Djajadi 1

Jessica Djajadi
Professor Makarosyan
English 114 B
10 May 2015
The Societys Involvement in Rape and the Influences of Rape Culture
Essay #2 Prompt:
For this project you will closely examine and analyze Maxine Hong Kingstons Woman
Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts and choose a social issue raised by any of the
books short stories other than White Tiger to, both, research and write about in a thesis driven
argumentative essay.

You will be required to do outside research for this essay (minimum of 3 scholarly sources). You
will want to use your outside sources to initiate your own argument. In other words, your
purpose should not be to cram as many sources as you can into your essay; you do not want other
writers voices to drown out your own, but instead use your sources to establish and evidence
your own argument. You will not be permitted to use block quotes (4 or more lines) so you must
paraphrase or directly quote only the essential. When you reference your literary source (Woman
Warrior) you are to analyze the content, not simply summarize it.

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The Societys Involvement in Rape and the Influences of Rape Culture
According to ncjrs.gov the age group that is in high risk for rape is adolescents between
thirteen through seventeen and young adult aged eighteen through twenty-four. We see the
occurrences of rape all the time, it has been published in books and magazines, told through the
media such as movies, TV shows and Reality TV. In Maxine Hong Kingston, short story No
Name Woman the narrator talks about an occurrences of rape between her aunt and another guy
that led to the narrators aunt committing suicide. Throughout the story the narrator gives
different explanations to why her aunt did not have an option nor a way out from being rape. The
topic of rape culture is an ongoing concerns that spreads worldwide that has many effects on rape
victims. Even though the topic about rape has been mentioned everywhere in the media, the
reality of it is that with the influences of rape culture, victim shaming and blaming in our society
is the reason why victims are hesitant to come forward, and because of that many incidence of
rape have not been reported.
Rape culture by definition started back in the 1970s, it is a concept in which rape is
being normalized due to societys attitudes about gender and sexuality. The real issue we should
think about is what we can do to solve this problem and stop allowing victim shaming, sexual
objectification, trivializing rape, denial of widespread rape, or refusing to acknowledge the harm
to occur. This concept creates many disturbances for the rape victims because of the influence of
rape culture many victims are unwilling to report any incidents that had happened to them.
Without the proper knowledge of what to do when someone tells you that they have been raped,
it only make sense that we as a society tend to look the other way. The important aspect we need
to gain is the knowledge and understanding of the situation instead of brushing off the fact that
rape do happen. The fact is, in regards to rape culture what is accepted by society as inevitable

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is in fact the expression of values and attitudes that can change, the key word being change is
what we need to believe in (Fletcher). The influence of rape culture occurs because of the
majority in our society who believes in it. In order to move forward and allow the victims to feel
safe and comfortable, the society as a whole have to figure out a way to change the influences of
rape culture and expand our knowledge of rape.
In each circumstance of the rape victims are not all the same, some are lucky enough to
get the words across to make a better living for themselves. Others not so much, as they are
being trapped by the rapist, being threatened, and merely being scared of the societys view. In
some cases when the victim are willing to tell someone, the other person either do not know what
to do or does not take the matter serious. Not all victims are in the position to be able to let go of
the pain and insecurities they have from being raped. In some cases the memories are replayed as
they go through their daily lives. The fact that they are reminded of that painful memory effects
their interactions with other people. In Maxine Hong, No Name Woman, the narrators aunt
goes through the experience of being rape, and the narrator explains the reason why the aunt
could not get away from it, she might have separated the rapes from the rest of living if only she
did not have to buy her oil from him or gather wood in the same forest (Hong 7). The hardest
part is not knowing what will happen if the victims do decide to come forward. The number one
factor for victims to be hesitant to come forward is the backlash of ruthless comments made by
society against the victim.
Questions like what was she wearing, what did she do to provoke him? all contribute to
the idea of victim shaming and victim blaming, and the huge toll it brings on the victims. One
thing as a society we should change is believing that the victim [is] responsible for her own
victimization and that it is all her fault because she portrays as the seductress (Herman 47).

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This issue causes a greater impact, according to RAINN (Rape, Abuse, & Incest National
Network), 54% of sexual assaults are not reported to police while 97% of rapists will never
spend a day in jail, in the end without the proper awareness each victims are heavily affected by
this idea that the rapists might not even be punished for it (Rape Culture). The effects behind
sexual abuse and rape; not only does the victim suffer in that moment in time they also suffer in
the future. The effects behind sexual abuse and rape have a much greater effect, that in most
cases the victims themselves do not end up reporting it to the authorities. Studies have shown
that adult women with a history of childhood sexual abuse show greater evidence of sexual
disturbance or dysfunction, homosexual experiences in adolescence or adulthood, depression,
and are more likely than non-abused women to be revictimized (DaCosta, Beitchman, Zucker,
Cassavia, Akman). This is an example of the toll it takes on the victims, how it is a long-term
effect that happens. The victims after affect from being raped will soon take control of their daily
lives. The victims are usually not appreciated afterwards and the media has a negative impact for
the victims.
We live in such a progressive world in which everyone is being appreciated and taken
accounted for such as gays, cross-gender, transgender, lesbians, and bisexual but even with that
there are still limitations to what is acceptable. Our world today is the kind of place that even
women are starting to get more recognition, individual freedom and rights, so why is it any
different for the victims of rape? What is stopping us from acknowledging the occurrences of
rape in our society? Our media plays a big role in getting the words across, but it does not help
when TV shows, movies, songs, portrays being rape as it is ok. The medias involvement in
influencing the society on rape culture is on a much larger scale than ever before. With

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technology improving rapidly it is easier to get the words across through our daily encounters
with the media.
The media such as the news, magazines, articles, TV shows, movies, books, and even
music is the number one factor of influencing society on the topic of rape culture. Although the
media can go both ways it is more known to be an advocate of letting things go and not making it
such a big deal in our lives. Commercial ads that portrays women as a sex symbol allows people
to think that is just what women are there for to please the men. Having music videos that shows
parts of a women body that is meant to be sacred also allows the audience to think nothing of it
because we see it so much. It might not be intentional but the simplest thing such as using
feminine derogatory terms/names portrays women as nothing more than just an object. Another
example of how we see rape culture in the media is through photo memes that can be found in
any kind of social media such as; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and many more brings
a negative component of rape. Photo memes can actually hurt more than any other kind of media
because they are meant to have a sense of sarcasm and a sense of humor. People who uses photo
memes just to have at it does not realize the toll it brings on for other people. Any aspect of rape
culture in the media can cause the death of someone, this proves the massive power media has in
our society. On the other hand we still see many awareness of this idea through different
websites, organizations and blogs such as day of the girl.
The other factor of rape culture is the leniency in sentencing and how our society is
influenced by it. There has been many cases brought to the court where at the end the judge ruled
the sentencing lower than what many people believed they should earn. In reality we live in a
world where it is mainly patriarchy, what might seem is unjust it has always been like that. The
fact that in most cases the men tend to get more leniency in sentencing than women and about

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three percent of rapist actually goes to jail. When people hear stories about a woman being rape
their first question is what she did to provoke him. In a recent case, covered by The
Washington Post there was an article about a case that happened in Orange County, where a man
sexually abused a three years old. This case caught the attention of other people so fast because
the judge that took this case lowered the man sentencing because he taught that twenty-five years
was too harsh for him and decided to reduce it to ten years instead (Phillip). But in the peoples
view he should have stayed longer because he sexually abused a three years old girl and covered
her mouth while he was doing it so that her mom could not hear her call for help. In regards to
this case it is important because this specific case along with many other goes into moral
judgement, how other people sees different situations like this. This is also an example of unfair
sentencing, even if the victims do come forward, their rapist will in some shape or form win, and
the results are usually unpredictable.
Unjust sentencing makes the rapist think it is ok to rape and makes the victims believe
that even if they were to say something, nothing will actually happen to the rapist. There is even
one case where a fifty years old man raped a fourteen years old girl and was only sentenced for
thirty-days. In result of this unjust case, the young fourteen year old committed suicide
(Ridgway). Normally the victims feel that the media and everyone else around them will
eventually end up blaming them for what happens even though it is not their fault. Victim
shaming and blaming are the outcomes of rape culture in a way where in the culture itself it is
meant to normalize the idea of rape. The act of letting things go or not making it a big deal
impacts many people negatively because their lives depend on it. Victim shaming and victim
blaming will ultimately lead to unreported rape incidents because the victims will be too scared
to come forward, tell someone, and get the help they need,

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We come across different ideas and understanding of rape and sexual abuse and rape
culture itself. We see it in the publics media day in and day out. Little children are introduced to
it at a younger age. And sadly, many have been victimized to this ongoing concern with sexual
abuse and rape. Whether it is mentally, physically, or sexually, the victims have to live with the
trauma and the effects of it for the rest of their lives. The fact that rape culture still exists does
not help at all, victim shaming and victim blaming is a major concern, that in order to stop this
society have to change their point of view of who is at fault. The victims of rape should not have
to live with double the trauma of being accused as a seductress and no one believing that what
they are saying is true and that it really did happen.

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Works Cited
DaCosta, Granville A., Joseph H. Beitchman, Kenneth J. Zucker, Erika Cassavia, Jane E. Hood,
and Donna Akman. "Download PDFs." A Review of the Long-term Effects of Child
Sexual Abuse. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.
Fletcher, P., and M. Roth. "LIBRARY." Abstracts Database. Ed. E. Buchwald. Milkweed
Editions, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.
Herman, Dianne F. "The Rape Culture." Culture Contemporary. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 45-53. Google
Scholars. Web. 25 Apr. 2015.
Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood among Ghosts. New
York: Vintage International, 1989. Print.
Phillip, Abby. "Man Who Sexually Abused 3-year-old Girl Didnt intend to Harm His Victim,
California Judge Rules." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 7 Apr. 2015. Web. 12
Apr. 2015.
"Rape Culture." Day of the Girl. N.p., 2013. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.
Ridgway, Shannon. "25 Everyday Examples of Rape Culture." Everyday Feminism. N.p., 10
Mar. 2014. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.
Russell, D E H. "LIBRARY." Abstracts Database. National Institute of Mental Health, n.d.
Web. 27 Apr. 2015.