All over the globe, especially in developed nations, there has been a spread in feminism. Feminism are the ideologies and social movements aimed at providing women political, economic and social equality of men. Yet in many cases it seems that feminism is actually skewed as it wants to give women dominance over men as opposed to equality. One of the main issues that feminism strives to prevent is rape culture. In tracing modern day feminism there has been an increase in the emergence of the perversion of the ideas of feminism which has led to the movement, as a while being taken less serious. This has led many people to look at feminism is a different light. A recent TIME article “It’s Time to End ‘Rape Culture’ Hysteria” by Carline Kitchens provided the spark for this article.
Now more than ever college campuses seem to be fascinated with ending ‘rape culture’. Rape culture is considered the actions which help to make rape seem normal. While initially the fight to end rape culture was a serious issue that needed attention, now a days it’s often ridiculed by many people. For example, a group of student activists attending Boston University decided to start a petition aimed at ending an on campus concert. The concert was of Robin Thicke, a pop musician, whose recent song at the time “Blurred Lines” suggested a man should have sex without a women’s permission. While the song was already banned at many universities, the activist seemed to be unaware of this which caused them to seem uninformed on the topic.
As a college student, many lectures have been given on the importance of preventing an environment that promotes rape culture. On many occasions, women have stated they felt uncomfortable around certain class mates, as the views they held were those that supported rape culture. Research into rape culture is a growing field yearly with RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) being a leader in the field. RAINN’s most recent study provided recommendations for how the white house could better protect students suggesting “In the last few years, there has been an unfortunate trend towards blaming “rape culture” for the extensive problem of sexual violence on campus. While it is helpful to point out the systemic barriers to addressing the problem, it is important not to lose sight of a simple fact: Rape is caused not by cultural factors but by the conscious decisions, of a small percentage of the community, to commit a violent crime”. RAINN believes combating rape cultures focuses on removing the ideas of hysteria which are prevalent in society currently. It seems like anything can be misconstrued to fit the agenda of feminist pushing for the ending of rape culture.
Men often are left with the blame of rape culture and a focus is placed on men rather than women. While it is true men are responsible for a large portion of rapes, the tactics do not seem viable. The aim is to teach men to not be rapist yet RAINN points out that over the span of 18 years a male has encountered many lectures on the prevention of rape. A majority of men are able to view rape as the horrific crime it is, yet this process places all men to be grouped as being potential rapist. This causes the average male to be viewed as a horrible person which is not fair. I personally feel while a push for the ending of rape culture is beneficial, it should be attacked in a more ethical way. The current method of shoving the idea that men rape can be harmful to men who are already aware of this and force them to hate themselves. They will not rape but grouping them such a category can seem dehumanizing at times.
