Susan Griffin’s Rape: The All-American Crime touches on many issues within American society. She begins by recounting how she was taught to be afraid of strange men from such a young age that she had not yet learned what it was she was so afraid of, and then goes into her experience with harassment, an experience shared by every woman at some point in her life. Griffin recounts the belief that all rapists are insane and the proof that they are just normal men and dispels the myth that rape is normal activity that is prohibited by society. However, she goes on to clarify that our culture views rape: “as an illegal, but still understandable, form of behavior” (Griffin 514). It seems that the wrongness of rape is determined by the situation in …show more content…
The civilization of men is called chivalry and is earned by women at the price of their own civilization. “For the female, civilized behavior means chastity before marriage and faithfulness within it. Chivalrous behavior in the male is supposed to protect that chastity from involuntary defilement” (Griffin, 516). Unfortunately, the definition of civilization for women requires them to be feminine, dainty, and submissive while men are strong and dominant. This robs women of the mentality that they can be strong and independent and forces them to seek protection from men instead of finding it in themselves. This mentality and dependence deprives women of the ability to protect themselves from men creating a world of fear for them to live in. It also keeps women submissive because they do not want to step out of line and risk being hurt. Essentially, men keep women submissive by defining womanhood and using it like a cage to restrict their behavior and thoughts. In addition, their chivalrous protection does not apply to women who step outside of their required behavior. This means that women who act independently cannot be raped, they are beyond violation and an open target for all men. This double standard serves to make rape an acceptable and even encouraged behavior while keeping women quiet and well-behaved, lest they be mistaken for a bad girl worthy of
Rape culture has become a huge issue where our social attitudes has the effect of normalizing sexual assault and abuse. Stereotypes and expectations of gender roles has an effect on who we see as the predator and prey in a rape incident, often times in a situation where sexual harassment has occurred between a male and female, the female is commonly seen as the victim of the situation. In the article, “Why Nice Guys Finish Last” Julia Serano, a transgender woman, shares her beliefs about rape culture. Julia Serano recounts her perspectives and experience as a male before transitioning into a female. Serano describes the main issue of rape as “unilateral sexism” meaning that men are seen as the dominant hand while women are most commonly seen as inferior in our society. “Unilateral sexism” is the idea in which Serano argues has been engraved onto the rape culture. This may be due to our cultural society having established female to be feminine as well as portraying female as submissive towards males. Pop media has also contributed to the stereotype of females being sexual objects. Serano argues that this “predator/prey mindset” has been engraved into our society by
Many of the attitudes, beliefs, and mistaken ideas about rape have been with us for centuries. By looking at myths, such as “women ask for it,” and “it would do some women good to get raped,” from a historical perspective, lead us for better understanding how they evolved. Women are still seen as the property of men, are protected as such. Men and women are still taught to occupy very different roles in today’s world. Men are usually more aggressive, and women are seen as passive. (Vogelman) This socialization process is changing, but slowly.
Estelle B. Freedman’s book Redefining Rape: Sexual Violence in the Era of Suffrage and Segregation, explains the emotional and political struggles woman faced during the founding of the United States of America. While woman worked towards independence from the societal formalities of being oppressed by the stigma of men’s control through means of sexual dominance. Freedman’s work takes an in-depth look at the history of the word “rape” throughout the significant portions of American history. Freedman then explains how the word “rape” has changed in definition during history and how the meaning of the word has altered the political and social ideologic views of the entire country.
Rape and sexual harassment are both two common forms of sexual violence prevalent in the United States. Although both events can happen to men, women are more prone to face these occurrences. According to the National Violence Against Women Survey, “78% of the victims of rape and sexual assault are women and 22% are men” (“Domestic Violence Statistics”). In 2011, companies experienced sexual harassment charges at 11% in relation to all charges brought forth to businesses, and 16% of these charges were filed by men ("Sex Discrimination and Sexual Harassment"). These women are eternally tainted by these occurrences, as Jean Améry wrote, “whoever was tortured, stays tortured” (Brison 5). Our American society rarely considers the effect on these women as well as many other societal misgivings centered on sexual violence in an appropriate manner. The statistics discuss the frequency of these acts of violence, however, they do not consider the stereotypes experienced by women minorities (African Americans and Asian Pacific Americans, for instance), or the higher likelihood of these incidences that come along with the preconceived notions compared to white women, nor do they delve into the horrible aftermath of these situations that these women face.
As Estrich demonstrates, the law on rape has major flaws. The law exposes traditions and attitudes that surround women and sex. It condones the idea that sex contains male aggression and female passivity. The law uses three different criteria to label an act of sex as rape: mens rea, force, and consent. Estrich feels that these features demonstrate sexist attitudes within the law. Our legal system abandon’s mens rea which is Latin for “guilty state of the mind.” It is the perpetrator’s ability to understand force and non-consent. A woman must demonstrate resistance. The man can escape by stating he did not realize the woman was not consenting. So, the court turns to the woman to see if she provided proper evidence that she did not consent to the sex.
Femininity is seen as “subordinate” compare to masculinity. People who are “feminine” are seen as “weak”, “fragile”, “emotional”, and “natural peacemakers”. Because of this mentality, it is believed that only women gets rape. Women struggle to have their voice heard and are often silenced. In many cultures, it would be the victim’s fault for being raped. It brings shame not only to the victim, but to the family which results in the victims being shunned and exiled or worse killed. In a “man’s setting”, such as the military or in any work places that consists of mostly men, women has to be “one of the guys” to be accepted, but not completely because it is not acceptable and it would declare that she’s a “lesbian”. According to Hague, “hegemonic masculinity” consist of acting rationally, controlling emotions, having control, making decisions, and having physical strength
In the article, “Rape: The All-American Crime,” Susan Griffin writes about rape and how it is a part of our society. One point that I thought was interesting was when the author quoted Professor Menachem Amir, who stated, “Studies indicate that sex offenders do not constitute a unique or psychopathological type; nor are they as a group invariably more disturbed than the control groups to which they are compared” (pg.513). This quote is stating that most rapists do not have psychological problems, they are just normal people. This quote is interesting to me because it shows that most rapists are normal people with normal lives, they were just taught at a young age that rape was okay and men have a right to a woman's body. I
What is considered deviant in a society has much to do with the relative power and privilege of different categories of people. (John J. Macionis pp.215) In society today, rape is considered a crime. In the past, a man could get away with sexually harassing a woman and not be punished especially if they were acquainted with one another. However, violent rape has always been viewed as serious deviant behavior. John Macionis provides this example of deviant, criminal behavior as a young man lurking in the shadows who suddenly attacks an unsuspecting victim. (John J. Macionispp.217) When this happens the law seems clearly defined and criminal justice can be served.
Begley,Sarah. “Redefining Rape.”: A Brief History of Rape In America.“ The Daily Beast. The Daily Beast Company LLC, 22 Aug, 2013. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.
Inherent differences between the sexes assign women in patriarchal societies into a disparaging, separate class from men. Male standards dictate that woman’s individual traits are meaningless. Oppression of women in male dominant societies reduces them to their ability as mothers and wives. Resisting patriarchal oppression by expressing idiosyncrasies often results in persecution, ridicule, and labeling women as undesirable. Oftentimes, the restraint and maltreatment of diverse womanhood leads to a lower quality of life for women, unhappiness in marriage, and impedes romantic and sexual intimacy. Many feminist works of literature illustrate how punishing unique behaviors and suppressing their personalities women into a class removed from and second to men.
“People dominate animals, men dominate women.” Each is a relation of hierarchy, an inequality, with particularities and variations within and between them. (Cite Orange book pg. 92.) For centuries, women have been viewed and used as a man’s “property”, whether it is being used for sexual satisfaction or for the sake of bearing children and taking care of the home. Men are typically perceived as head of the household and whatever they say goes; anything to satisfy their hunger for power and control. Have women ever had a say about what they want to use their bodies for? Laws against rape may have changed over time, but men’s consistent aggressive behavior unfortunately, has not.
Throughout Martha Burt’s article, Cultural Myths and Supports for Rape, she expresses her stance on rape myths. Burt defines rape myths in her article by “testing the hypothesis derived from social psychological and feminist theory that acceptance of rape myths can be predicted from attitudes such as sex role stereotyping, adversarial sexual beliefs, sexual conservatism, and acceptance of interpersonal violence.” (Burt 217) I believe that it is only right to say that it is practical to state her definition could have its place in cultural history because the fact of rape has been around forever. In her article, Burt states two major implications: first off, many Americans do indeed believe many rape myths. Second, their rape attitudes are strongly
“Rape is considered to be the most underreported of all violent crimes in the United States, according to Neft and Levine in 1997” (Hilgenkamp, Harper, & Boskey, 2010). Victims of rape often blame themselves for the act and are ashamed to ...
Throughout centuries, rape culture has been persistent in various societies, whether it is from the meager boondocks or the more established elite nations, it has been perpetual amongst human beings regardless of any reasoning as to why this practice transpires in the first place. Currently, one would define rape culture as a typical practice where males sexually objectify or violate women who do not first handily consent to the course of action. Stereotypes are constructed from rape culture primarily because there tend to be gender roles embedded within who the culprit and the victim may be. Julia Serano, a transgendered activist and author of “Why Nice Guys Finish Last,” elaborates on the topic of why certain stereotypes
Over the past year or two, the Anti-Rape Culture Movement has gained massive popularity all over the world. This movement has drawn the question, “has rape culture become a societal normality?” front and center as reporters and social movement leaders alike go head-to-head over this argument. Rape culture has been called both a global problem and a fad in society. A huge movement has risen up in an effort to expose rapists and sex crime supporters, but a large amount of people don’t believe that sex crimes are as big of a problem as they are. While different parts of society believe that rape culture isn’t real, it has become more and more apparent in society over the last decade as more people are willing to speak