The Importance Of Rape Culture

“Every 107 seconds, another American is sexually assaulted” (“Statistics”). With the prevalence of rape in this country, one must suspect that there is something more to the frequency rape than the rapist himself. Of course, individuals need to be held responsible for their actions--especially when those actions include the despicable crime of sexual assault--however these individuals are not all shady characters hanging out in alleys waiting for a victim: they are seemingly normal citizens who are a byproduct of society’s acceptance and normalization of rape. Rape culture is ubiquitous in American society today, and needs to be addressed. Rape culture is a real problem in society that needs to be recognized, is problematic on college campuses,

Rape becoming normalized in everyday life is a component of the very definition of rape culture. That being said, nothing normalizes ideals and actions quite like pop culture. Pop culture, consisting of music, TV, movies, and books, permeates individual and societal attitudes alike. Sitcoms like Two Broke Girls and Two and a Half Men use rape as punchlines to jokes in order to appear edgy and garner audience attention (Sharp). When used as a comedic device, rape is made to be unimportant or even humorous rather than an atrocity, contributing to the normalization of sexual assault in society. Along with TV, the use of rape as a plot device is seen heavily in movies, often used simply to make audiences uncomfortable. Screenwriter and film critic Drew McWeeny noted the prevalence of rape in movies saying, “‘the go-to impulse in almost every case is rape. It is guaranteed to cause a visceral reaction… if [one is] not contributing some new idea to the conversation, then [one is] literally just using it as a button, something [one pushes] to get a response’” (qtd. in Sharp). Using rape as a device simply to disturb an audience detracts from the human element of sexual assault--the concept becomes uncomfortable and alien, influencing viewers to detach themselves from the real life problem of rape. While rape should indeed be viewed as terrible, its portrayal an uncommon tragedy rather than an equally tragic, but common experience in the real world detracts from one’s need to fight rape culture. Another area in pop culture rape culture is often seen is in popular songs. A Huffington Post article covering the slam poetry of two women who spoke out against rape culture points out that the lines “I hate these blurred lines. I know you want it” and “Put molly all in her champagne, she ain 't [sic] even know it. Took her home and I enjoyed that, she ain’t [sic]