I came across this trend, #rapecultureiswhen,
that has been trending on Twitter about the topic of “Rape Culture” and weather
it is real or not. I was amazed by what I found and how many people out there
have been pressured into rape situations that society pushes aside as “not rape”
or the fact that the rape victim was basically asking for it. Rape Culture is a
society in which sexual violence is tolerated and over-looked.
The person that made this tweet
claims that Rape Culture is when “a rapist doesn’t even know he’s a rapist.”
This shows the fact that many people out there are not educated on what a
legitimate rape is. People, other than men, will believe that because a girl or
woman is wearing “slutty” clothing, flirting, or intoxicated that they are “asking
for rape”. But what people do not know is that it is extremely untrue. As the
photo says, “it could have been them”. Some people just do not see both sides
of another person’s life. When an individual says, “no” to sex, it is rape,
regardless of what or how that individual is behaving or wearing. Often because
a person is in a relationship, he/she thinks it is allowed to have sex, but if
the person says, “no”, it means no and therefore it would be rape if there is
no consent.
Who is the audience that this tweet
is trying to push this idea through about Rape Culture? It looks like this trend is trying to raise
awareness about rape and it being very real and how many people actually get
raped and are pressured into thinking that maybe it was their own fault that
they were a victim. The photo looks like the woman is trying to show this
writing to parents of the rapist. Rapists are often not aware about what it
means to rape someone. It is unfair that
a victim has to go through something that was not consented but have no support
by society because society thinks that if you portray yourself as a “slut”,
then you deserve it. That is not true.
This is a post off of Tumblr that has been reblogged a
number of times. It shows a good analogy of how people do not realize why rape
is wrong. Just because someone acts a certain way that makes it rape seem right,
does not make it right to rape that person without consent. This viral trend
going around seems to want to reach out to those who have been raped and even those
who are uneducated about Rape Culture. It seems that posts in this society say,
“Don’t get raped” rather than “Don’t rape”. There is a distinct difference.
Trying not to get raped only goes so far, not raping could end rape in general,
though the world will most likely always have issues like this, it would be
comforting to know that it is rare and can be prevented. This trend is still
popular on Twitter with about five new tweets every minute. If this awareness
can spread so fast on social media, it could spread fast through parents and
students.
Alexis, I have previously seen the first picture on many social media sites as well. I really like the stance that you took that our society has a skewed view about rape, especially if alcohol is involved. Instead of rape being the fault of the drunk male many people in our society blame it on reasons like, the girl shouldn't have drank so much to have gotten in that situation, or as you said, if a girl was being promiscuous in the past she should have respected herself more and not flirted so much. These are ridiculous. In our society men are often viewed as the leader of the households, as physically stronger individuals, and as the protector of their families. But when a rape situation such as the one to the girl in the photograph, society seems to forget these long held views and instead expect the woman to be in charge and to not let situations such as this occur.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a topic that needs to be spread more! Good description of it!
I liked that you were able to share this trend because it is a very serious issue that many people don't know about or are too ignorant to understand. The rape culture trend is something that should everyone, everywhere should know about so that we as a society can put an end to the apathetic attention rape victims receive. The analogy from the tumblr post is so important because it brings about another outlook on the situation without even using the word rape in order to get its point across objectively and not shot down as another attempt to “whine” about rape because it’s not the victim’s fault. Victim blaming is another reason the rape culture trend should be addressed because in situations of rape the victim is usually blamed but regardless of the circumstances if the victim did not consent to sex the other person should never force themselves upon them anyway. It was a very interesting, informative and intriguing trend.
ReplyDelete