Rape Culture

Many of the attitudes, beliefs, and mistaken ideas about rape have been with us for centuries. By looking at myths, such as "women ask for it," and "it would do some women good to get raped," from a historical perspective, lead us for better understanding how they evolved. Women are still seen as the property of men, are protected as such. Men and women are still taught to occupy very different roles in today's world. Men are usually more aggressive, and women are seen as passive. (Vogelman) This socialization process is changing, but slowly.

Rape is non-consensual sexual intercourse that a male performs against a woman whom he is neither married to or cohabiting with. The definition of rape changes by geographic location. In some countries a woman must prove she is pure in order to find the perpetrator guilty. Rape used to be more of a violation to the man than to the women. It was a violation of the man's rights if his wife or girlfriend was raped. When a woman is raped her devotion to her family is questioned. Rape is a violent act, an act of possession, not a sexual act. The myth that men who rape women are sexually pathological has begun to be dispelled and replaced with an understanding that rape is an act of anger, power and control rather than lust.

When people think about rape, they usually think of a stranger with a knife hiding in the bushes. He waits for a woman to walk by and then attacks. But that is not the only kind of rape. The majority of victims are raped by individuals they know or acquaintances. This rape is known as "acquaintance rape" or "date rape." Eighty percent of all rapes are, in fact, acquaintance rapes. This kind of rape happens when a man and a woman go out on a date together. The man forces the woman to have sex with him when she does not want to. Also called simple rape, which differs from real rape, because real rape involves weapons, violence and attackers. This kind of rape is recognized as rape in courtrooms, where simple rape is dismissed as not real rape and it is more common that the offender will be found not guilty.

Rape can happen to anyone. Women from different cultures, races, ages, and economic level are all vulnerable. It does not matter who you are or where you live, although women of lowest status are most vulnerable to rape, and so are Hispanic and African American women. (Anderson 276). Most rape, and specifically most acquaintance rape, happens between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five. This is the time when young women are most likely to date and therefore are most vulnerable to date rape. Acquaintance rape is not limited to dating situations. It may be committed by friends of the family, employers, friends, and past boyfriends. The potential causes of rape are varied and controversial. Among the factors that contribute to rape are: decreased status of women within a society, pervasive media exposure of sex, availability of pornographic materials, especially those involving acts of violence, inadequate information or misconceptions regarding sexual behaviors, and the prevalence of child sexual abuse.

In early age boys are taught to be more aggressive than girls are. They are expected to enjoy playing sports, while girls are expected to play less aggressive sports. Boys are taught that they should get anything their way, even if it means using violence. Boys are sometimes taught to have a lot of girlfriends, and not to get tied down by one girl when they are young. They are supposed to play the field. Some boys think it is important to date pretty girls and they receive more admiration from peers when they are dating a pretty girl. Girls are often taught that they should have a steady boyfriend, and to guard their "reputations."

One of the strangest things about date rape is that sometimes men commit date rape without knowing. They believe in rape myths such as: some women provoke rape by their behavior and appearance, nice women don't get raped, and if a man spends a lot of money on a date he is allowed to use force to get sex. They think that a woman must want sex if she goes somewhere alone with a guy. They think that if a girl flirts with a guy, she must want sex. So, when a guy like this forces his date to have sex, he may not even know he is raping her. He might think they are practicing normal sex role expectations.

One of the largest rape myth that is most widely believed is that rape is a sexual act. People think that men commit rape because of their uncontrollable feelings of lust towards a woman. Not only to people think this but men use it as an excuse for their behavior. They are expected to entail limits to their behavior to control the man's powerful sexual drives. (Vogelman)

One factor of rape is misogyny. Misogyny is hatred and disgust of women, and wanting to hurt women. One man was asked in an interview, "How does it make you feel toward women to see all these sexy women in media and advertising, using their looks to try and get you to buy something?" The man answered with, "It makes me hate them." He went on to explain that men are supposed to be more powerful than women. This is a man's society; beautiful women in the media are using their power over men for money. Women's faces in playboy look like they want to have sex so bad but in reality they are doing it for the money. (Kimmel and Messner 388-399) This man also went on to saying that he could