The Existence Of Rape Culture Essay - 2306 Words

Courtney Martinez Professor Enwald English 101 11/21/2016 Subtitle The Existence of Rape Culture in America In light of the recent Brock Turner case which caused international outrage over the light sentencing and blatant protection of the Stanford student rapist, action is being demanded. Reflection and criticism of not only our justice system, but our society as a whole, has allowed for new surges of feminism and activist movements to take hold. This case gave a unique foothold for the furthering of the feminist movement, and has significantly boosted national attention to one of the movements most debated issues: the existence of rape culture. Although rape culture is a very large and overarching issue critiquing many different facets of American culture, one thing is certain: rape culture is very real, and it can no longer be ignored. There are many differing definitions of rape culture but for the sake of this essay I will use the definition of rape culture taken from the book Transforming a Rape Culture by Emilie Buchwald. In her book, Emilie describes rape culture as â€Å"a complex set of beliefs that encourage male sexual aggression and supports violence against women. It is a society where violence is seen as sexy and sexuality as violent. In a rape culture, women perceive a continuum of threatened violence that ranges from sexual remarks to sexual touching to rape itself. A rape culture condones physical and emotional terrorism against women as the norm†¦Ã¢â‚¬  TheShow MoreRelatedSexual Assault And The Criminal Justice System930 Words   |  4 Pageslies heavily in a culture that is unwelcoming to the victims and often leads to the perpetrators being tolerated. 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