Trigger warning for mentions of sexual assault/sex crimes against women.
Sexual assault in America is rapidly increasing, with rape victims doubling from 2017 to 2018. Reports have shown a similar trend in England and in the EU as a whole. Afghanistan just reinstated publicly stoning women caught committing adultery. On October 7, 2023, sexual assault was used as a horrific act of war against women at the Nova Music Festival for Peace. Women in Iran are screaming for freedom from the regime. At the same time, politics is seemingly more progressive than ever, especially in the West. Why is this paradox happening? Why are women not only still not safe, but in even more danger than they used to be?
You may have seen the case of Laken Riley—a nursing student in Georgia who was sexually assaulted and beaten to death while running on a public trail. Or maybe you’ve seen the plethora of TikToks uploaded by women who were getting punched in the face on the streets of New York by random men. Or maybe you’ve just seen the casual way men on podcasts spout misogynistic and violent remarks toward women. Maybe you’ve seen anonymous accounts on Reddit describe their graphic fantasies or explain why they call themselves an incel. Maybe you’ve seen the recent trend asking women whether they’d rather be stuck in the woods with a bear or man, and nearly everyone choosing the bear. No matter what it is, every woman has their own eye-opening experience with sexism and how it puts their safety at risk.
Sexual assault is an especially heinous crime. It is an attack meant to inflict pain, like many other crimes, but is specifically also meant to inflict torture, dehumanization, humiliation, and lifelong trauma. One of the most common traumatic experiences resulting in PTSD is sexual crime. Most psychologists agree that rape is not significantly rooted in sexual motivations, but the desire for pain and suffering inflicted on women and the infliction of aggression and exertion of power and control. These men are typically low in self-esteem and view women as manipulative. Even in 1991, the graphic sex scenes with undertones of violence displayed in entertainment like television and video games have been thought of as a large factor in the increase of sexual assault cases. I believe that the porn industry has the same effect on sexual violence. PornHub has gotten in trouble several times for allowing videos of minors and trafficking victims to be uploaded and left on their site time and time again. These videos then get downloaded, duplicated, and spread onto other porn sites. They can stay up for months until getting removed. You may not have heard about any of this, because somehow, PornHub manages to bounce right back and act as if nothing ever happened. And because it has been so normalized in society, most people don’t bat an eye.
About 25% of internet searches are for porn. As porn becomes integrated into more and more people’s lives on a regular basis, they can become desensitized to it. The videos they regularly search for and watch soon don’t bring them the same gratification they used to. This results in the need to escalate to something. I’ll be referring to Fight The New Drug’s article on Porn and Escalation from here on out. Their main claim is that like a drug, porn activates dopamine receptors in our brains. Eventually, the same dose, or same types of videos, don’t release enough dopamine as they once did to result in the initial pleasure. This is why drug users will eventually increase their dose or try a harsher drug. In the same way, someone will begin watching more porn or looking for a category of porn that activates the dopamine receptors more. Fight The New Drug highlighted a study that found 47% of porn users eventually transitioned to watching porn they used to find disgusting. This escalation has the possibility of contributing to sex crimes that stem from needing more and more dopamine that porn eventually cannot satisfy.
The incel movement, a collective of men who identify as involuntarily celibate, is likely another large factor in the rise of violence against women. A 2022 study found that incel forums are eight times larger than they were in 2016. If you haven’t heard of Andrew Tate, how does it feel to live my dream? Andrew Tate was a prominent “alpha-male” podcaster who gained popularity by making ridiculously sexist comments about women. He said things like women are “intrinsically lazy,” women should “bear responsibility” when sexually assaulted, and when a woman accuses you of cheating, you should “slap, slap, grab, choke, ‘shut up b*tch,’ [have] sex.” His rise to popularity on social media platforms like TikTok, X, and YouTube, led so many men and young boys down a path of hating women and spreading a similar message. It’s not all that surprising that Tate and his brother were arrested for sex trafficking and rape last year. Tate all but admitted to this on his platforms, in several posts that are now deleted. On his website, Tate described his job as “meet a girl, go on a few dates, sleep with her, test if she’s quality, get her to fall in love with me to where she’d do anything I say and then get her on webcam so we could become rich together.” He also said his job consisted of introducing women to the porn industry. Although all of his platforms have been removed, the damage has already been done. A third of young men in the UK view Andrew Tate in a positive light. While many people agree that he’s a misogynist, they don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing. Tate often labeled himself a proud misogynist, and it seems that logic is being passed onto his audience.
While countries like the US and UK pat themselves on the back for their progressive leaders, policies, and beliefs, women and girls are having to learn how to defend themselves from a stranger at a bar, a man they went on one or two dates with, or a close friend they would have never expected to get violent. Social media platforms need to have harsher policies on hate speech and take action against incel forums and sexist podcasts. Governments need more oversight and monitoring on porn platforms to prevent more criminal activity being uploaded, with stricter penalties on these platforms when this does happen. Campaigns like Fight The New Drug need to keep speaking out and spreading awareness about the consequences of pornography. Countries need to do their part in making sure women, over half of their constituents, are actually safe.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, you can call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit http://hotline.rainn.org.