Society needs to confront rape culture’s toxicity
- Apr 7, 2017
- 1 min read
According to a 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, “sexual violence, stalking and intimate partner violence are major health problems in the United States.”
This opinion article was originally featured in Panther Press and examines society's tolerance of rape culture, and how it should end.
Check out the article’s excerpt below and click the link if you want to read the full story!
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Maytinee Kramer/Assistant Opinion Director
According to a 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, “sexual violence, stalking and intimate partner violence are major health problems in the United States.” Our understanding of these forms of violence has gradually grown over the years, but rape culture is still perpetuated by society, and gives men the idea that they can get away with things simply because “boys will be boys.”
Rape culture is a complex of beliefs, but for the most part, normalizes and condones physical and emotional terrorism against women. What people need to realize is that all forms of sexual assault and harassment are traumatic, instead of brushing them aside. In other words, there needs to be a cultural shift to fix rape culture.
As defined by the United States Department of Justice, sexual assault includes “sexual activities as forced sexual intercourse, forcible sodomy, child molestation, incest, fondling, and attempted rape.” However, most people don’t know what rape culture looks like, therefore they don’t understand what rape culture is.
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Photo Credit: Flickr.
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