Rap And Rape Culture

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Eighteen million women and three million men. These are the numbers of women and men that have been raped at some point in their lives. (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2006.) Many advocates would say this is proof that we are living in a “rape culture”. A label coined by second wave feminists in the 1970’s, in response to the on-going prevalence of rape in the United Sates. Over the years, there have been many definitions of rape culture, but for the sake of the research paper, rape culture will be defined as a society where sexual violence is normalized. If you’ve ever heard of the responses: “She asked for it.” “He didn’t mean to.” “She wanted it.” “It wasn’t really rape.” “She’s clearly lying.” This is what a rape culture conditions us as a society to think or even verbalize when a story of sexual assault or rape is presented. Conversely, other advocates and feminists recoil at the use of the label “rape culture” because of what the label institutes about our society or progressions we’ve made in trying to eradicate …show more content…

While, other music genres such as rock and country are known to depict women in subordinate roles, rap is seen to do this in a more sexually explicit and graphic way. (Kurbin & Weitzen. Vol. 1. Pg. 3.) For instance, the rap song U.O.E.N.O, Rick Ross raps the lyrics “put molly all in her champagne/she ain’t even know it. /I took her home and I enjoyed that/ She ain’t even know it.” What’s startling in all these cases is that those involved refuse to see the problem or even the impact it might have on viewers. As Kate Harding perfectly sums up “The entertainment we consume both reflects and reifies the rape myths we cherish. We owe it to ourselves to take it seriously and expect better.” (179.) Unfortunately, there are those, opponents to rape culture, who seemingly do not take it seriously and see the claims of rape culture as exaggerated

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