She's Not Asking For It

Rape Culture and Our Modern Society

by Claire Etchison

People hear the excuses all the time, "She was asking for it.", "She was wearing skimpy clothing.", "She was drunk.", "She's a slut.", etc. etc. etc. Without even directing it up front, most people could have guessed these are common things said when a rape or sexual assault happens. The sad thing is, most people say these excuses because our culture has ingrained the idea that a girl (or boy) could be asking for rape.

But how can it be ingrained into us? Think from a young age. Most schools have rules against girls wearing tank tops and shorts, due to it being "too much skin". Who cares that it may be 90 degrees outside in a school with no A/C; you're wearing shorts? That's inappropriate. We sexualize legs and shoulders because "they're a distraction". We make it appear that boys and men can't even focus in school because a girl might be showing legs. We instill these ideas that "boys will be boys" and they can't control themselves, so naturally when we hear about a rape case, most people ask what the girl was wearing, because if she's showing enough cleavage a guy can't control himself, obviously. 

According to the CDC, a person is raped every 24 minutes. But why is it happening that frequently? 1 in 5 women are raped, and 1 in 6 men are abused before age 18, according to a Time article. Unfortunately, a big problem is how people try to downplay the act of rape and victim-blame. We teach women how not to be raped, instead of men not to rape. In her Time Article "Rape Culture is Real" by Zerlina Maxwell discusses how only 97% of rapists are put away, and she also discusses different thoughts our culture has because of rape culture. Using her hashtag #RapeCultureisWhen, Maxwell was able to compile a list of many reasons why rape cases aren't being taken seriously, including "Rape culture is when, in 31 states, rapists can legally sue for child custody if the rape results in pregnancy.", "Rape culture is when the mainstream media mourns the end of the convicted Steubenville rapists’ football careers and does not mention the young girl who was victimized."

Unfortunately, our society dismisses rapes. When Jamesis Winston, who went on to win the Heisman trophy, had a victim come up and say she was raped, she was attacked. She received death threats and bricks were thrown into her sorority house. "Blurred Lines" a popular song by Robin Thicke, had lines comparable to what some girls were told by their attackers, but it's a catchy song so it's okay. We as a society have got to stop victim blaming and realize how bad the Rape Culture in our country really is. Luckily, many different campaigns are helping break down our ideas, but we have a long way to go till we get to a society that sees rape the way it is.

Sources: http://www.cdc.gov/violencePrevention/NISVS/index.html

http://time.com/40110/rape-culture-is-real/