RAPE CULTURE IS WHEN...

Art by Georgia Gibson

Rape. She says no, he ignores her and the rest is history - it's pretty simple isn't it?

Starting out as a cyber wave of awareness, last week's twitter trending tag '#rapeculutreiswhen' quickly evolved into a sea littered with snide comments full of ignorance and misconception. Reading through these I came to two conclusions; either our society is infested with ignorant and insensitive imbeciles who need to be removed promptly or there are many people are completely unaware of the issues that people are forced to endure today. Putting my faith in the latter, I figured that it would probably be a good idea to introduce you all to the concept that is rape culture:

Where sexual violence is an accepted and expected norm, supporting sexual violence against women and ignoring sexual violence against men. A culture that makes this seem okay, telling the victim that it’s their fault and the perpetrator that it’s in their nature.

Before continuing I should probably note that the 'rape' in rape culture covers the whole of sexual violence and harassment, not just rape alone. Any unwanted attention of a sexual nature is included when using this term whether it's cat-calling, consent-less sex or anything in between. Now I totally understand if you're a little take aback by this new concept, I mean, this doesn't relate to you in the slightest; you don't accept sexual violence, most definitely wouldn't ignore it and never in a million trillion light-years would you ever, ever, blame a victim - or would you?

This frame of mind has been completely normalised, most of us aren't even aware that this is taking place right under our noses. We read it on social media, hear it in some of our favourite songs and even see it on our very own television screens - prison rape 'jokes', "I know you want it" (No, Robin, your wife doesn't even want that anymore), the half-dressed girl in the alley versus the stained white shirt - whether you want to believe it or not rape culture is our culture. 

 Parents lengthen the skirts of their daughters, push back her curfew hour and teach her that in the dark lies danger - the danger of men. Not only is this as much stupid as it is stereotypical, but the idea that being a predatory abuser is in a man's nature is down right offensive. Self control does exist in males (crazy, I know) - a bit of skin won't set off erections and sweaty palms within a fifty mile radius. Yet we have it drilled into our brains that we should be afraid of men; which is why your pace increases when his footsteps approach yours, why you cross the street when you see him coming towards you and why sexual abuse against him isn't treated as seriously as it should be.

The effects of rape culture stem from heteronormative gender roles - the vulnerable female 'should have been more careful' and the aggressive male 'just couldn't help it' (I did say these were embedded into your everyday lives). Through this we ignore the large proportion of males, trans and non trans, of all ages who are victims of sexual abuse on a daily basis and also overlook the possibility of sexual abuse occurring within same-sex relationships. Failure to address these issues has resulted in us, as a society, endangering our lives and the lives of those around us.

Females can be perpetrators.
Males can be victims too.
'Don't rape' is a lot more efficient than 'Don't get raped'

Posted by Melissa



An art piece based on the subject of rape culture created by teen feminist art blogger Georgia Gibson. With an mp3 player sat inside a cast, she invited people to listen to recordings of girls recounting their experiences of sexual abuse. An incredibly powerful piece of art calling for an end to rape culture and raising awareness of issues people (girls in particular) of all ages are forced to bear.