Women Are Not Vaginas
Women need to be respected, not raped.
Imagine feeling thirsty and having to get out of bed and walk downstairs, all to grab yourself a cup of water. Took about a minute and thirty seconds, but you were able quench yourself in the end. Without much thought, many Americans do not realize that in approximately that same amount of time, someone is sexually assaulted, if not raped. Unsurprisingly, a high majority reside in the female population with women and girls who are victimized by their assailants in either attempted or completed rape. It’s profound to find in the proud nation of the United States that something as appalling as sexual violence permeates in American culture, from violent rape cases on hit TV shows to sexist dress codes that reinforce rape culture. The status of the United States should not be to tolerate the normalization of rape culture by turning a blind eye but rather commit to condemning and discouraging these inappropriate choices of violating another woman’s body.
First, the problem needs to be identified and defined. Rape, in essence, is forced sexual intercourse not limited to both psychological coercion and physical force where penetration exists between the offender and the victim. Contrary to popular belief of what a rape may look like, it is not always violent. Some survivors choose to surrender themselves to either protect themselves or their loved ones as a result of the dire situation they are thrown in. In other situations, survivors were intoxicated, drugged, physically or mentally incapacitated, or in a position without power. In worst cases, under-aged girls are involved. In cases of attempted rape, penile penetration was either not present or unsuccessful. Believe it or not, verbal threats also count as a form of attempted rape.
Many of the male attackers who choose to violate a woman’s body neither seem to fully consider the consequences surrounding their actions nor care about the numerous repercussions linked to their victim’s mental health afterwards. Whether it is a catcall or a quick grab, no other criminal sexual offense tops a completed rape due to the heavily negative impact it has on the victims. According to the National Women’s Study, there is a dramatic confirmation of the mental health impact of rape. Nearly one-third of all rape victims in the United States developed Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, also known as PTSD. Women who have been sexually engaged by these rapists are more than six times to develop PTSD. Aside from PTSD other major depression episodes occur at a higher rate among these rape survivors. There is also substantial evidence pointing towards substance abuse with women who have been rape victims at over thirteen times more likely to have alcohol problems and twenty-six more times more likely to have drug abuse than women who have not had these unfortunate encounters. Some of the biggest concerns from victims are that they fear getting pregnant, having their identity released on news media, and contracting a sexually transmitted disease if not HIV or AIDS. These should not be a concern for anyone, especially women. There are many extortions that exist in the nation and rape should not be one of them. American women should be able to live their lives free from the threat of rape.
Hawkesworth makes three claims: that rape is real; that to be real means to be fixed, determinate, and transparent to understanding; and that feminist politics must understand rape as one of the real, clear facts of women’s lives…The rape script describes female bodies as vulnerable, violable, penetrable, and wounded; metaphors of rape as trespass and invasion retain this definition intact. The psychological corollary of this property metaphor characterizes female sexuality as inner space, rape as the invasion of this inner space, and antirape politics as a means to safeguard this inner space from contact with anything external to it. The entire female body comes to be symbolized by the vagina, itself conceived of as a delicate, perhaps inevitably damaged and pained inner space.
In this excerpt from the essay Fighting Bodies, Fighting Words: A Theory and Politics of Rape Prevention, written by Sharon Marcus written and offered her two cents based on an article entitled “Knowers, Knowing, Known: Feminist Theory and Claims of Truth” by Mary E. Hawkesworth. Claims that rape exists and is a real problem in society is somewhat of a problem itself. By having to state that it is real implies that many people don’t acknowledge it or view it as a problem let alone sympathize with those rape has affected. Aside from that, the sexist idea that the entire female body comes to be symbolized by the vagina shines a light on how wrong and immoral society views women. In a highly patriarchal society, men may like to see themselves as above their counterparts. However, women should never be perceived as just sexual objects birthed to satisfy men’s needs. Women too have feelings and are capable of intellectual thought on par with men. A major change, in not just the United States but throughout the whole world, of how men views women from dispensable and expendable objects to human beings essential to society needs to happen and it starts with acknowledging and respecting women.
