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Isabel Prez
Professor Marion Bruner
ENGL 120A 002
22 April, 2015
The Horrifying Rape Culture in America
Rape is depressingly common in the United States. One in six women have been raped in
their lifetime (Who Are the Victims?). One in four women will be sexually assaulted in college
("Sexual Violence on College Campuses"). The cause of all these statistics is the rape culture in
America. Rape culture is a very large problem in America and it needs to be gotten rid of before
America can reduce the number of rapes that occur each year.
Rape culture is the normalization of sexual assault in the world and specifically, for the
purposes of this paper, in the United States. Rape culture is a term most associated with the
Feminist Theory of Rape, which is one of three theories of rape, the other two being Social
Learning Theory and Evolutionary Theory. The Feminist Theory states that rape is caused by the
sexes socio-economic differences. Rape culture is the result of those differences. The Social
Learning Theory is also associated with it saying, the frequent exposure to attitudes supportive
of rape demeaning towards womencauses many males to become callous toward womens
needs and desires, and insensitive toward violence (Ellis). The prevalence of rape and the
lightness with which it is treated is the evidence of this rape culture.
One can hear rape jokes being made in every high school and college around the country.
It is considered funny for boys to joke about raping someone and nothing is thought of a boy
taking advantage of a girl when she is too drunk to consent. Everyone knows that rape happens
but it is thought of as a womans problem. Women are taught countless ways to lessen the

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possibility of them being raped, hold your keys in your hand, dont accept drink from people,
dont walk alone at night, dont drink, dont wear provocative clothing. However, the largest
problem is that boys are not taught not to rape. They are taught not to kidnap women and force
them to have sex at gunpoint, but they are never taught not to do the more insidious kinds of
rape, the rape of a girlfriend or close female friend. 90% of rapes are committed by men known
to the victim and 40-50% of all high school boys in Los Angeles expressed the view that it
would be acceptable to force a girl to have sex if she repeatedly sexually teased her date, or if she
agreed to have sex but changed her mind at the last minute ("Common Myths About Rape",
Ellis). Most men only think of rapists as the attacker in the night, not the friend or boyfriend.
According to the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, 1 in 12 college-age men admit having fulfilled
the prevailing definition of rape or attempted rape, yet virtually none of these men identify
themselves as rapists. This shows a disconnect in the type of rape people talk about and the kind
that actually happens.
Many people say that there is no rape culture because the United States has laws against
rape and rapists are despised (Kitchens). But as Jaclyn Friedman said in her book, quoted by
Time Columnist Zerlina Maxwell:
What we really despise is the idea of rapists: a terrifying monster lurking in the bushes,
waiting to pounce on an innocent girl as she walks by, Friedman says. But actual
rapists, men who are usually known to (and often loved by) their victims? Men who are
sometimes our sports heroes, political leaders, buddies, boyfriends and fathers? Evidence
suggests we dont despise them nearly as much as we should. (Friedman qtd. By
Maxwell)

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This is proven time and time again in cases like Bill Cosby, Woody Allen, and the boys in the
Steubenville rape case. Public opinions sides with the, alleged, rapists and demonizes the women
who were victimized. The women are assumed to be lying for attention, even though the
percentage of accusations that are false is 2% ("Myths About False Accusation"). The disbelief in
the accusation is reflected in such questions as What was she wearing?, Was she drinking?,
and If she was raped, why isnt she acting more traumatized? The questions question the
validity of the accusations and suggest that the victim was to blame for the rape.
Rape and rape culture is especially common in college. The college social scene is
generally centered on alcohol or drugs, which further exacerbates a rape-prone environment
(Sanday). The alcohol and drugs lower inhibitions and blur lines, heightening the probability of
sexual assault. Since many boys dont see having sex with a passed out woman as rape, it doesnt
register in their mind as a bad thing to do. They are caught up in the moment and often feel the
need to prove themselves to their friends. According to Professor Peggy Sanday, the partying
culture, especially among fraternities, disseminates a sexual culture that makes sexual
exploitation a condition of manhood (Sanday). This toxic interpretation of masculinity is at the
heart of rape culture. So many believe that to be masculine one needs to dominate women, even
though this isnt true. The inherent disrespect of women in this philosophy is what leads to rape
culture. This can often be seen at college parties, where a guy can bother a woman to have sex
for a very long time, but as soon as another man says that shes his girlfriend, the other man will
back off. Men, who consciously or unconsciously follow the model of toxic masculinity, dont
respect that woman as a person, but rather as another mans property.
Frat parties are very popular outings, but women are in danger of being raped or sexually
assaulted when they go into environments like this. They are popular despite the well known

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instances of gang rape and date rape drugs in drinks. If a girl goes to one of those parties people
will remind her not to drink any drinks handed to her, but wont tell her not to go. The rape and
other horrible behaviors at these parties are considered normal and inevitable. That normalcy of
horrible crimes is rape culture. Of course some fraternities are not like this and some nonfraternity parties are like this, but fraternities have been well-documented sources of this
behavior (Sanday).
Most of the sources and examples cited have been about female victims, but there are
male victims of rape as well. Their circumstances are generally different though as male rape
victims face different obstacles in reporting the crime. Their rape is often not due to the rape
culture, but due to the toxic masculinity. Being raped, especially by a woman, makes one weak in
the eyes of other men so the rapes are often not reported due to shame. Even when reported, male
victims are often not believed and some laws even make it legally impossible for a man to be
raped. Around 3% of men will be raped in their lifetime, but this number is most likely much
lower than it should be, due to the issues with reporting the crimes (Who Are the Victims?).
This culture of rape needs to end and there are three steps to make society more healthy.
The first is to educate people, especially men and boys, about rape and consent. Schools can host
programs about sexual assault and teach teenagers that consent is the most important thing and
no one deserves to be raped. The programs should cover all the definitions of rape and sexual
assault since many people think certain actions, like having sex with an unconscious person, is
not rape when, in fact, it is. The second component in changing rape culture is to teach men to
respect women more. This means that slut-shaming has to stop, sexist jokes must stop and the
underestimation of abilities has to come to an end. The sexual objectification of females
especially has to stop. Science has recently shown that male brains see sexy women as non-

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human objects to be acted upon and less worthy or empathy (Heldman, Heflick). If this is how
the male brain views women, it is no wonder that rape is as widespread as it is. The article goes
on to say that exposure to images of sexually objectified women causes male viewers to be
more tolerant of sexual harassment and rape myths (Heldman). To get away from rape culture,
society needs to teach men about these studies and help them become aware of biases that they
dont consciously think they hold. This leads into the third component, which is changing the
dialogue. Society and media need to stop routinely blaming the victims for the crimes against
them and start holding the perpetrators responsible. Currently, there are so many myths about
rape; women secretly enjoy it, wearing revealing clothes is asking for it, or men cant always
control their sexual urges; that it is hard to dispel all of them (Brienes). Therefore many people
believe these myths, which causes harm to the victims and helps prevent rapists from being
convicted.
If these three things can change, the myths about rape will be discredited and rape culture
will change. The key to this change is to target the younger generations, especially the ones in
college. Their ideas are still forming and it is easier to get college and high school aged students
to consider new ideas than it is to change the minds of older people. If the unacceptance of rape
culture is cultivated in college, the number of rapes will decrease in college, and hopefully in the
broader world.

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Works Cited
Brienes,Juliana."SheAskedForIt:TheImpactofRapeMyths."PsychologyToday.Sussex
Publishers,12Nov.2012.Web.08Apr.2015.
"Common Myths About Rape." Rape Crisis - England and Wales. Rape Crisis England & Wales,
n.d. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.
Ellis, Lee. Theories of Rape: Inquiries into the Causes of Sexual Aggression. New York:
Hemisphere Pub., 1989. Print.
Heflick,NathanA."SexualizedWomenAreSeenasObjects,StudiesFind."PsychologyToday.
SussexPublishers,14Aug.2010.Web.08Apr.2015.
Heldman,Caroline."SexualObjectification,Part2:TheHarm."MsMagazineBlog.Ms.
Magazine,06July2012.Web.08Apr.2015.
Kitchens, Caroline. "It's Time to End 'Rape Culture' Hysteria." Time. Time, 20 Mar. 2014. Web.
08 Apr. 2015.
Maxwell, Zerlina. "Rape Culture Is Real." Time. Time, 27 Mar. 2014. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.
"Myths About False Accusation." Men Against Abuse Now. Stanford University, n.d. Web. 08
Apr. 2015.
Sanday, Peggy Reeves. Fraternity Gang Rape: Sex, Brotherhood, and Privilege on
Campus. New York: New York UP, 1990. Print.
"Sexual Violence on College Campuses." Cleveland Rape Crisis Center. Cleveland Rape Crisis
Center, n.d. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.
"Who Are the Victims?" Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. RAINN, n.d. Web. 08 Apr.
2015.

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Reflection
I really liked this paper. It was easier to write than other papers because I am so interested in
the topic. It was also more difficult than other papers because of the amount of research that had
to go into it. The hardest part of writing this paper was to stay on the path of my thesis. I had to
go back and delete large portions of my paper while writing it because they went off track. There
were so many directions I could have taken this paper and my paper tried to go in every direction
at some point in the writing process. It was hard to stay on track and keep the paper going in the
direction it was supposed to.
The biggest change I made in revising my drafts was between my first and second, not
second and final, drafts. I deleted almost a page off of my paper because it was just completely
off track and then re-wrote the page. It was a big change, and difficult to do, but it was necessary.
My favorite part of my paper is the second to last paragraph that is about ways to combat rape
culture. If I had more time, and a larger page requirement, I would have liked to expand more on
that paragraph. I would have also liked to have a paragraph or two on the creation of the rape
culture, in regards to the objectification and disrespect of women.