Rape Culture

[Dear Leader]

I recently heard this term be used, and I think I agree that it definitely exists in the USA. There was a case where some 16 year old boys were charged with rape, and given ONLY 1 year in prison. That is bad enough, that they are getting such a slap on the wrist. Then they apologize FOR GETTING CAUGHT (they put out some pictures)!!!!! But CNN was covering the story from the angle "These boys lives are ruined, because they will be labelled sexual predators the rest of their lives! Woa is them... we should feel bad". I was so mad at that, and I really couldn't help but have to come on here and ask more about the idea of "rape culture", and why it's so prevalent.

[Jesus Saves Gretzky Scores]

This is a great article. I didn't know what rape culture was before, and this article made me understand in a lot. It gives examples of how rape is such a prominent force in our society.

http://finallyfeminism101.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/rape-culture-101/

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

How is "rape culture" any different from patriarchy or heteronormativity?

[Jimmie Higgins]

How is "rape culture" any different from patriarchy or heteronormativity?
I think It's just a description of a specific manifestation of sexist attitudes today. A moralizing and patronizing Victorian who thinks woman are weak and childlike is sexist, but different from "rape culture". In the u.s. and u.k. Rape culture seems tied to the backlash against feminism.

[Labor Aristocrat Killer]

Why do people on this forum accept sociobiological understandings of homosexuality and pedophilia, yet vehemently reject them for rape?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociobiological_theories_of_rape

This seems to be a massive theoretical inconsistency here. (I myself reject sociobiology as almost totally nonsense, and reject the essentialist understanding of human sexuality).

[Yet_Another_Boring_Marxist]

Why do people on this forum accept sociobiological understandings of homosexuality and pedophilia, yet vehemently reject them for rape?
Because rapists rape people................

[Labor Aristocrat Killer]

Because rapists rape people................

Pedophiles rape children, but that doesn't stop people here from believing it is a sexual orientation.

Is rape a sexual orientation? How would people here appreciate a discourse on rape that talks about rapists as if it is an involuntary biological predisposition, and that rapists should be tolerated, so long as they don't rape people?

[Yet_Another_Boring_Marxist]

Pedophiles rape children, but that doesn't stop people here from believing it is a sexual orientation.


That's an entirely different subject. It is arguable that a child can consent to sexual activities so to an extent it is valid to see pedophiles as legitimate sexual orientation. (Note, I am neither endorsing or rejecting that line of thought, I am merely saying that it can hypothetically be correct and is therefore worth considering). If rape is a sexual orientation, well I'm sorry but I don't really care.

[Leftsolidarity]

Pedophiles rape children, but that doesn't stop people here from believing it is a sexual orientation.

Is rape a sexual orientation? How would people here appreciate a discourse on rape that talks about rapists as if it is an involuntary biological predisposition, and that rapists should be tolerated, so long as they don't rape people?

You're talking about one person assualting another person. It's not a sexual orientation, it is an oppressive act mostly targetted against women.

[Labor Aristocrat Killer]

You're talking about one person assualting another person. It's not a sexual orientation, it is an oppressive act mostly targetted against women.

Of course!!!

[Labor Aristocrat Killer]

That's an entirely different subject.

Child rape and adult rape are both rape.


It is arguable that a child can consent to sexual activities so to an extent it is valid to see pedophiles as legitimate sexual orientation.And someone could argue like this:

"Yeah, and hypothetically if our society didn't have bourgeois, uptight Victorian era morality, women would be okay with violent-esque surprise sex encounters."

How can you legitimately criticize rape culture without criticizing the rape of children by disgusting sexual predators?



If rape is a sexual orientation, well I'm sorry but I don't really care.Child rape isn't a sexual orientation either.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Why do people on this forum accept sociobiological understandings of homosexuality and pedophilia, yet vehemently reject them for rape?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociobiological_theories_of_rape

This seems to be a massive theoretical inconsistency here. (I myself reject sociobiology as almost totally nonsense, and reject the essentialist understanding of human sexuality).

Well first, I don't personally. I think that bilogically we are only compelled to enjoy sex - the specifics of that are much more fluid. I think the conditions of (hetero)sexism in modern societies creates "homosxual identity" as well as "heterosexual identity" as part of the regulation of our personal relationships and biological reproduction.

That being said, I don't think "rape culture" implies "rape gene". The whole idea of rape culture, as I understand it, is that social and cultural attitudes create the conditions where rape is tacitly condoned or accepted. Only a small percentage of males rape, but they tend to do it repeatedly because they think it's accepted: politicians talking about "legitimate rape" or academics talking about "grey rape"; rape apologizm in the media and by institutions like College Admins; victim-blaming; and tolerance of rape-jokes in comdey all contribute to a culture where people can feel they can get away with it. Marxists can go further by linking modern rape to the commodification of sex (to the point where it can be stolen or people feel that sex has a price and feel entitled to sex if they buy dinner), systemic sexism where men's careers or eductation are more valuable in the eyes of society, and so on.

I don't think that's a biologically determanist view of the reason why rape happens in the form it does in our society, as the name implies it seems to put forward a cultural source. Of course within that larger framework, the whys and hows are going to be contested and in the hands of liberals, for example, "rape culture" might mearly be seen in terms of surface expressions (just the rape jokes or sexist images of female sexuality in the media - i.e. "bad ideas") of a deeper sexist phenomana in society.

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

Pedophiles rape children, but that doesn't stop people here from believing it is a sexual orientation.

Is rape a sexual orientation? How would people here appreciate a discourse on rape that talks about rapists as if it is an involuntary biological predisposition, and that rapists should be tolerated, so long as they don't rape people?

Rape is an act. So is child molestation. And if you calmed down and actually read what people are saying, no one on this site thinks either of those acts is alright or needs to be tolerated.

Paedophilia is a certain sexual preference that can, but does not need to be, expressed as child molestation. Rape is not analogous to paedophilia; perhaps rape fantasies would be. And yes, some people have rape fantasies. Unless they actually go out and rape people, or think that rape is alright, they shouldn't be judged or harassed.

Very few people on this site, I think, hold strict biological views of human sexuality - but you seem to be the only one that thinks sexuality is the result of a free choice. Most of us consider sexuality a cultural phenomenon, based in certain biological impulses but developed in the context of a culture.