Rape Culture in the United States
Inquiry Question : What factors/elements have feminist theorists attributed to the contribution/continuance of rape culture within Western society?
When examining rape culture within a society, we need to be able to define what it is we’re examining. What are the elements that a culture must possess in order to be classified a rape culture? I am choosing to focus on the definition of rape as provided by Peggy Miller and Nancy Biele, “rape in all of it’s forms- sexual assaults on children, incest, date rape, the manufacture of pornography, and stranger rape- is an act of violence, a violation of the victim’s spirit and body, and a perversion of power, a form of control exercised over more than half of the population” (49). Hence, when talking about a culture pertaining to rape, “it suggests rape is connected to and enabled by a myriad of everyday social and cultural practices” (see Nicola Gavey 2005). Seeing that rape can be present in a variety of notions, my question is where within our social and cultural practices is rape desensitized and/or condoned?
Andrea Dworkin states in her speech, I Want a Twenty-Four-Hour Truce, that every three minutes a woman is raped and every eighteen seconds a woman is beaten. These statistics are frightening, and while many have called rape an abstract issue, the numbers are concrete. Dworkin addresses the 500 men whom she gave this speech to by stating;
The power exercised by men day to day in life is power that is institutionalized. It is protected by law. It is protected by religion and religious practice. It is protected by universities, which are strongholds of male supremacy. It is protected by a police force. It is protected by those whom Shelley called “the unacknowledged legislators of the world”: the poets, the artists. Against that power, we(women) have silence.
Contributing a portion of rape culture to the repercussions of religion is a highly valid argument. Being raised in the church and attending private schools for over a decade of my life, I have studied the bible in various ways. Christianity teaches females to cover up their bodies and be “modest”, as not to tempt boys to look at their bodies, for this is deemed impure by Christianity before marriage; when it is the accepted between husband and wife. This teaches women that if sinful thoughts are provoked in men(outside of marriage), it is at the fault of the woman due to her frivolous nature. This thought process is highly damaging and even more dangerous if unconsciously applied to other male-female interactions (i.e. The woman dresses provocatively. The woman gets rape because a man found her attractive. The rape is at the fault of the woman due to her provoking the man.). Essentially, Christianity teaches that if a woman was raped it must be due to what she was wearing or her sexual promiscuity.
Another way Christianity and religion are contributors to rape culture is the way in which clergy fails to assist battered women. As presented by Carol J. Adams in her article, “I just raped my wife!” , “We know that battered women who escape their abusers ranked the assistance they received from clergy at the bottom of the list” (Adams 60). She argues that this is in part due to the fear of naming the issue. For if naming it makes it real, it is therefor real within the church. However if the issue in never named, it makes it much harder to believe the victims. Paulo Freire writes: “Dialogue cannot occur between those who want to name the world and those who do not want this naming” (Adams 63). Adams argues it is especially difficult when naming rape due to it pertaining to be a statement regarding two individuals; the rapist and the victim. When we name rape, we name the victim as being violated and the rapist as an evil perpetrator. People who have been victimized and oppressed have difficulty speaking for themselves let alone speaking on the behalf of others, which is exactly what is involved when we identify rape. This factor contributes to the silence of victims and more unreported sexual assault cases.
Adams highlights another key component contributing to rape culture; society’s notion of rape. We seem to visualize rape, partially due to media’s representation, “as violently coerced sexual acts by strangers” (Adams 65). Due to the generated image of rape, anything that differs from this notion is thought of to not be “real rape” and therefor not discussed. Adams clarifies, “The further one’s own experience strays from this cultural notion of being “really raped, the less likely is one to speak about one’s experience as rape,” and even to think of it as rape” (65). This speaks to instances such as marital rape not being considered or thought of as rape due to it happening outside of this notion. Not many women view husbands as possible offenders leading them to classify nonconsensual sex as a lesser crime of assault or battery. However, marital rape is the most common kind of rape. “In one study, more than twice as many women were raped by their husbands as by strangers. Anywhere from one-third to one-half of battered women are victims of marital sexual assault” (Adams 65). Many women in these situations use self-deceptions to avoid facing the reality of an abusive marriage. The fear of accepting a new reality in which many women could face loneliness, loss of financial security, or having to admit to failure. Christianity plays into this by telling women if they walk away from the marriage they are breaking the covenant. Women may fear rejection by their congregations and by God leading them to endure the abuse. Clergy may even encourage women of sexual assault to forgive their husbands, because it is viewed as marital issues between the couple and seek to counsel rather than assist the victim. They are able to write this off as “marital aggression” or “husband-wife violence” where no-one assumes responsibility.
Being a victim and survivor of marital rape, I am able to relate to many of these theories. After such a horrific experience, Ive sought to make sense of the occurrence. What contributed to the violence that my now ex-husband conflicted upon me? More or less, what gave him the right? Was it the fact that women were once property of their husbands and he viewed me as nothing more than a possession? Was it because Christianity told him that all would be forgive, no matter how many times he “messed up” and raped me? Did pornography lead him to assume that all women need to punished to be “shown their place”? Did society tell him that I belonged in the kitchen, doing his laundry, vacuuming, and adhering to his every desire? Did he think he was an elite within society with his military affiliation, above the law? Regardless of the reasoning, his actions were intentionally evil and therefor he is solely responsible. As David Finkelhor and Kersti Yllo state, “rape by intimates in general is more, not less, traumatic than rape by strangers” (Adams 72). Innately this means that the repercussions following marital rape are seemingly more traumatic. The trauma may cause nausea, vomiting, soreness, bruising, muscle tension, headaches, fatigue, injuries to the genital area, as well as heightened levels of strain and stress from then having to live with the rapist. Nightmares, flashbacks, blackouts and PTSD may also occur after marital rape or any other variation of rape. I have found it beneficial to seek counseling to assist in coping with this trauma and somatic responses.
Another disturbing variation of rape is group sexual assault otherwise known as gang rapes. These are glorified in our society through pornography and other patriarchal organizations such as fraternities. Chris O’Sullivan focuses on this issue in his article, Fraternities and the Rape Culture. He found that the majority of gang rapes were perpetuated by “men who don’t like to live around women, who have difficulty accepting women as equals and relating to them” (23). O’Sullivan accredited three social cognitive processes that only occur within groups; the belief that all members of the outgroup(defined as not one’s own group) are alike, the natural sense of “ingroup superiority”, and “groupthink”; a faulty decision-making process of groups, particularly elite groups (O’Sullivan 26). The modes of thinking in these all-male groups such as fraternities lead to skewed values and ways of relating to women which foster sexual aggression. Many fraternities practice pledges involving a high level of sexual aggression. “These include videotaping, photographing, or merely observing through peepholes or windows a brother having sex with a woman” (O’Sullivan 29). If your inner morals find this disturbing within the fraternity and do not participate, you are not fully accepted within the fraternity/family. You either participate in the sexually aggressive behavior or you are exiled. Not to mention the majority of donors and mentors are alumni from the individual fraternity houses (i.e. men). A classic example of patriarchal men feeding the patriarchal system of sexual violence and aggression. Fraternities, in this way, contribute the rape culture in western society.
Feminist theorist, Gloria Steinem, defines another factor contributing to rape culture is the manufacturing and consumption of pornography. She states, “In short, pornography is not about having sex. It’s about an imbalance of power that allows and even requires sex to be used as a form of aggression” (Steinem 31). Essentially arguing that pornography contributes to the correlation between sex and violence. The old saying my mother used to tell me was, ‘garbage in, garbage out’. If one intentionally focuses on violence out of pleasure, one is more likely to display violence and confuse this with pleasure. Steinem addresses this idea through the intent of “snuff” movies; “movies and much current pornographic literature insist that a slow death from sexual torture is the final orgasm and ultimate pleasure. It’s a form of “suicide” reserved for women” (33). Gee, when did women become so lucky? Pain is a warning of danger, a signal to our bodies to discontinue whatever it is we’re doing. However “snuff” videos depicting the torture and killing of real women have been driven underground. Especially after the graves of many murdered women were found around the shack of a single filmmaker in California (Steinem 37). How can women be viewed as so disposable? Women killed without even the dignity to call it murder, men decide to lessen the blow by labeling it as “snuff”. Not to mention the degree which child pornography and child sexual assault is degraded to terms such as “kiddie porn” and “chicken porn”. Our society, again, has great difficultly with naming things as they are. For if we name it, we must address the issue and no longer claim ignorance. However it is blatantly apparent that drawing a reality around the porn industry would jeopardize it’s annual income exceeding ten billion dollars. Billion. I am certain that a patriarchal society would not wish for a decline in this income, regardless of the costs (i.e. women). The divisions in power keep certain people at the top and certain people at the bottom. As Steinem’s article states, “research has confirmed that the purchasers of pornography are almost all males, and that the majority of men are turned on by it, while the majority of women find it angering, humiliating, and not a turn-on at all” (41). I find it interesting then that men are the primary financial beneficiaries in the porn industry.
An opposition to this view of pornography comes from feminist theorist, Wendy McElroy. She states, “As a ‘pro-sex’ feminist, I contend: Pornography benefits women, both personally and politically” (4). In her view, the more we monitor pornography, the more it is driven underground. It’s the idea that “they’re going to do it anyway”. This in turn, McElroy argues, “will further alienate and endanger women sex workers” (6). While I can see the legitimacy in her points, this doesn’t account for the divisions of power within the industry. It doesn’t take into consideration the information many psychological studies have concluded; if two controlled groups are shown two different videos (one inherently more violent than the other) the group shown the higher level of violence displays higher levels of violence through their interactions. What does this have to say about viewing/consuming pornography? While McElroy offers the evidence, “In Japan, where pornography depicting graphic and brutal violence is widely available, rape is much lower per capita than in the United States, where violence in porn is severely restricted” (4). So is the graphic and brutal violence then justified against these women in pornography because it inherently protects those women outside of pornography? Should some women suffer for the safety of others? I agree with McElroy that law should protect freedom of choice and freedom of virtue, but law should also protect women. In this way, I associate pornography as a contributor to westernized rape culture. Pornography is an industry with men on the top, oppressing women, and condoning other mens oppression of women within society.
Speaking from personal experience, I have identified Westernized military systems as a contributor and condoner of rape culture. Being that my now ex-husband was former military, I became connected by affiliation. Due to my actions of self-protection though a retraining order, the military become informed of my marital rape. Of course, when there are accusations against their soldiers, the military must investigate. I was interviewed over the duration of five months a total of twelve times, each interview lasting approximately two to three hours. I was asked to be video recorded to which I declined due to it seeming unnecessary. However, I was continually voice recorded both electronically and manually. I was interviewed with the same questions time and time again (mostly by men), and asked to talk about my most interpersonal experiences in stark office rooms which felt cold and clinical. I at one point entered an interview space which I immediately felt uncomfortable in. When I asked if I may turn on the lamp in the corner, I received the response, “if it has a lightbulb in it”.
After going through the military judicial system I was appalled by the seemingly low standards in which they conduct their politics. I was mistreated by the male military attorney assigned to my case; he placed direct blame on me over the phone. I was threatened, doubted, and asked continually what I wanted out of the situation. I stated I wanted no influence with where the case was going. I wanted nothing on my conscience for the future outcomes of my perpetrator. I wanted the military to do what they deemed just. The outcome of this extraneous and exhausting process was they could do nothing due to my lack of memory of the moment of perpetration; my memory was foggy and hard to recall with the rape occurring while on a sleeping pill. The same sleeping pill that has sense been deemed unsafe by the FDA for women in the 10mg tablet that I had taken that night and only safe in the form of 5mg. This occurred after women taking the 10mg tablet reported incidences of still being high the next morning, even if feeling fully awake, which affected their ability to drive. This is the reason I was unable to fully awake during my sexual assault.
Yet nothing could be proven, so therefor nothing could be done. My ex-husband was given a slap on the wrist for my rape and was kicked out of the Army shortly after for drug abuse. He received a general discharge from the military, not even receiving a dishonorable discharge. I have sense been informed that he failed military rehab and had relapsed twice before getting discharged. When prodded again by the military for “what I wanted”, I finally caved and gave them an answer to their inquiry. I wanted the military to remodel the space that I was interviewed/interrogated in for 4 hours. I asked for them to add elements of comfort; throw pillow, a plant, and the burlap colored rug to be replaced with something more vibrant. After this request, I offered my design services free of charge if they were to fund me a total of three hundred dollars. I would’ve happily thrifted, crafted and remodeled anything I had to. I didn’t want another woman affected by sexual assault to walk through what I did. I wanted their memories of those interview rooms to be a little lighter. A room where women of sexual assault feel comfortable sharing their darkest memories in. Regardless of my intent, the military denied my request, stating they could not allow/afford it. I was again told that there was nothing to be done for me upon which I ceased contact. The military sought to reach me by a wide variety of phone numbers and emails, which I blocked one after the other. They wanted me to sign paperwork indicating I was dropping the case. I refused, I had never signed any paperwork to begin the case. I wasn’t dropping the case, I was leaving it. I had had enough. Enough of the questions, enough of them looking for consistency, enough of the nagging, enough of the invasion, enough of the belittlement, enough of the doubt, and enough of the shame. I left the vicious cycle the military was putting me through, which wasn’t benefiting me, only reshaping my traumatization in an even worse dynamic. Now, when I remember my rape, I remember the military. The military contributed to my oppression as a victim which in turn contributes to the rape culture within Western society.
As discussed throughout the exploration of contributors/condoners to westernized rape culture, forms of oppression come from a variety of sources. Feminist theorists identified contributors such as religion, clergy, media, pornography, marriage, fraternities and universities to the continuance of women’s oppression. One could draw the conclusion from this that we live in a culture that condones rape. We have been desensitized through the images and language we are subjected to. I have a radical hope, similar to Andrea Dworkin, that we not only have a 24-hour truce without rape, but one that lasts throughout the future. A truce that will protect my children and grandchildren from the trauma caused from living within a rape culture. Until I see that, I will keep talking till the world ends.
