accounts are not necessarily always 100 percent accurate anyway. When someone accuses someone else of breaking in and stealing from their house, there is evidence, like broken glass and stolen money or items. When someone rapes an individual, what tangible evidence is left behind that can be used against the guilty party?

OK, but what about Brock Turner? There were multiple witnesses and accounts and yet his sentence was ridiculously light. This case is an exception, a case in which the judge was far too lenient on Turner. However, these cases are the exceptions. Just like there are many crimes where innocent parties are pronounced guilty and sent to jail, so too are there cases where guilty people are proven innocent or given light sentences and this is just how the justice system works.

Furthermore, many victims (and this is completely understandable) do not wish to come forward and describe the incident and report the crime. This could be for several reasons, and it is their decision alone. One might say that some victims are persuaded not to report their crime because it might harm the guilty person or garner bad press.

Unfortunately, this does happen but this is a widespread issue that deals not just with rape. For example, if a CEO of a company abused animals or stole jewelry and someone found out and went to the company heads to report it, they would most likely be told to keep the story away from the media as well.

This has nothing to do with a rape culture and more to do with the toxic idea of doing everything in your power to have a good public reputation, including shielding the truth.

Especially with rape, if the crime is not reported or sufficient details are not given, how can they possibly convict someone with little to no evidence?

Our justice system is in place for a reason.

And as much as others would like the opposite, you are innocent until proven guilty, not the other way around.

Another aspect of rape culture is that rape is not treated with the significance it deserves and is ignored by most of society. This is plainly and easily wrong, even more so because of recent events. In America and in the Western world, rape victims are not ignored – they garner support and love from everywhere.

We’ve seen it with our own eyes with the #MeToo movement. Sure, are there derogatory comments shaming the victims or claiming disbelief? Yes. But the overwhelming support, acceptance, and love for these victims vastly outweigh the naysayers.

Here, we treat our victims with nothing but love and acceptance. In a rape culture, like Saudi Arabia, we would be shaming and punishing them for daring to go out without a male companion.

In a rape culture, the rapists live free after the crimes they have committed. This, again, is not the case in America. Sure, many rapists may go free, but that can also be attributed to lack of evidence and other reasons I mentioned above.

However, we have seen again with the #MeToo movement that in the court of public opinion, these sexual predators have been shunned by society. Their shows have been canceled, they have been pulled from companies, and have been fired.

Is it too light of a punishment for what they did? Maybe. But considering none of these crimes were ever actually tried in a court of justice, I would say these consequences speak volumes to what the majority of society thinks about rapists and sexual predators. If massive companies and industries are shunning the accused and supporting the victim, that means that mass entities support victims and condemn sexual abuse.

One might say that these companies shun the accused because they don’t want to be associated with their scandals and don’t want bad press, and that is also a good point. It’s also another point that we don’t live in a rape culture because if we were in one, companies wouldn’t care if there were sexual predators roaming the halls because it wouldn't be a big enough of a deal and there wouldn’t be public outrage over their decisions.

Another claim that people make is that rape is widespread, especially on college campuses. This is another myth coming once again from misleading statistics, but this myth deserves another article entirely to debunk it.

All in all, we do not live in a rape culture. I would advise you to look towards India and Saudi Arabia as model examples of rape cultures. The victimhood mentality is seeping into the pores of our society, and it’s becoming acceptable to perpetually be a victim.

Remember that your traumatic experience does not define you and that you can choose to label yourself as a victim or not. I don’t pretend to understand the minds of victims because they are complicated and each victim is different and has their own unique experience, but we all know rape is bad and inexcusable. And the people that don’t are met with harsh consequences.