Things learned/realized this semester

1. How often rape happens - even on WSU’s campus - and how little it is reported.

2. How important sex-education is – How often it’s taught, how it’s taught, and when it’s taught

3. How many rapes occur by acquaintances – sometimes it’s more important to be wary of who you let your guard down around over being afraid of walking home alone.

4. Even rape has an opportune moment & commonplaces

 

Something that crossed my mind

I was thinking earlier today about different misconceptions our society has about rape. Something that really struck me was a fraternity that had signs saying "21 to party, 18 to sleep over." I think a lot of people are under the impression that if someone is over the age of 18, it can't be rape. Yes, that's the age when you are legally capable to giving consent - but there is so much more involved in consent than just that.

That's the first question asked when someone says they had sex, "How old were they?" and if they were above 18, people just say "well, that's their problem then if they didn't want to have sex."

Bud light can

I am appalled by the label on the bottle of the Bud Light can. Within the article it says "I didn’t really think we intended what is going on,” and that there are multiple new beer labels associated with the #UpForWhatever campaign.

#UpForWhatever in itself can be taken poorly through a rape lens, but if it had been advertised differently it may have been fine.

Now that I have taken this class I view things through a rape lens far more often then before, and I can't help but wonder if I would have even noticed the negative connotation this label had before this semester. This proves the amount of rape-related language and advertisement that surrounds us constantly. It's actually very sad.

The author of this article states, "how many people do you think this label had to go through without anyone side-eyeing it to the grave?"

It's amazing how many people over look the fact that this tagline is blatantly about rape - it goes to show the de-dramatization our society places on the topic of rape. We NEED to stop brushing it under the rug.

Reflection

            As I wrote in my reflective essay for English 360 last semester, I haven’t always been a writer, in fact I was born with Dyslexia which is a learning disorder that causes reading and writing to be very difficult to comprehend. However, as I learned to cope with my Dyslexia I grew to really enjoy writing. English became my favorite subject in high school, and ended up being the class I succeeded most in. Coming into college I had no idea what I wanted to major in, all I knew was I wanted to do something in which I could apply and continually advance my creativity. After taking introductory courses in English my freshman year, I grew to really enjoy them. I started exploring other English and Art classes and soon after decided without a doubt I wanted to major in digital technology and culture, and later made rhetoric and Professional Writing my additional major.

            My ultimate goal has been to become a graphic designer since the beginning of my college career, but I would love to incorporate writing into my career in some way. Regardless of the exact path I choose, rhetoric is going to inevitably be a major part of my work. Currently, I am the intern at Washington State Magazine and have learned a lot about narrative-non-fiction writing which I have fallen in love with. It’s a great way to tell real-life stories, but include my own voice in my writing. The type of writing done in English 460, however, did not come as easy to me. It took me longer than usual to write the essays for this class, and I still was never completely satisfied with the end product. Rape culture is just such a complex topic, it was difficult for me to sit down and execute one cohesive point.

As a junior in college, I have been exposed to rape-culture so much that I had become desensitized to the constant comments, disregard of rape, and disinterest in making a change. The biggest challenge I faced in this class was writing the essays. It’s so difficult to write about such a controversial topic, especially because no two people’s views on it are identical. Even my own views are often conflicting, which lead to a challenging writing experience. I found myself coming up with a thesis, but as I wrote it I found counter arguments to everything I had been previously writing. As someone who has mostly written about books, people, or non-controversial topics – this was a huge challenge. However, challenging myself as a writer is the best way to improve, and writing about such a difficult topic was a great way to ground my opinions.  

I have been required to take multiple rhetoric classes, and learned a lot of the basics in English 360 last semester, which made English 460 tremendously more interesting. Analyzing rape culture through the lens of rhetoric has been extremely eye opening, and I know that my views on rape have been forever changed.

            My first essay was about rape in pop-culture. Since the beginning of the semester I have watched TV and movies through a different set of eyes, in that I didn’t even realize how many of my favorite movies and shows involved rape. The most disturbing is the amount of rape in TV shows designed for teenagers to watch. In my personal opinion, rape should not be allowed to be scripted into any show unless it is an accurate depiction of the consequences that follow.

            My second essay was about sex-education around the world. This is another thing that I never realized how lacking it was. My personal experience with sex-education in schools was very minimal, which is presumably the case with many others my age. This is why when we get to college, rape statistics are so high – because the lack of education received prior to being on our own.

            The blog assignments felt slightly repetitive as we often talked about similar topics on multiple days, but they were extremely useful when it came time to write an essay. Writing about a day’s discussion into a blog helped sort out my thoughts, and served as a reference and reminder for writing the essays. The third project, however, was my favorite. It gave me a chance to put my design skills to use and come up with something that could potentially be used to make a difference. Through refining my design and information involved on the flyer, I may turn it in to someone just to see if there is anything further I can do with it.

            The relationship between rhetoric and rape-culture could be what makes a difference. In this I mean that the language of rape-culture needs to change, the arguments against rape need to change, and the way students are taught about rape-culture needs to change. Something that truly stuck out to my from recent class periods was the idea that “guilty until proven innocent” is synonymous with the victim being a liar until proven honest. This is just one example of the things that need to change within our world.

            Each student coming up with different readings was a very interesting topic. The reason I liked this is because we did this in such a way that we had three rounds, and each round held a different sort of conversation. The first round was organizing our thoughts and views, the second round solidified them, and the third was brain-storming ways to make a change. It may be beneficial for future classes to switch the groups around each round though, because this way each round receives a fresh set of eyes constructing the research.

            Listening to my class-mates input was a great way to find a foundation for my views because they often offered a counter-view which is a great form of critical analysis of controversial topics. This class was filled with mature, intelligent students which was a very lucky find when discussing something so heavy. Listening to topics each student wrote about was also a good way to find topics for myself to write about. It was also great because others offered ideas that I may have not even thought about prior to this class. It was also great, because most of us knew each other from English 360, and therefore were already comfortable sharing our views.
            Overall, this class has truly opened my eyes, and my hope is that it continues to be taught. It’s vitally important for as many young people’s eyes as possible to be opened to the reality of rape. It’s something that has become so taboo in our world, and won’t get the attention it deserves until people make a stand. I feel optimistic about the future of universities and rape-culture, because through doing research in this class it seems that people are beginning to make changes. My deepest hope is that rape statistics drastically drop, and that rape-education rises tremendously.        

Disabilities and Consent

How does someone establish if a persons consent is valid when it comes to having a disability? It's hard because some disabilities (i.e. Alzheimer) makes it so the person with the disability doesn't know what they're saying at all times. However, it's wrong to deny someone sex just because they have a disability.

I think it's important to consider how disabled they truly are, and consider how sex will affect the person with a disability. For example, someone may consent - and then turn around to have an anxiety attack or completely forget that they said yes in the first place. When it comes to having sex with someone who has a disability, there is much more consideration that goes into deciding whether the consent is valid.

Looking Back

Looking back over the semester and considering the students in this class, I think it's very clear that all of our eyes have been opened. We are more aware of everything that surrounds us - specifically regarding living on a college campus.

Before this class, the majority of us wouldn't have thought twice about hearing people use the word 'rape' as slang, but now a lot of us would cringe at hearing that. Also,  taking this semester to think critically about this topic has been really beneficial - if this class carried on to future semesters, I think a difference would be made. If not only because people would be educated, but someone who takes this course may take a stance and an effort to make a difference.

Solutions

Through looking at everyone's project 3 today, it's very apparent we are coming up with some good solutions. This biggest common denominator is that we need to get information out to the public before it's too late. We've discussed this a lot in class, and I think this is what is lacking on college campuses. College campuses seem to give the students information just enough to check it off their list and clear their names if something does occur. It's vitally important to give information in a way that is going to stick, not just be forgotten a week later.

Some of my favorite projects of the day have been the flyers and pamphlets that could be passed out around campus. It seems so simple and obvious, but honestly before this class I have never seen a pamphlet or flyer like any of the ones we've seen today - which is truly sad.

Our class came up with multiple different flyers, and they all covered different topics which shows the wide variety of information that is getting overlooked in culture today. Something as simple and ordinary as flyers and pamphlets may be a piece of the key to change.

I realized I never posted Essay 2

Sex-Education around the World

            It is no secret that rape is a world-wide crime. There is not one place someone could go and have a zero percent chance of getting raped, but some countries are undoubtedly safer than others.  Proper sex-education is one of the highest contributors to low rape statistics as well as teenage and unplanned pregnancies, and lower abortion rates.

Sweden has been in the hot seat as of late because of the dramatic increase of rapes in the past 40 years. Other than the African country of Lesotho, Sweden had the highest rape rate in the 2014 study. It hasn’t always been this way for Sweden. In 1975, there were 421 reported rapes, whereas in 2014 there were 6,620 – a 1,472% increase. (Carlqvist)

No country wants to be known for their rape statistics. Sweden was once among the European countries that are looked up to for the way they handle sex education, but now Sweden is trying to cover up the rising statistics with excuses. Rather than taking action steps to minimize rape, Sweden seems to be attempting to explain their way out of these accusations. Some of their claims are that the statistics have increased so drastically not because more rapes are occurring, but rather because more rapes are being reported. They have also said more sexual offences are being classified as rape than ever before, therefore it seems there are more when there really is not. Finally, the most ludicrous of excuses is that the gender equality is rising in Sweden and the men, especially immigrant men, aren’t able to handle it and instead lash out in anger. (Carlqvist)

Making excuses for why their rape statistics are climbing will not stop rapes from happening and in end will cause people to fear visiting. Whereas if Sweden accepts their rising numbers, and does everything in their power to minimize them, people will more likely recognize their efforts and not be afraid to visit.

The biggest common denominator between what has changed, and why the statistic has sky rocketed in Sweden is the amount of immigrants moving into Sweden. Sweden used to be a very closed off country, not letting many outsiders in. Now, Sweden has gained nearly half a million immigrants and the number of rapes has risen to the astonishing number of one in four Swedish women.  Seemingly, this can be directly related to the lack of education in the immigrants. The new-come immigrants amount to nearly 6% of the population, and are responsible to nearly 75% of rapes. If Sweden took the efforts they are putting in to making excuses for their rising rape-rates, and placed them in to educating the immigrants maybe their rates will crawl back down to a safer place.

Before Sweden’s increase in rapes, it was a relatively safe country. Sweden had an interesting, but effective way of educating students about sex. The goal was to de-dramatize the act of sex. Swedish middle school teacher, Malin Hammarstrom, sets out to do just this. She has a series of classes that the young eighth grade students go through. In the first lesson she sits at the front of the room and lets her students say all the sex-related words that they can think of, and she writes them on the board. The goal is to show her students that it’s not awkward or embarrassing, or even something to be ashamed of. (Saers) She follows this lesson with at least twelve more classes in which the students can ask any questions they may have. Hammarstrom claims she has never had an upset parent contact her about this approach. If an American middle school teacher tried this way of teaching, there would undoubtedly be a controversy.

The United States tends to take two approaches: one of which is an abstinence approach, and a second in which is a passive approach. The abstinence approach simply tells children that having sex before marriage is wrong. Telling a child something is wrong is only going to make them want to rebel. The passive approach is simply avoiding sex-education and handing out condoms. It seems that there is no in between in the United States sex-education programs. If an institution attempts a sex-education program, it’s usually too short to be effective.

For instance, the Washington State University Booze Sex and Reality Checks program is a good start, but it’s not enough to make much of an impact. One fifty minute session to a group of eighteen year olds who are excited about entering a life of freedom and parties, is not going to stop them from making mistakes. In order to begin making a difference, a University, or any other institution needs to have a series of classes much like the Swedish middle school teacher’s approach. 

It’s important to know what topics to de-dramatize, and which to make students prominently aware of. Sex in itself is over-dramatized in America. For the more innocent years of life the topic is considered gross and taboo. As we grow older we realize sex is everywhere, but what we don’t realize is how distorted and poorly portrayed it is. It’s important to be aware of the reality of sex.

On the other side of things, rape is a topic that is very under-dramatized in America. It should be explicitly and prominently known to every citizen, but instead it is undermined by calling it sexual-battery, sexual-assault, et cetera because no one wants to hear the word “rape.” Within an education program, rape needs to be taught explicitly. It is unthinkable to believe it is possible to make this topic clear enough to make an impact in one fifty minute Booze Sex and Reality Checks class.

No single country has, or may ever have the solution to abolishing rape, so it is more efficient to look into what countries are doing wrong in order to create a solution. The biggest mistake Sweden seems to be making, is filling the media with excuses as to why it is such a dangerous time in Sweden. Sweden needs to take the effort they’ve put into educating their native students on sex in the past, and expand it to the immigrants flooding into their country in the present. Now that the doors of Sweden have been opened to immigrants, it’s too late to close them. It is not, however, too late to take a step into solving the problems the high levels of immigration has caused.

 The United States is making mistakes as well by ignoring the fact that children and students are not receiving proper education in order to make a change. Education has been proven to make a world of difference in all aspects of life. The United States needs to start teaching students the difference between sex and rape, stop distorting sex in the media, and start focusing on reaching children at a younger age when they’re still impressionable. Telling and eighteen year old in one class not to rape is the least effective form of sex-education possible. It’s time to make a change in the school programs in the United States and around the world.

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Carlqvist, Ingred. "Sweden: Rape Capital of the West." Gatestone Institute. 14 Feb. 2015. Web.

Saers, Jenny. "A Closer Look at Utopia: Strengths and Weaknesses of Sex Ed in Sweden." RH Reality Check. 23 Apr. 2009. Web.

 

Project 3

4/9/15

Is culture responsible for rape? It's hard to say. Culture isn't forcing anyone to do anything, but it has played such a part in desensitizing society to the reality of rape that it is definitely somewhat responsible. The Times article says that rape culture is not responsible at all, and I disagree. I think if culture turned around and had the same reaction to rape in any form as they do to other crimes, the rape statistics would decrease dramatically. The problem is, is rapists know they can get away with it because too often the victim is the one blamed. They also feel like they can get away with it by justification because they can twist the scenerio to sound like it wasn't rape.

In society, if both parties say yes, it's not rate. However, there are so many more things that should be involved. People will go to extreme lengths to get a yes. If you have to get a girl drunk or ask her a hundred times to get a yes, it should be considered a no. It all comes back to education in my opinion. Education on what classifies as rape, and education on how to get yourself out of a scenario.

April 2, 2015

The New York Times article about how to fend off a rapist really struck me. It's interesting to me that there are four "levels" of rapists, and there are different ways to fend them off. In my opinion this is definitely good knowledge, but there is no way I am going to go through the different levels and decide which tactic I need to take to fend off my attacker. Being raped is such a scary thing, that the first response is to do whatever it takes to escape - the one thing this article says NOT to do.

It's a hard thing to learn because it might be detrimental to teach escape mechanisms to young girls, because then they'd just walk around afraid that they're going to have to put them to use. On the other hand, it may be detrimental to not teach these things at all because then when a woman is in the scenario, she has no idea what to do.

One way to do this, is to help everyone understand the things we are not willing to talk about. Make the acts of rape explicitly known to boys and girls alike, so that maybe the reaction to rape would be the same as it is to other serious crimes. Rape is just a topic no one likes to think about, and that's the problem. It needs to be taught young that it is not okay on any level. It shouldn't be brushed off, and it shouldn't be taught to only girls - but rather taught to everyone.

Desensitization

Rape so not a laughing matter, but in today's world people think it is. Every day jokes about rape surround us, and people think it is okay. For example the shirt at the bar that says "we are not responsible for lost or stolen virginity." I guarantee the thought of rape didn't cross the designers mind  because he/she was too caught up in thinking it was funny and clever. The thought of rape was probably dismissed from the designers mind because rape is desensitized in today's culture. That shirt is a very specific example, but more than that there are students all over using the word rape as slang. Often people will say things like "wow I just got raped by that test" which should be far from okay, but nobody bats an eye when they Hear it. This needs to change in our culture because if rape is seen as a joke or simply as slang, it will never be seen as the serious issue that it is. In culture though, people follow others and unless something completely flips around in cultural views, this is going to be s problem. People don't want to admit that the things they say and do are wrong, but that is what is going to have to happen in order to make a difference in this. Why can't people react to rape the way they react to other crimes? What I want to know is where the shift was that turned rape into being so undermined.

Kairos of Rape Culture

In class today we discussed the kairos of rape and the kairos against rape.

Kairos for rape can be defined as the perfect storm that takes place in most rape scenarios. More often than not alcohol, peer pressure, and a certain stereotype of location (i.e. bar, frat, etc.) are involved. Hyper-masculinity is probably the leading cause of rape, which corresponds with peer-pressure. Many hyper-masculine men want to prove their masculinity to other men, and in end fall into the peer pressure of raping a woman. Attitude by both parties also takes a huge toll on a rape case. Women (or any gendered target for that matter) are often times naïve with no sense of what might happen. For example, a woman may be at a bar with her friends, flirting and drinking with a man, and letting her guard down is a kairos of rape. It shouldn't have to be that women need to walk around paranoid, but they shouldn't walk around completely unaware of the situation either. Society has done the big job of creating a kairos FOR rape so how do create a kairos AGAINST rape?

Education is vitally important in preventing rape. Oftentimes people learn about it one time when they're a teenager, and then never take the time to become educated again. In order to have a successful education system to stop, or at least minimize, rape there needs to be classes over time, across all genders, and not just on college campuses. People tend to shut off when talking about rape, violence, or even just sex. In order for people to have a willingness to become educated, everyone most be willing to be open about it.

Another thing that needs to change in order to create a kairos against rape is the knowledge of language. Society needs to be absolutely explicit about what rape is. A lot of offenders will say, "oh I didn't rape her..." but when asked explicitly what they did it is the definition of rape. It's important to educate everyone of the EXACT difference between consensual sex, and rape or sexual assault. It's about education on the entire spectrum of rape. The lack of education definitely plays a huge role in rape culture.

Paper 1

Rape Culture in the Media

College should be a place to go to have fun, figure out what career to pursue, and learn about what life is like away from home. For the most part college is just that, but what is often brushed aside is the trouble young-adults get themselves into. It is inevitable that when a bunch of eighteen year olds leave home, they are going to push the limits; they’ll drink, party, and experiment because they think they’re invincible. In this, rape is going to occur. It is important that it is properly handled. Rape is not often reported and when it is it is poorly handled by the media; which escalates the failure-rate of reported rapes.

University of Virginia was on the hot seat after news of an on-campus gang rape went viral. Jackie, a young freshman, was targeted by multiple brothers of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. The young freshman was at her first frat party. Although she wasn’t much of a drinker, she wanted to fit in and experience the Greek scene. Her date invited her upstairs, and in the young girls naivety she went. She was led up the stairs into a dark room where she realized they weren’t alone. Allegedly there were nine men in the dark room, and seven of them raped and abused her for the next three hours.

Rolling Stone published an article about the horrific events at UVA, explaining the story and the lack of action taken by the university. However, Rolling Stone made an error that is so commonly made in the media; they only got one side of the story. Rolling Stone re-published the article to their website with a disclaimer at the beginning:

“We published the article with the firm belief that it was accurate. Given all of these reports, however, we have come to the conclusion that we were mistaken in honoring Jackie's request to not contact the alleged assaulters to get their account. In trying to be sensitive to the unfair shame and humiliation many women feel after a sexual assault, we made a judgment – the kind of judgment reporters and editors make every day”

            This isn’t to undermine the things Jackie endured, but it is a prime example of the media giving under-researched information. Rape isn’t often reported, but when it is too many people get caught up in merely a portion of the details. Whether the half that gets the attention is from the victim or the alleged offender doesn’t matter, the news will never be complete without both accounts. Just as an offender can lie about not raping someone, a victim can over dramatize the situation.

            Another instance that went viral was the Columbia case in which the accuser carried her nearly fifty pound mattress around campus to represent carrying the burden of being raped. The student, Emma Sulkowicz, claims Paul Nungesser violently raped her and then left without a word. The two had been friends for some time prior to this. The media jumped on this case because of Sulkowicz’s bold gesture.

            Nungesser was taken aback by this accusation. His world was turned upside down, and he claims he didn’t understand why. The media focused on the girl’s side of the story making Nungesser look unquestionably guilty. Soon after Sulkowicz accused him of rape, two more complaints came in. Nungesser was speechless. He had to do something to stop his world from being torn apart, so he chose to tell his side of the story.

            Nungesser and Sulkowicz had been friends for some time. It began completely platonic until one night they were hanging out in his dorm and they had sex. After they slept together, they discussed it and came to the conclusion that they didn’t want to ruin their friendship. This cycle happened a few more times until eventually Sulkowicz claimed he raped her. She claimed it started out consensual until he became too aggressive, forced her to do things she didn’t want to, and then left without a word. He states it was completely consensual and unaggressive, and he didn’t leave until the next morning. Sulkowicz reported Nungesser to the school and when they didn’t respond properly she began carrying her mattress around school. The incident allegedly happened August 27, 2012. What Sulkowicz left out in her accusation was the emails they had exchanged prior to and after the incident:

“Sulkowicz (Thursday, 16 August 2012 9 days prior to alleged rape): Dude, if I have one piece of advice it’s to just dive in and not think about who you’re with because it’s really wonderful and you’re obviously the best.”

“Nungesser (Wednesday, 3 October 2012 after the alleged rape): Oh hi. Happy Born day! You better be celebrating muchos, no? also: donde estas tu i mi viva? See I’m so desperate without you, I even try to speak Spanish. Anywho: merry happy days!”

“Sulkowicz (Wednesday, 3 October 12 after the alleged rape): I love you Paul.”

            The media was under the impression that the girl’s account was accurate, but after Nungesser told his side of the story, many came to the conclusion that it was a false accusation. This is just another illustration of how absolutely imperative having both sides of the story are to drawing a conclusion. The general public, media included, get so caught up in the emotional aspect of a story that they forget to fact-check. There’s no way of knowing exactly what occurred that night between Sulkowics and Nungesser, but it’s safe to say neither of their sides of the story are one-hundred percent accurate and the conclusion should stem from a middle-ground.

            A way of finding a middle ground in heavy situations such as rape is using stasis theory. Stasis theory is consisted of four questions: 1) conjecture, 2) definition, 3) quality, and 4) policy. First, within the Columbia case is there an act to be considered? Absolutely, when a woman says she has been raped it should never be brushed under the rug. It should be taken seriously each time. Second, how can the act be defined? Within this case, both sides of the story need to be considered in order to define the situation. Too often a case is defined by just the accuser’s perspective. Third, how serious is the act? Within any rape case, the prominence of the situation should be considered of great importance, but too often it is looked down upon and not taken seriously. Lastly, should the act be taken to a formal procedure? Yes, and in a formal procedure both parties should be involved. Stasis theory is about finding a middle ground, and in many rape cases this does not happen.

            Twenty-fifteen is in the age of media. News spreads within minutes, and the top stories surround us daily. The media can be both beneficial and hurtful in cases as controversial as rape. Nowadays it is a publish-then-edit culture, meaning news is published before it is truly fact-checked. This being said, it is absolutely important not to trust everything in the news and on the internet. Rape has been under-recognized for a long period of time, and with the social media era it is now getting more attention. However, this means the victims and offenders are being blasted with accusations, often false, causing more pain for each of them.

            The news-media is not the only form of media having a negative impact on rape-culture. Popular media has played a huge part in desensitizing the world to rape. Rape happens in movies, songs, and TV shows all of the time, and no one does anything about it. For example, in the popular show created for teenage girls, Gossip Girl, there are two incidents of rape in the pilot episode; both are instigated by the same male character. The show goes on and they all remain friends. Popular media is actively dismissing acts of rape.

            A recent movie, Gone Girl, was a huge hit after Gillian Flynn wrote the best-selling novel the film was based from. Amy plays the victim in this movie, when in reality she is the instigator. She rapes a man, kills him, and then states she killed him out of self-defense due to him raping her. This movie shows a “girl who cries rape” and still gets what she wants. It is very clear in this movie that Amy has extreme mental issues, but she still gets away with rape, murder, and ends up back with her husband through manipulation.

             Music is a huge contributor to desensitizing society to rape. “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke is a disturbing song that hit number one on the top one-hundred lists. The lyrics are about the blurred line between consensual sex, and rape. His song goes, “I hate these blurred lines, I know you want it, but you’re a good girl.” This song was played at many events, and was constantly on the radio, leaving people all over the country subliminally hearing about rape regularly.

            A song that explicitly states the issue of rape is “Date Rape” by Sublime. The lyrics say, “Shut your mouth, we’re gonna do it my way. Come on baby don’t be afraid, if it wasn’t for date-rape I’d never get laid.” This one is especially concerning, because it is saying it’s okay to date-rape somebody if it’s the only option to get sex for a while.

            It’s not just songs sung by men that are being explicit about rape either. Sarah McLaughlin’s song “Possession” is equally as bad with lyrics saying, “I would be the one to hold you down, kiss you so hard. I’ll take your breath away and after I’d wipe away the tears. Just close your eyes dear.” This song is trying to pass off as romantic, but it is just the opposite and no one thought twice about it.

            The media, news and popular alike, are handling the issue of rape horrendously. In theory, the media should play a huge part in helping the situation, but in the end it’s making it much worse. If the news-media focused on accurately portraying the stories, and keeping the names anonymous maybe things would begin to turn around. Popular-media needs to stop desensitizing the viewers to rape, and instead give it the seriousness it deserves. Movies and television shows could make scenes about rehabilitating the victims as well as the offenders. It shouldn’t be about forgetting and moving forward, it should be about getting the necessary help to overcome the tragedy that occurs. Rape-culture is escalating, and the media needs to use its influence to help the situation, rather than hurt it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

Erdely, Sabrina. "A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA." Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone, 19 Nov. 2014. Web. 09 Feb. 2015.

Young, Cathy. "Columbia Student: I Didn't Rape Her." The Daily Beast. Newsweek/Daily Beast, 03 Feb. 2015. Web. 09 Feb. 2015.

 

           

           

 

 

Feminist responses

Out of every 100 sexual violence acts only 32 are reported, 7-8 or charged, and only 2 are convicted. This is an extremely sad reality and it's gradually become this way because of the way it's handled. In class today we came up with multiple reasons why only 32% of rapes are reported:
- the victim is blamed more often than not.
- heightens embarrassment and vulnerability.
- the stats are known, so people think "why bother?"
- fear of retribution and backlash.
There are so many things going against reporting a rape, that most of the time people just try to deal with it on their own. In my personal opinion all of these things stems from the constant  victim shaming that occurs in situations like these. If instead of blaming people when rapes are reported, maybe if people focused on rehabilitating not only the victim, but the person who committed the crime, things would be different.

Blaming girls for their appearance starts at a young age. In schools, specifically high schools, girls are constantly getting into trouble for the things they choose to wear because apparently they are inviting boys and men to lust after them. It shouldn't be okay to teach vulnerable teenage girls they should dress a certain way in order to not get negative attention from guys. Why aren't schools teaching these boys to respect girls regardless of what they are wearing rather than teaching girls that they're in charge of whether they get attacked or not. Now, obviously dress codes serve other purposes such as teaching students to look more professional for future studies and jobs, but looking too unprofessional or unclassy is never the reason someone gets in trouble for breaking dress code in high school; it's always that they are dressed inappropriately and men are going to get bad ideas from the girls outfit. Starting to teach boys in high school and junior high to respect women regardless of what she is wearing may cut down on college campus rapes, because it is an unavoidable fact that college girls are going to wear skimpy clothes on Greek row. Although girls should dress more appropriately, this shouldn't be the leading verdict in rape cases.

If we started teaching everyone to respect everyone at a young age regardless of outfit, gender, race, class, etc. and focused on rehabilitation rather than blame, the number of rapes may decrease, and the number of rapes being reported would increase.

Banning & Regulating

Yesterday in class we each made lists of the things we would ban and the things we would regulate, or take action toward in order to prevent, or limit, rape culture on college campuses. In my personal opinion I think banning things may increase the problem. As eighteen to twenty two year olds, knowing that something is against the rules, makes the rebelious side of you want to do these things more. However, I feel as though there are many things that can be done to take action.

A few of the things we discussed in class were making the resources known to the students, adding more resources, adding lighting to the streets, adding supervision at parties, etc. I think there should be posters in each dorm-room with a list of phone numbers stating who to call when in danger. However, that doesn't mean a student is going to remember to call these numbers when in actual danger. Adding more lighting throughout the streets would make a huge diffrence, especially on those streets that are heavily trafficked (such as B street) by pedestrians.

The most important thing though is education. It's something that is extremely under-done. It's almost as if universities perform the bare-minimum when it comes to this issue so they can avoid being sued. It's a saddening truth because universities are so worried about their reputations. However, I think the universities that spend the money to educate their new students throughout their freshman year will make a GOOD name for themselves. Parents are going to want to send their students to the university that is known for it's proper education on real-life problems, not the university that is known for brushing these issues aside.

No means no VS. Yes means yes.

"No means no" and "yes means yes" seem to be the same argument at first glance, but they're actually quite opposite. No means no is the common argument made these days in a rape trial, but there are so many ways for the "rapist" to claim not-guilty with this mind set. If a women didn't explicitly say the word "no" then arguably it was not rape. There are so many factors in a victims ability (or inability) to say the word no. If the victim is drunk, drugged, etc. he/she may not be able to say the word no and the rape may very well be overlooked.

On the other hand, in a yes means yet culture the "girl who cried rape" aspect would likely increase. As sad as it is, women who willingly made a mistake with someone on a "one night stand" could report rape because she didn't explicitly say the word "yes."

Maybe the argument shouldn't be "yes means yes" or "no means no" but rather did the victim resist or struggle at all? If the victim did not resist at all, and gave in to having sex with no argument then it shouldn't be considered rape. People argue that the victim may have been too drunk, but unless the person doing the act of rape purposely got them overly-drunk then it is the victim's choice.

This is a hard argument that may not have a right answer, but it is my hope that soon there will be a way to drastically reduce the amount of incidents that get overlooked. Rape is a huge part of our culture and it has not gotten the attention it deserves.

Statistics

The statistics on rape are truly appalling. It was brought up in class that the rape statistics should be compared to statistics on other crimes in order to truly tell whether rape is specifically bypassed or if all crimes are bypassed. Yes it is true that a lot of crimes are looked over, even ones as significant as murder can fall through the cracks, but the sole difference between that and rape is the amount of instances that get reported.

Murder is going to get reported 99% of the time by a family member or loved one who notices they're missing; whether the killer gets caught or roams free may be a different story. Burglary gets reported 99% of the time because the owner realizes their stuff is missing; again, whether the burglar gets caught or roams free may be a different story.

A large percentage of reported rapists aren't convicted which is truly devastating for their targets, but an even larger percentage of rapists are free because women are afraid to report their incident. The fact that women are afraid to report their situation is a direct result of the society we live in. Society needs to take a stand to make a larger deal of rape and the trauma it causes. We discussed the booze, sex, and reality checks class today, and while that may be a good start it is nowhere near going to solve the problem or even make a dent in it. It's a good idea to start brain storming ideas that will make a bigger impact on this epidemic. In my personal opinion, the idea of having a U-Core course that's once a week would be more beneficial than having a one and done course during orientation.

Commonplaces

Commonplaces can be defined as a place one would look to form an argument. Some questions that can be asked are 1. Whether a thing has (or has not) or will (or will not) occur. 2. Whether a thing is greater or smaller than another thing. 3. What is (and is not) possible. Reading this book last semester in English 360, I had a different mind set than I do in reading this in English 460. In 360, I had never heard of this term whereas in 460 I have an understanding of the topic and am now relating it to a controversial subject.

Common places in rape can be difficult to find, but in discussing with some of my classmates we found a pattern within a lot of college-based rape incidents; colleges want to protect their reputations. As sad as it is, no college wants to be known as "the rape school" and will go to great lengths to avoid that.  Universities will let this issue slide, and leave women to deal with the aftermath of the "girl who cried rape." If a university must say a man is guilty, they will generally say "sexual assault" because it has less of a negative connotation.

If universities would withstand a few years of a bad reputation by calling people out for rape, within 5 years, their schools rape culture would most likely drastically decrease.