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Isabel Prez
Professor Marion Bruner
ENGL 120A 002
8 April, 2015
Rape Culture in the United States
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"). Rape culture in the United States is what allows the
prolific number of rapes on college campuses.
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 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 says 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
possibility of them being raped, hold your keys in your hand, dont accept drink from people,

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dont walk alone at night, dont drink, dont wear provocative clothing, but boys are never taught
not to rape. They are taught not to kidnap women and force them to have sex at gunpoint, but
they are never taught to not 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. (Maxwell)

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
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

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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, which heightens the probability
of sexual assault. As 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 and
weaker men, even though this isnt true. The inherent disrespect of women in this philosophy is
what leads to rape culture. One can see it when going to college parties. 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, they respect her as another mans property.
Women are in danger of being raped or sexually assaulted when they go into
environments like this, but frat parties are very popular outings. They are popular despite the
well know 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

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non-fraternity 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 stop and there are three big ways to do that. The first is to
educate people, especially men and boys, about rape and consent. Schools can do 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. That means that slut-shaming has to stop, sexist jokes must stop, and
underestimation of abilities has to stop. The sexual objectification of females especially has to
stop. Science has recently shown that male brains see sexy women as non-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

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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
the 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 people 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.