What is "Rape Culture"?

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I'm pretty sure it was in the twenty-first century, but it's an old reference I'm trying to dig up about a judge in the Seattle area who took heat over dismissing a rape charge because putting a gun to a woman's head and raping her is merely theft of services if she is known or believed to be a prostitute.

And you would think that would be a one-off weird memory from the past, but Mary Mitchell, the Chicago Sun-Times columnist, decided to revive that point in September, stirring the inevitable controversy↱, resulting in a situation whereby the newspaper itself is now shielding the hyperlink under a frame template because of the number of complaints (www.donotlink.com/framed?7777032↱).

A sample of Mitchell's rape advocacy on behalf of a man who raped a prostitute at gunpoint:

I imagine most prostitutes in this situation would have run straight to a pimp. But after leaving Akins' home in the 1100 block of North Lawler, the unidentified 24-year-old woman called the police.

Akins is now being held on $750,00 bail, charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault.

I don't have one iota of sympathy for Akins' plight. But I'm grateful he isn't being accused of snatching an innocent woman off the street.​

Nothing like slut-shaming a rape survivor, you know?

Ms. Mitchell is grateful that Mr. Akins' victim is only a prostitute.

It gets even worse:

Unfortunately, the way this case is being handled makes it look like sex trafficking is a legitimate business.

I'm not one of those women who believe rape victims are at fault because they dressed too provocatively or misled some randy guy into thinking it was his lucky night.

But when you agree to meet a strange man in a strange place for the purpose of having strange sex for money, you are putting yourself at risk for harm.

It's tough to see this unidentified prostitute as a victim. And because this incident is being charged as a criminal sexual assault―when it's actually more like theft of services―it minimizes the act of rape.​

In spirit, your point is correct. To the other, I've seen circumstances in our courts that would dispute it, and just two months ago a signature columnist at one of the nation's journalistic institutions put it on the editorial page.

One of the things I sometimes say about rape culture is that the point is to find any excuse to force a woman to have sex. This is one of those examples.

It's not hard to imagine how someone comes to think like that. To the other, it's also a fairly acute portrait of a key component of rape culture known in my political circles by a derisive name, the Guardians of Female Chastity. The underlying thesis seems to be that if women were more respectable, they wouldn't be raped.

And this is really important; we can file it under "contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women"↗. And I keep thinking back to a post I wrote↗ in 2013, in which GFC plays a huge role:

(1) Amanda Marcotte considers a juxtaposition of violence against women and violence against animals, suggesting the culture shows greater respect to a cat than a human female.

(2) Simon Tedeschi considers the rape and murder of Jill Meagher in the context of rape culture, including thoughts toward "the inevitable questions about where and with whom she was before it happened", and the point that while we men are "not all rapists" it is still true that "most of us tacitly condone the cultural framework that allows rape to happen". He noted, "Jill Meagher, even in death, was maligned by the protectors of female chastity for daring to venture out by herself at night time".

(3) Daily Kos compiled coverage of how the University of North Carolina told a rape survivor, "rape is like football, and if you look back on the game what would you have done differently in that situation". A senior associate dean of students came to the aid of the accused rapist. Also, the University tried to expel the survivor.

(4) HuffPo reports on CNN's focus, in the Stubenville rape case, on the tragedy of how the rapist's life is wrecked. The survivor and her family, in Poppy Harlow's broadcast, were quite literally an afterthought.

(5) Recollections of a 2008 IPA/GFC discussion↗.

(6) Anna Minard on IPA itself.

(7) A European report on an Italian priest, Fr. Piero Corsi, posting a Christmas message on the door of his church blaming women's lack of respectability for domestic, intimate, and sexual violence.

(8) News reports regarding rape in India, including an attorney explaining, "Until today I have not seen a single incident or example of rape with a respected lady", and, "Even an underworld don would not like to touch a girl with respect". In that case, the woman was raped to death. Another infamous case from the same period heard a police spokesperson actually blaming a rape victim for being in an area where there aren't enough women.​

And that last, actually, really does seem to call out another point; as I recently noted↗, "If you set a low enough bar, everyone and everything passes". It is easy enough to say one has "not seen a single incident or example of rape with a respected lady" if one sets a high enough bar for what counts as a respected lady, and a low enough bar for disqualifying that respectability.

And as one of our neighbors recently advised↗, "Sometimes it's easier to see in a foreign culture, sort of training your ear by starting with jarring or obvious examples rather than the stuff you've grown used to as background in the US, like in your church".

In truth, I think what makes it stand out so strongly in memory is the nature of recent↑ inquiries↗ seem to be taking place within a pretense of ignorance, as if none of this is going on.

There is a reason why our inquiring neighbor is ignoring what people tell him; I mean, look at this thread. If he is so unfamiliar with the proposition of rape culture, as he implies in his topic post, then why ignore people's responses in order to post well-worn talking points?

I call it square zero, when dragging everything back to square one is insufficient becasue we need to regress even further. The topic post inquires according to a pretense of ignorance about a subject. Responses are given, but ignored; rather, the allegedly ignorant topic poster starts deploying arguments against the proposition of rape culture based not on the answers people are offering, instead looking to long-familiar denunciations, a spectral caricature custom-built so they can wail about #NotAllMen.

To wit―

• "Rape culture is a term to describe collectively beliefs and behaviors within a societal culture contributing to rape."↑​

↳ "I believe we are entering a radical element with the "Rape Culture" rally call. It truly makes men, all men, look like savages by nature. It's an insult to our gender and to our culture. I don't buy into it. Nonetheless, thank you for citing your examples in contrast."↑​

Notice how the reply ignores the offered definition in order to assert a pre-existing outlook on rape culture that betrays the pretense of ignorance.

The purpose is to spend as little effort as possible shouting variations on #NotAllMen, while you do all the work.

You and I have disputed aspects of these issues before, and one difference 'twixt then and now―it seems important enough to note―is that you didn't bother pretending to have no clue what I was talking about.

It's kind of hard to figure the current discussion some of our neighbors are trying to foster; it seems, approximately, "I don't know what this is, but let me tell you all about it."

Except, well, that can't possibly be.

Can it?

Because that would be stupid.
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Notes:

Image note: Detail of cover art for Appetite for Destruction by Guns 'n' Roses (Geffen, 1987).​

Hanson, Hilary. "Columnist Calls Gunpoint Rape Of Sex Worker 'Theft Of Services'". The Huffington Post. 14 September 2015. HuffingtonPost.com. 14 September 2015. http://huff.to/1Muaihu

Mitchell, Mary. "Rape case sends mixed messages on prostitution". Chicago Sun-Times. 12 September 2015. Chicago.SunTimes.com. 14 November 2015. http://bit.ly/1NT01QC

 

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So despite claiming otherwise, it's clear you didn't genuinely think I had a mental illness, you simply made a snipe about my mental state in order to take a cheap shot at me. No doubt you don't see the hypocrisy in your complaining about rape jokes, while making light of mental illness, which also causes significant debility and death. Given that none of your left-wing colleagues jumped on the bandwagon when you attempted to incite them into ridiculing my mental health, I can only assume that they are likewise disgusted and embarrassed by your behavior. You haven't accomplished anything with your snipe other than demonstrate how thin the veneer of progressive thought and high-mindedness is in socialists. I never insulted or got personal with you, I simply pointed out that a number of your assumptions haven't been substantiated, and that was all it took for you to condescend to ridiculing my mental state. That's pretty disgusting, although I must confess that you aren't the first socialist on this forum to engage in such craven behavior.

For what must be the fourth time, how can you know I live in a rape culture if you have no idea of where I live? It appears as if you are saying that since I hold certain views, that I must live in a rape culture. If that's true, you'd need to demonstrate exactly how my views promote rape culture, and then provide statistical evidence that a sample size of one is an accurate representation of millions of people. Given your failure to support any of your past assumptions and clarify your internal inconsistencies, I'm not holding my breath.

So you're using Bowser's reappearance to run away from supporting a number of your suppositions? For instance, you still need to support your following claims:

- That I live in a rape culture.

- That rape jokes are evidence of rape culture, whereas Holocaust jokes are not evidence of an anti-Semitic genocide culture.

- That I'm lying when I claimed I haven't heard anyone in my culture tell a rape joke, and explain how your assertion is relevant to me eating hamburgers.

- Clarify who is qualified to identify a rape culture, when you have claimed that people both within and outside of a rape culture may have trouble identifying it as such.

- You need to explain why the prevalence of rape is irrelevant when attempting to determine whether a rape culture exists, and why you claimed I was the only one discussing these statistics when it was another poster who posted them to fuel discussion of how common rape is in the United States.

- You need to provide evidence of organized gangs of rapists in places you deem to be rape culture, as well as evidence that officials systematically protect them.

- You need to demonstrate that theft is taken more seriously than rape by the police, and that convicted thieves are given longer convictions than rapists.

- You need to demonstrate that convicted rapists aren't blamed for raping individuals.

Those are just some of your assertions that you have yet to support. If you aren't going to address these issues, I'll assume you have conceded defeat and are using Bowser's reappearance as an opportunity to run away and repeat the same unsupported conjecture ad nauseum.

 

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I think the jury's still out on that - I just decided to take your posts a certain way. Others may assess differently, and there's a case to be made.

You edited out the answer to that, from the quote. Is that supposed to look accidental? Here's the rest of it: " That's not circular. The culture you are part of is a rape culture, by straight linear inference from your posts - beginning explicitly with your mentioning of the harassment video, a documentary of rape culture behavior which you described as guys saying hello. It looked normal to you."

None of those are my assertions except the first (that you live in a rape culture), and that one has been well supported with the evidence of your posting here and in previous threads (referred to here) - something you have deliberately edited out of quotes, and otherwise ignored.

So it's fair to assume self awareness, on your part. You are expending effort, after all, screwing this stuff up and working around the response posts and carefully dodging comprehension - it can hardly be chance.

And that brings up the general matter of awareness in rape culture - to what extent the incoherence of the rationalizations, excuse mongering, spla response to light, impinges on consciousness - is even, maybe, a reaction to that impinging?

 

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Hehe, your jury is giving you static, in spite of your attempt to try and rope them into your childish attempt to ridicule my mental health. You tried to be witty, but have ended up distancing yourself from your fellow leftists by making yourself look like a childish tool. How embarrassing then even your little left-wing cronies are too ashamed to stand beside you to ridicule a horrible right-winger like me.

No, you edited out my response, which was: "It appears as if you are saying that since I hold certain views, that I must live in a rape culture. If that's true, you'd need to demonstrate exactly how my views promote rape culture, and then provide statistical evidence that a sample size of one is an accurate representation of millions of people. Given your failure to support any of your past assumptions and clarify your internal inconsistencies, I'm not holding my breath" emphasis mine

That's OK, though. I'm used to you blatantly ignoring any inconsistencies or unsupported assumptions in your worldview, and doing a hatchet job on your quotations of me.

I have no idea what the above gibberish means. It's like you just forgot to elaborate on what you wanted to say about the assertions I listed. It's OK if your attention is starting to lapse, I can wait for you to catch up. Tell you what, why don't you start by addressing this:
""It appears as if you are saying that since I hold certain views, that I must live in a rape culture. If that's true, you'd need to demonstrate exactly how my views promote rape culture, and then provide statistical evidence that a sample size of one is an accurate representation of millions of people. Given your failure to support any of your past assumptions and clarify your internal inconsistencies, I'm not holding my breath"

Focus on gathering the evidence to support the above conjecture, and we'll come back to your numerous other unsupported assumptions later.

 

Can't comment on the morality of Brazilian men. Some of those tweets were in Spanish, so I couldn't read all. Interesting link, though. Thanks for sharing.

 

Sexual harassment is something that almost every woman has experienced. I was 12, and at the county fair when a grown man slapped me on the ass. I was wearing shorts. He slapped me so hard that it welted part of my leg. I've had a man expose himself and masturbate. I’ve been groped on buses, at concerts, at sporting events, you name it. I live in the U.S., not Brazil. I had dinner with my family last night and discussed this with all of the women. Every single female has had something like this or worse happen to them. They all said that I was right to avoid a male in a rural area. They have and would do the same.

 

Where in the world has this taken place? Where I live that behavior would land a man in jail. Yes, groping a woman without permission is sexual assault. Talking with my wife about the situation regarding the single male in a rural area, she said it would depend on his appearance and the time of day. She said she has been groped once.

 

The male that exposed himself was in a state park in California. He was arrested. The slap on the ass, at the age 12, was at a county fair in California. Someone grabbed my ass at a football game in San Francisco. Someone grabbed my crotch on New Year Eve in South Lake Tahoe. In a crowed area, identifying or even finding the perp is nearly impossible. It's a common occurrence. Ask around.

 

Sheesh, SS, you really need to report that stuff when it happens...really. When I was a teenager, an older man slapped me on the ass as I was leaving a restaurant. If my parents hadn't been nearby, I'm sure it would have ended badly for both of us. Yet I did not grow up fearing older men. He was just an ass that crossed my path. It's unfortunate that you have been the target of such, and I make no excuses for such. But I want you to know that I sincerely believe most men are gentlemen.

 

A Moment for the Men

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Uh ... dude?

No.

Seriously, dude.

Danger. Thin ice.

Oh, Goddess grant ....

 

It's good to know you're still following my posts. Seriously. But yeah, was slapped on the ass when a teen. If it had been a woman, I would have been flattered.

 

Thank you. I've been wondering how long until someone said that.

 

Yep. Such as your view that a video of street harassment of a woman just shows guys saying hello - according to you, that's how men say hello to women in your culture.

Nope.

So your consistency misediting and consistency in misreading is just luck. Sure.

That would be your jury. Personal accountability is just not one of your long suits, apparently - the very logic of it incomprehensible, at least in claim. But we knew that.

This is interesting, though:

Why in the world would this be presented as a left/right matter? How does that happen, and why, politically?

 

So would you have been "flattered" by this behavior as well?
http://www.sciforums.com/threads/what-is-rape-culture.153010/page-7#post-3340752

How would you handle that one Bowser?

 

I never said that. I observed that one of the examples of supposed sexual harassment in the video was a guy saying hello to a woman, which I didn't think constituted sexual harassment. So you still have yet to show "exactly how my views promote rape culture, and then provide statistical evidence that a sample size of one is an accurate representation of millions of people."

Men say hello to women in my culture by saying 'Hello, how are you'. Isn't that how they say hello to women in your part of the world?

I'm not the one who went out desperately seeking a verdict, and got static in return. None of the leftists here want to jump on your bandwagon because you've disgraced yourself with your intellectually dishonest and callous behavior. You're a toxic individual, and I suspect everyone here can see that.

At this point, I'm noting that your responses to me have gotten shorter and shorter, in spite of the number of contradictions and unsupported assumptions in your arguments mounting. I'm going to assume that you have no interest in clarifying your inconsistencies and supporting your conjecture, so I'm going to claim victory. Yet another socialist kicked to the curb.

 

No, that's not what you "observed". You referred to the video of harassment scenes as an entity, and dismissed that video, as guys saying hello - you were using that supposed innocence directly, to denigrate the people who observed a rape culture in full bloom on that video.

Repetition will do that. Your responses to me have not changed - that is, you are not actually responding, but repeating yourself.

So that your repetition of labeled and described errors - of logic, of fact, of implication and observation and common sense and simple reading comprehension - is more and more obviously conscious, self aware. And this is typical of those complicit in a rape culture when confronted with it - on some level, they seem to know they are not ok.

Meanwhile, the strange keeps piling up:

Leftist? Socialist? Why in the world?

What's going on in the rape culture guys's "minds" that bubbles up - consistently, it's not just one poster - that particular stench?

 

Interesting videos.