CONTENT WARNING: This article or section, or pages it links to, contains information about sexual assault and/or violence which may be triggering to survivors.
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“Rowdy and fun. Hope your baby girl is ready for a good time”
“I hate these blurred lines! I know you want it…The way you grab me. Must wanna get nasty”
Yes, rape culture is real and if you are unsure of what examples of rape culture are, look no further than the media stories listed above.
Rape culture quite simply is a culture where sexual violence is normalized and excused in the media and popular culture. Rape culture is something that women and men, both younger and older, experience every day of their lives. Rape culture permeates every aspect of our lives from the music we listen to, the news we consume, the way our justice systems hand out sentences to the direction we choose to walk in an effort to avoid harassment.
When the media reports stories of women being sexually assaulted, we read the journalist describing how short the survivor’s skirt was or how much alcohol they drank, those are simple examples of rape culture where we’ve normalized blaming the victim. The focus is put on the survivor and what they didn’t do instead of focusing on why we accept and enable a culture that teaches women to protect themselves instead of teaching men to not rape.
At this point, you, like many others may wonder how this kind of destructive culture can survive in a society where many are pushing for equality and equity in their personal and professional lives. But that’s the thing, rape culture affects us from such a young age that we don’t learn the signs. We don’t realize that rape culture is objectifying women’s bodies or pressuring men to “get lucky”, these things seem so normal in our everyday lives that we don’t think twice.
As we end Sexual Assault Awareness Month, we urge you to think twice. Think twice before commenting about the way a woman dresses, think twice about that news headline where “rape” is replaced with “sex” and think twice about questioning the amount of alcohol a survivor ingested before they were assaulted.
At YW, we know that violence against women and girls is one facet of a global epidemic of gender oppression that includes rape and sexual coercion. We know that there are many examples of gender-based violence which point to the significant role social norms and gender roles play in legitimizing and perpetuating abuse and violence against women. Ending rape culture is something that each of us has the power to do and it begins with believing that rape culture exists. Follow this link for more information on what you can do to help end rape culture.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, believe them and help them find the resources they need. Contact 9-1-1 if it’s an emergency and 2-1-1 for free resources in our community. YW is also here to help and can connect you with our partner agencies, contact us at 403-263-1550.
