Um no, the existence of rapists is not rape culture. Otherwise we would also have a “burglary culture” because houses get broken into. Do you consider the existence of burglars to be proof that society approves of burglary?

Rape culture is the claim that society (masterminded by the patriarchy) condones and encourages rape. Obviously the exact opposite is true. Not only is rape illegal, it is also perceived as one of the most heinous crimes. Even in prisons rapists have the lowest status.

The real rape culture is this: because hearing about rape has such a big emotional impact on people, stories about rape are a lazy and effective element of style in stories and movies. Want to show some character is bad? Just let him rape a woman, can’t get much worse than that. Likewise, feminism employs the rape narratives because they play into people’s fantasies so well. In that way, the issue of rape takes a dominant place in people’s worries and fears.

Actually most men have mothers, wives, and daughters, so I can assure you men in general don’t approve of rape. It is also not a move that gives you a high status among your peers to rape someone.

The current Stanford rape hype can be counted against the feminist belief that it doesn’t matter if innocent men get convicted of rape, if it helps to convict more rapists. Surely you are aware of Columbia mattress girl who is apparently free to continue her campaign despite her claims having been debunked, and who even gets encouragement from her professors to do so.

Stanford Rape guy was convicted of rape. It seems to be still rather fresh, so all the details are maybe not public yet (I’ve read today he “only” fingered the girl, bad enough, but perhaps a factor in the mild punishment). Time will tell — but I haven’t actually seen anybody defend the mild sentence so far.