Modern Day Rape Culture

Zari Malik
college student

  What is Rape? Rape is generally defined as forced or nonconsensual sexual contact. There are a reported 250,000 rape cases in the US alone. And those are the rape cases that have been reported. Imagine all the rapes and acts of sexual assault that occur daily that are not reported and are not just limited to the United States. Rape as a general subject is a horrific thing to hear about and a lot of times it is mentioned in the news. People everywhere are aware of what it is and they are aware that it does not matter who you are, what gender, what ethnicity/race, it doesn't matter if you are young or old or fat or thin. There have been all kinds of victims. They are not only violated by complete strangers but sometimes even by the people closest to them.
  Rape is not in any instance ever okay and the worst part about modern day rape culture is "victim blaming". Victim Blaming occurs when the victim of a crime or any wrongful act is held entirely or partially responsible for the harm that befell them. Victims today are blamed for being violated. They are criticized for being dressed a certain way, they are criticized for drinking too much. So does that mean a young girl in a sundress and polka tights should be blamed for being raped. In India's Daughter, law officials defended Jyoti's murderers by saying that she should not have been out past 9pm and that she should not have been wearing jeans. They somehow made gang raping and murdering Jyoti okay by saying that she obviously wasn't a good girl if she was roaming the streets at night. They did not once focus on how psychologically messed up and twisted those men must have been for raping her and pulling out her intestines. The rapists charged as guilty did not once admit to being wrong. They thought she deserved it and that is one of the most disgusting things that they did not even learn from their mistakes that despite their sentence, justice was not served. Similarly in India, a poor young girl living on a farm was out playing in the fields and was raped and assault with a pole by a security guard. This girl was 5 years old, she was uneducated, and her family came from poverty. Justice was not served the security guard was released scotch free. Hundreds and thousands of instances of rape occur like this everywhere around the world every minute, every second. The worst part is victims are now scared to speak up because they know their rapists acts will just be justified because they were either intoxicated or dressed provocatively. In the article "Rape on Campus" published by Rolling Stone we are taken through the night Jackie was raped by a group of fraternity guys and how the people closest to her advised her to stay quiet about it and how no one would take her word anyways. It took Jackie 3 years to open up about her story, she had to relive those horrors everyday and even after the publication she received backlash and was blamed for being intoxicated and for even being at the party in the first place. Stating how those guys could of never done something like that they were too good, they were good boys with good futures ahead of them. She was bullied and jeered at for coming clean and sadly it just made matters worse instead of being served justice she was taunted for wanting it. A rapist should never be defended. The act they commit can never be justified. The act of openly violating someone like that it takes away a piece of them. Victims never recover psychologically. The physical body heals but the mind never does. Those victims will have to live everyday being a little afraid for their lives, being afraid to open up to their significant others. In a study by Acock and Ireland they interviewed a big population of students at a local university and asked them which factors most contribute to rape ethnicity, race, behaviorism, appearance. The unanimous result was that none of those factors contribute to rape, rape is independent of all those factors. A rapist should not and cannot be defended by pointing out the characteristics in the victim. What they did was wrong and always will be wrong. In India's Daughter, one of the rapists said, " I was tempted by her looks so I raped her so what". Well so based on that statement if I am tempted by your stupidity I have the right to kill you right? No. Your desires do not justify your means for committing a crime like that one.

  By reading this post it can be made obvious which side I am on but regardless of the fact that you victim blame or not something needs to be done. Recently the Ontario Government released a video called #WhoWillYouHelp showcasing different scenarios in which girls were being taken advantage of. It gave you two sides to the story in one you chose to be a bystander and let the act continue. In the second you spoke up and chose to take action and defend the women for instance like the women at the bar whose drink was laced by a drug. If that someone had not spoken up that night could of ended up very badly for that women and unfortunately it does not end well in the real world for a lot of those women. However, something needs to change. This video, the documentary, and articles all bring about very important tools that contribute to the overall discourse that rape has a big impact on society and steps must be taken to get justice. These sources prompt readers and viewers to speak up on the matter and do something to support everyone that has every been a victim of sexual assault. As I hope this paper prompts you to do. Will you be a bystander or will you stick up for humanity and do something about the injustice that occurs around you everyday? Stop the silence, end rape culture.
ehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2ZSZrGc-O8