Note: This is the fifth part in a five part series on Feminism and Gender Roles

By Holland Cox ’15, Guest Writer 

“Rape culture” is the linkage between violence towards women and everyday activities, beliefs, and societal mindsets. While rape is the ultimate manifestation of this culture, hence the nomenclature, “rape culture” itself is far more widespread and pervasive than it seems, as it is not limited to just rapists. It has been long believed that as men are typically anatomically stronger-built and more able to excel in physical labor than are women, men are the “superior” gender, and have power and ownership over females. Since the development of birth control, women have had the freedom to be as safely promiscuous as they like, an empowering development, quickly exploited by the patriarchy in order to humble women and bring back the pre-existing standard of male authority and female submission. As male dominance over women could no longer be physically controlled, psychological modes of patriarchal ascendency came about, namely “rape culture,” in that violence towards women could be made mentally and socially permissible as well as commonplace.

Unbeknownst to most people, those exposed to “rape culture” internalize it and accept it as a part of everyday life. “Rape” has become a commonly used verb in all the wrong contexts, from “I raped that test” to “I raped you in that Call of Duty game.” Making rape into a joke works to desensitize people to the horror that rape actually is. Similarly, people are exposed to a variety of media condoning rape on a daily basis. For example, the Dolce & Gabbana advertisement shows a group of men coming on to a woman, laid down in a position of powerlessness. It seems “sexy” and relatively inoffensive at first, but this type of advertising campaign is in the same vein as the Belvedere Vodka one, also pictured. What the D&G advertisement implies about the permissibility of rape is clearly elucidated in the Belvedere ad, which goes so far as to show a man forcibly taking hold of a woman, clearly resisting his advances, which is, in short, rape. Publishing images like these is a strong factor in the perpetuation of “rape culture,” in that rape is made to be sexy, funny, and even appealing, making it easy for viewers to accept and unconsciously assimilate this culture into their mindset.

The saying “boys will be boys,” a phrase often used when a male steps out of line, is another prime example of internalized “rape culture.” It implies that boys are predetermined to be rowdy and irresponsible, giving them room to allow for disrespectfulness, often so far as to condone their mistreatment of women, including rape. This trivializing attitude is a leading factor in “rape culture,” often not letting rape victims speak out, due to the dismissive feedback frequently received. One of the most common questions asked of a rape victim is “What were you wearing?” instead of asking them what actually happened, a subset of “rape culture” called slut-shaming.

It is a challenge to define slut-shaming, as it has worked itself so pervasively into patriarchal cultures around the world, from the United States to Iran to Colombia. However, slut-shaming is essentially saying or doing anything that condemns a woman to a state of moral inferiority due to her sexual practices, preferences, or choices. The word “slut” itself, a gendered slur, literally means “promiscuous woman.” As mentioned before, sexual freedom is something that has always been available to males, but only truly available for women in the past 50-something years.

What a woman wears or does with her body should be completely her choice, and even “provocative” clothes are not a justification for the actions of a rapist. Women are being taught not to get raped instead of men being taught not to rape. Ironically, women seem to be the main perpetrators of slut-shaming, an effect of the misogyny of “rape culture,” where seeking men’s approval is valued more highly than respecting another woman. It is just as common for a woman to perpetuate “rape culture” as it is for males, in that the oppression of women becomes something internalized through the pervasiveness of the culture.

Take Robin Thicke’s well-known song, “Blurred Lines,” which encourages date-rape, popular among males and females alike. This song tells females “I know you want it,” in reference to being raped. The thought that a woman does want to get raped is absurd, as no human being desires to be subjected to the physical sexual violence and psychological torment that rape consists of. Still, men and women are both likely to say that a woman is “asking for it” based on what they were wearing or how they were behaving, whereas nobody asks for rape. This idea is further explored in the video below.

To bring the concept of slut-shaming due to “rape culture” closer to home, take the Newark Academy dress code. While there are some equal restrictions on both males and females, like no jeans or sweatshirts Monday through Thursday, and no “bizarre hair or shoe colors,” and rules in theory apply to both genders, the dress code for female students is in reality much more restrictive and more strongly enforced than for male students. Males are not allowed to wear hats in school, sportswear, or ripped pants. Females are not allowed to wear hats in school, sportswear, ripped pants, leggings, “jeggings,” anything bearing the word “Juicy” on it, yoga pants, “above-fingertip-length” skirts, dresses, or shorts, tank tops, cropped shirts, or anything arbitrarily deemed “too tight or revealing,” in addition to a multitude of other items.

An argument can be made that there are more types of clothing choices for girls, so naturally there are more restrictions. False. The Newark Academy dress code is said to keep students looking and feeling sharp and ready-to-learn. Female students can look just as nice in a tank top as they can in a shirt where the shoulders are an inch and a half more covered. The reason most of these restrictions exist is to “limit distractions in the classroom,” meaning that the blame for supposed distractions is being put on girls instead of those actually distracted, a smaller-scale example analogous to how the rape victim is often blamed instead of the perpetrator.

The Newark Academy dress code is not intentionally sustaining slut-shaming, which is exactly the problem. People, both at Newark Academy and through the rest of modern society, are so accustomed to this way of living and thinking that it becomes ingrained, second-nature, undisputed information, thus perpetuating an oppressive “rape culture.”  While the issue of women’s positions in society and in the minds of people is indeed a world-wide problem, in that rape frequently occurs, victims are scared to report their rapists, and rape is treated trivially, “rape culture” still affects daily life at Newark Academy, through media and pop-culture exposure. The best way to counteract “rape culture” is to be aware of its occurrences and for every person to reflect on their own thoughts as to what is socially versus morally permissible.

The Feature Section Explores Feminism and Gender Roles

Part 1: What is Feminism? 

Part 2: Feminism and Men 

Part 3: The “Pretty Hurts” Video 

Part 4: Gender Roles at Newark Academy 

Part 5: An Exploration of “Rape Culture”