The Societal Rape of Women
Examining how society shapes and perceives sexual assault against women.
As women, one of our biggest fears is having our bodies be violated by someone else. As children, many young girls have this fear instilled that at any given moment, we will susceptible to sexual assault. Strangely, this fear seems to come to us women naturally. It almost feels as if sexual assault is part of a package that comes from being a woman in our society. We naturally fear this atrocious act committed upon us yet, see it as a common occurrence that we must deal with daily.
We may ask ourselves, “Why is it that this fear comes naturally to us? How has sexual assault become such a normative part in women’s lives?”
Sharon Marcus’s article, “Fighting Bodies, Fighting Words: A Theory and Politics of Rape Prevention” helps us understand the questions above. In her article, she mentions that there is this “language of rape.” She states, “…[Analyzing] rape as a linguistic fact argues that rape is structured like a language, a language which shapes both the verbal and physical interactions of a woman and her would-be assailant.” Although a bit confusing, she then goes on to describes language as a “social structure of meanings.” By this, Marcus is trying to argue that essentially, just as language is socially structured, rape is also socially structured. To clarify, societies usually tend to be structured along the lines of race, gender, class, age, etc. To say that rape is socially structured implies that rape can be structured along these categories. Inclusively, Marcus states, “We can outline the language of rape in the United States along raced and gendered axes.” In terms of the “gendered axes,” she explains, “The language of rape solicits women to position ourselves as endangered, violable, and fearful and invites men to position themselves as legitimately violent and entitled to women's sexual services.” By this, she is referring to the fact that the language of rape draws upon social stereotypes of men and women. Typically, women are seen in society as weak, submissive, obedient, and “in-need-of protection” beings. Men on the other hand are known to be aggressive, dominant, and the “protectors.” Because women are deemed “inferior” by society, men are in a position to act on their “superior” status and thus are compelled to commit lewd acts upon women. Marcus reinstates this idea by mentioning,
“A rapist follows a social script and enacts conventional, gendered structures of feeling and action which seek to draw the rape target into a dialogue which is skewed against her. A rapist’s ability to accost a woman verbally, to demand her attention, and even to attack her physically depends more on how he positions himself relative to her socially than it does on his allegedly superior physical strength. His belief that he has more strength than a woman and that he can use it to rape her merits more analysis than the putative fact of that strength, because that belief often produces as an effect the male power that appears to be rape's cause.”
Here, we see that even though women are not always physically weak, the rapist still believes these stereotypes to be true because of the way society engulfs all women into one category. Because the rapists positions himself as superior to women and believes he is stronger, he automatically sees himself as the “dominant one” and therefore, commits the act of rape. This “social script” is not just limited to the rapist however; women too fall into this social script. For women, these social stereotypes are guised under this notion of “femininity.” We are told that to be feminine, we should be passive, obedient, pleasing, and nurturing beings. Since these notions are consistently reinforced to us by social institutions, many women grow to see themselves under this light. As Marcus later states, “Our culture’s various techniques of feminization tend to buttress the rape script, since the femininity they induce ‘makes a feminine woman the perfect victim of sexual aggression’.” Society in essence teaches women through femininity that we are in fact, supposed to be inferior and makes us susceptible to be victims of sexual assault. Arguably, society then can be seen responsible for normalizing sexual assault against women’s bodies. This entire notion is in part what we normally refer to as the rape culture. Sky Jordan’s article “Rape culture is normalized across college campuses” inclusively indicates, “Rape culture isn’t a crime of passion — it is a detrimental cultural issue stemming from systematically socialized gender norms”
As women, we also tend to see sexual assault as an inescapable part of our daily lives because of the lack of action taken by the state. In America, it is estimated that 1 in 6 women have been sexually assaulted in their lifetime. What is even more shocking and infuriating is that 97% of rapists never spend a day in prison or in jail for their crime. This means that women who report their assault typically have to bear seeing their rapist walk free. When women see the violence committed against them going completely unscathed, they tend to accept that this is a normative thing in their lives. This injustice is in part due to the fact that our legal system is completely masculine. Our legal system, and society, is centered around protecting men. Since men can go without punishment for violating our bodies, they are reinforced this notion that they are superior beings who have the agency to do this. When women see this relationship between men and the state unfold, we get a sense that our voices are invisible and accept that the state will not protect us. This in turn normalizes sexual assault. When we see cases like Brock Turner’s and 18 year old David Becker who had little to no punishment for raping women, we begin to see how normal it is for rapists to get away with sexual assault and how easy it is for them to violate our bodies. This also contributes to the rape culture currently in place.
As women, we expect this behavior from men and have learned to cope and accept it due to social structures, social stereotypes, and the lack of action by our legal systems. Instead of teaching us to not look too provocative, to not get drunk, to not walk alone at night, and to be passive and obedient beings- why not teach these would-be rapists that women are humans too? We need to transform the way society and the legal system perceives women and recognize women’s humanity. Women are not weak or passive, women are not inferior, and women are not the perfect “rape victims.” We are human beings that do not deserve to have violence inflicted on our bodies.
