Rape Culture

In the recent Steubenville case, where two high school students were

convicted of raping a sixteen-year-old girl, many news outlets portrayed these

kids as monsters, but also showed not only sympathy for the rapists, but painting

them as the true victims of the case – talented boys in an athletics centric town,

with “promising futures” that were “taken away” because of this “horrible tragedy”.

The media naturally exploded with various opinions – the most memorable for me

was that of political analyst Zerlina Maxwell. She appeared as a guest on the show

Hannity, a Conservative show on Fox News, during a forum of whether rape should

be considered in gun laws and whether women should be allowed to carry guns to

prevent rape. She said the following during her appearance:

“I think that the entire conversation is wrong. I don’t want anybody to be

telling women anything. I don’t want men to be telling me what to wear and how

to act, not to drink. And I don’t, honestly, want you to tell me that I needed a gun in

order to prevent my rape. In my case, don’t tell me if I’d only had a gun, I wouldn’t

have been raped. Don’t put it on me to prevent the rape.”

Zerlina was bombarded with attacks from Conservative opinions, personal

insults, and even threats of violence– this alone, shows the sad nature of rape

culture, in regards to blame and bullying, However, Zerlina stood by her original

opinion, and that, along with what she said, shows incredible conviction. The

Steubenville case, the backlash against the rape victim and sympathy for the

perpetrators, the attack against Zerlina Maxwell, and the ensuing media coverage,

showed many of the ugly aspects of today’s rape culture; most of all, where the

philosophy of preventing rape is, in my opinion, completely off the mark.

Zerlina’s is one of many different opinions about rape culture, but its one

that spoke to me the most, especially that last line. “Don’t put it on me to prevent the

rape”. To me, rape prevention shouldn’t be about a woman arming herself against

unforeseeable dangerous causes – sexual assault shouldn’t be happening in the first

place. There shouldn’t be the same level of warning and danger in putting on a tight

fitting dress and going out, as is swimming with sharks without proper protective

gear. Rape culture is such an expansive, conflicted issue, that there really is no one,

definitive solution to the problem. But, we shouldn’t be teaching girls not to dress

a certain way. We shouldn’t be entirely blaming men either, and teaching just boys

not to attack women. We need to step away from slut shaming, and from bashing

both men and women for different reasons.