Sunday, November 1, 2015
Victim Blaming
In today's society, rape is a big problem that is not really handled properly. In these situations, the victim (who is usually female), is indirectly blamed for the rape. Questions such as "What were you wearing?" "Did you say no?" and "What did you to provoke them?" arise instead of asking the rapist what they did. In the article "The Rape of Mr. Smith", the story of Mr. Smith is a metaphorical representation of a rape case; he got robbed, the police came, but then he was asked the above questions instead of what actually happened. It is almost like the police officer was blaming Mr. Smith for his robbery, instead of focusing on the actions of the robber.
Today, there are so many rape cases because there are so many blurred lines about what constitutes rape. Is it still rape if you are in a relationship? Can you give consent while under the influence of alcohol? What is consent anyway? These are questions that should be discussed more to prevent the rape cases that are happening in America today. There also needs to be a shift in the double standards when it comes to rape. Typically, the female is blamed for the whole situation because she is seen as looking or acting provocative. People judging the case often ask what the situation was, and if she said no before everything happened. Girls are taught to not wear anything too revealing or tight, to always walk in packs, and to never, under any circumstances, get too drunk, because God forbid, something might happen to you. I am not sure if there is a solution to rape culture today, but one thing that is very important is to teach potential rapists not to rape, and to teach victims that it is never their fault.
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I strongly agree that nobody should feel any blame, responsibility, or guilt for being the victim of sexual abuse or any crime for that matter. I’m sure going through something of that stature is difficult enough without feeling as if you were the reason it happened. I also agree that there should be more of a concrete constitution of rape. There is a lot of gray area in the subject. Personally, I think it should be an easy yes or no question if the situation was rape or not, and there shouldn’t be a hundred factors that play into it, along with many court dates. However, that’s not the case by any means. As seen in “Fraternities and Collegiate Rape Culture,” people’s opinions on the matter of sexual abuse are greatly varied. Some women think if they are drunk and say yes to sex it is still rape because you can’t give consent while under the influence. Others disagree. I tend to believe that if somebody says yes, even if under the influence, then that means yes and it is not sexual abuse. If you cannot handle your alcohol to the point where you can make good decisions, don’t drink. So in those cases I do not feel any pity for the victim. However, in cases where force is clearly used and consent is clearly never stated, the perpetrator should be punished greatly.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. Rape is such a touchy subject because so many factors are involved. The main factor, especially on college campuses, is alcohol. I unfortunately think rape will never be a concrete answer when it comes to drunken encounters. It's a lot of "he said, she said." We have mostly discussed women being shamed/accused of "asking for it" by what they're wearing, or how late they're out like in the article, "The Rape of Mr. Smith," which is definitely wrong. But women also have a lot of power when it comes to the accusation of rape, which I think can be unfair. A woman or man could ruin a person's reputation by calling them a "rapist" when maybe that wasn't the case. I personally think if both parties are extremely drunk and both consent, then it is unfair to accuse a person of rape. I also feel that (some) professional athletes get wrongly accused of rape, when maybe that's not the full story and there were alternative motives. I think that a lot of college campus rapes are drunk/acquaintance rape, which is why rape is such a grey area
ReplyDeleteMorgan,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with what you have posted. Women are always seen as being instigators of rape. I remember in high school the girls were never allowed to wear short shorts, they had to be 6 inches above the knee, they weren't allowed to wear jeans with holes in them, tank tops, and towards my senior year of high school, our superintendent tried to ban yoga pants/leggings. The girls were given so many restrictions on what they could and could not wear but the boys were pretty much allowed to wear whatever they wanted. This was so frustrating as a girl, especially when it was 90 degrees outside in the summer and there were boys walking around in cut offs and shorts (and there was no air conditioning in our school). Society teaches girls to be modest and not show their body because god forbid a guy gets too excited when he sees some skin on a girl. Society teaches girls to be more careful in what they show instead of teaching men not to rape. Why is it okay for men to walk around shirtless but when girls show any cleavage or ass, "they're asking for it." Does this mean that if a man was raped by a woman and he was walking around shirtless that he was asking for it? Probably not. I also agree with the point you made about women having a lot of power when it comes to the accusation of rape. If a woman and man are both intoxicated then how can you only take the woman's word? She was drunk too and maybe didn't remember all of the details about what happened.