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Rape culture is a concept used to describe a culture in which rape and sexual violence are common and in which prevalent attitudes, norms, practices, and media normalize, excuse, tolerate, or even condone sexual violence.

Examples of behaviors commonly associated with rape culture include victim blaming, sexual objectification, and trivializing rape. Rape culture has been used to model behaviour within social groups, including prison systems where prison rape is common and conflict areas where war rape is used as psychological warfare. Entire countries have also been alleged to be rape cultures.

Although the concept of rape culture is a generally accepted theory in feminist academia, disagreement still exists over what defines a rape culture and whether a given society should be considered a rape culture.

Rape culture has been observed to correlate with other social factors and behaviours. Research identifies correlation between rape myths, victim blaming and trivialisation of rape with increased incidence of racism, homophobia, ageism, classism, religious intolerance and other forms of discrimination.

Origins and usage

The concept originated in the mid 1970s. Several different theories exist as to its origin, and it is possible that it emerged separately but simultaneously. The exact date and context of the first use of the term 'rape culture' are uncertain.

The 1975 documentary film, Rape Culture, produced and directed by Margaret Lazarus and Renner Wunderlich for Cambridge Documentary Films, discussed causes of rape in the context of a larger cultural normalization of rape. In 2000, Lazarus stated that she believed the movie was the first use of the term. The film featured the work of the DC Rape Crisis Centre in co-operation with Prisoners Against Rape Inc, interviews with rapists and victims. There were interviews with feminist philosopher and theologian Mary Daly and author and artist Emily Culpepper. The film also explored the mass media, how film-makers, song writers, writers and magazines perpetuated attitudes towards rape.

The term appeared in women's studies and feminist theory around the same time as the documentary. The term is used in Rape: The First Sourcebook for Women, a book published by the New York Radical Feminists in 1974.

In a 1992 paper in the Journal of Social Issues entitled "A Feminist Redefinition of Rape and Sexual Assault: Historical Foundations and Change," Patricia Donat and John D'Emilio suggested that the term originated as "rape-supportive culture" in Susan Brownmiller's 1975 book Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape.

According to the Encyclopedia of Rape, "The term 'rape culture' originated in the 1970s during the 2nd wave feminist movement and is often used by feminists to describe contemporary American culture as a whole."

Slutwalk

Although it had been in academic usage since its inception, the term 'rape culture' was scarcely used in popular culture and the media until 2011. The Slutwalk movement is credited with popularizing the term via mass media reports about the protesters. The rallies aim to raise awareness of rape culture - which they define as a culture where "sexual violence is both made to be invisible and inevitable"—and to end slut-shaming and victim blaming.

Feminist theory

According to the rape culture theory, acts of sexism are commonly employed to validate and rationalize normative misogynistic practices. For instance, sexist jokes may be told to foster disrespect for women and an accompanying disregard for their well-being. An example would be a female rape victim being blamed for her being raped because of how she dressed or acted. In rape culture, sexualized violence towards women is regarded as a continuum in a society that regards women's bodies as sexually available by default.

The root cause of rape culture is generally agreed to be the "domination and objectification of women". However, academic theory holds that rape culture does not necessarily have a single cause, and causes may be localized based on other social aspects of culture. For example, in South Africa the overriding "war culture" which emphasized masculinity and violence led to a culture in which rape was normalized. A University of California Davis public document alleged that the enforcement of the following of social rules by women and the conditioning of gender roles were major causes. In a study of date rape, gender-based miscommunications were held to be a major factor supporting a campus rape culture. The general unwillingness of police and district attorneys to prosecute rapes where force was not involved or where the victim had some sort of relationship with the aggressor is also cited as a motivation for date rape and campus rape. Rape culture is also closely related to slut-shaming and victim blaming, where rape victims are considered at fault for being raped, and it is argued that this connection is due to the presence of a culture that shames all female sexuality. That some rapes are not reported to the police due to fear that they would not be believed is often cited as a symptom of a rape culture, that they thought the police would not believe them is cited as a reason by 6% of women who did not report rape. Pornography has also been commonly targeted as a contributor to rape culture because it is said to contribute to larger patterns of oppression. One of the ways that it is said to do this is by reducing the female body to a commodity.

Although much of its early use as a theory to explain the occurrence of rape and domestic violence was focused on the rape of women, rape culture has been described as detrimental to men as well as women. Some writers and speakers, such as Jackson Katz, Michael Kimmel, and Don McPherson, have said that it is intrinsically linked to gender roles that limit male self-expression and cause psychological harm to men.

Rape culture and incidents by nation

South Africa

As far back as the 1970s, activist Steve Biko wrote about the issues of rape, politics, and Apartheid South Africa. Rape was common in the black townships. Biko also highlighted how the issues of powerlessness and Impotence and an induced inferiority complex were known issues or "Black Consciousness".

In 1982, Cherryl Walker highlighted how Black Women's issues were made invisible by the larger issue of Apartheid. Even the management of known rape issues through rape crisis centres were still for the future due to lack of funding and government support.

Under Apartheid, there were multiple levels of oppression against both men and women. Some were legally based, while others were caused by the suppression of cultural values and practices. There were concerns as to how these would manifest with the end of Apartheid and the arrival of the new South Africa constitution as of 1993.

In 1996, Taboho Maitse (Presently a commissioner of the South African Commission for gender Equality appointed 30 Nov 2011) researched the post-Apartheid cultural change. Women identified how under Apartheid they had no protection from male violence, white or coloured. Apartheid suppressed the non-white majority, and oppressed women the most. Maitse concluded that there was a confusion of how the roles of women had changed under the new constitution. Meiste observed the ongoing clashes of traditional culture with the new constitutional order. Both men and women wished to preserve traditional cultural and tribal identity but this also promoted gender conflict. The new South African Constitution fundamentally changed the rights of women, but they lacked knowledge and support in exercising those rights. Lobolo - a traditional dowry system both emphasised women as possessions and also made them unable to speak out about treatment. Maitse found that Apartheid, nationalism and the liberation struggle had played a clear part in how women were perceived and also perceived themselves. In 1998 Maitse concluded:

In answer to the question why men are violent toward women in South Africa, two primary inter-connected theories emerge. The first is that of sexist ideology and the male preoccupation with all the qualities assigned to the male sex role. The second draws a shocking picture of South African society as a “rape culture”, in which violence against women is tacitly accepted.

Maitse has further linked the use of pornography and the emergence of Information and Communication Technologies to the issues. Under the Apartheid regime pornography was illegal, even if available. Under the new constitution pornography is legal and has been embraced as sign of post Apartheid liberation. This mixed with the free market economy and consumerism where mobile phones and other ITC products have also been adopted as signs of wealth, freedom and nationalism, the dissemination of pornography ion all forms has exploded since 1992/4. Ongoing concerns as to the role of ITC in South Africa were expressed by Shereen Essof in 2009.

In 1997 Interpol reported that South Africa had, on a Global analysis the highest per capita rates of murder and rape, the second highest rate of robbery and violent theft and the fourth highest rates of serious assault and sexual offences of the 110 counties reported on.

Interpol reported in 2001 that South Africa had the highest reported statistics of rape from any member country. It was recognised even then that the statistical findings were believed to be low due to lack of infrastructure, and the complexities of how sexual coercion were perceived. The South African government concluded in 2001 that multiple statistical research efforts dealing with rape all correlated with a high incidence.

The subject started to gain Global attention and was covered by the international media. The incidence of child rape had increased and was linked to beliefs that sex with a virgin could cure HIV/Aids - the Virgin cleansing myth. Some reports indicated that upto 50% of rape victims acquired Aids due to the rape.

FEW: The Forum for the Empowerment of Women was founded in 2001/2. Their research through the project "This Rose Has Thorns" helped to quantify the extent and nature of corrective rape came from the work of Zanele Muholi, who worked with women who had been raped and also interviewed rapist who targeted lesbians.Yolanda Mufweba, writing in The Star Newspaper pointed to how lesbianism by white women was seen as a none African issue. The rape of black South African lesbians was to "turn you into a real African woman", and indicating how the subject was racially linked and polarised. Whilst the subject did receive some international attention afterwards, it was not until the 2006 corrective rape and murder of Zoliswa Nkonyana and the 2008 murder of Eudy Simelane, national women's team soccer player and gay rights activist, that international media interest and attention on the issue developed. Further international attention resulted from the Action Aid 2009 report "Hate crimes: The rise of ‘corrective’ rape in South Africa".

Research carried out by The Gallup Organization in March-April 2009 showed that 97% of South Africans believed rape to be "a major problem".

In April 2012, there was debate in the South African parliament converging the issues of rape. Further evidence from Interpol listed South Africa as having the highest rape statistics globally. The findings indicated that a South African woman was more likely to be raped than learn to read, and that a rape took place every 17 seconds. Members of the legislature were concerned that when visiting centres that dealt with rape victims they found services overwhelmed. Annelize van Wyk was concerned to find forensic samples from child rape cases left and unprocessed months after the samples were taken. A recent police study estimated that only one in 36 rape cases are reported. Approximately 33% of reported rape cases were prosecuted. In child rape cases only 22% reached court. The South African government appointed a further 800 forensic experts to deal with the levels of crime has been put on hold.

United States

As the United States is a major purveyor of entertainment and culture, as well as the primary site of many feminism and anti-rape movements, many prominent examples of alleged rape culture have occurred there. Various commentators have also labeled the United States itself as a rape culture.

In February 2011, seventeen United States veterans filed suit against the Pentagon and defense secretary Robert Gates and former secretary Donald Rumsfield, alleging that they allowed a culture in the military where rape was unevenly reported and punished. In several of the plaintiffs' cases, the victim was forced to work with the accused rapist after reporting them for sexual assault. Unit commanders often have heavy influence over military rape cases, and less than one in five cases are prosecuted. According to a 2011 Newsweek report, 1 in 5 females and 1 in 15 males in the United States military reported having been sexually assaulted by servicemembers. (See also: Sexual assault in the United States military)

In March 2011, a group of 16 current and former Yale University students filed a Title IX complaint against the school with the US Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, alleging that the administration did not respond decisively to misogyny on campus, such as Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity members chanting sexist slogans. The fraternity was subsequently suspended for five years. Academic studies have examined fraternity cultures at other universities and discussed their roles in the creation of rape culture.

In March 2011, editorials on Salon.com and The Huffington Post criticised a New York Times article, saying that the article focused on victim-blaming on an eleven-year-old girl rather than the fact that she was raped. The article in question dealt with the November 2010 gang rape of the girl in Cleveland, Texas.

Other incidents

In 2010, the webcomic Penny Arcade published a strip which featured a male rape victim in the setting of a video game. After complaints about the content of the strip, a follow-up apology strip was published which many bloggers alleged was offensive to and made light of rape victims. This "dickwolves" controversy generated reactions even in mainstream media, particularly after Wil Wheaton made a statement opposing the actions of Penny Arcade's creators.

In August and September 2011, Facebook faced criticism for refusing to remove pages that allegedly supported rape culture. Those criticizing the site claimed the pages violated Facebook's own content policies, which prohibit hate speech. A prominent petition to Facebook stated "Allowing such groups to congregate serves only to further normalise rape culture and the high instance of sexual violence that exists in society."

Criticisms

Christina Hoff Sommers has disputed the existence of rape culture, arguing that the common "one in four women will be raped in her lifetime" is based on a flawed study, but frequently cited because it leads to campus anti-rape groups receiving public funding. Sommers has also examined and criticized many other rape studies for their flawed methodology, and states "There are many researchers who study rape victimization, but their relatively low figures generate no headlines."

Joyce E. Williams has criticised the monlithic nature of the concept of rape culture, due to the implication that ultimately all women are victimised by all men.

Other writers, such as bell hooks, have criticized the rape culture paradigm on the grounds that it ignores rape's place in an overarching "culture of violence".

References

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Further reading

• Emilie Buchwald, Pamela R. Fletcher and Martha Roth, ed. (1993). Transforming a Rape Culture. ISBN 1-57131-204-8.
• M. R. Burt (1980). "Cultural myths and supports for rape". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 38: 217–230. PMID 7373511.
• M. R. Burt and R. S. Albin (1981). "Rape myths, rape definitions, and probability of conviction". Journal of Applied Social Psychology. 11: 212–230.

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