Look What You’ve Done; An Analysis on Rape Culture
The focus of my blog is based on topics discussed during a Rape Crisis Training held by Kristen Houser for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape on February 28, 2018. During the training Houser brought up several issues and behaviors of society that contribute to what is now called “rape culture.” Much of her arguments were combatting “victim blaming.” I found these two topics to be the most important and what needs to be discussed in an effort to reduce violents crimes such as rape and sexual assault. Many reporters, teachers, friends and even police and doctors are guilty of supporting rape culture in on way or another. These are figures that are supposed to protect us but without proper education on rape crisis, we’re all only adding to the problem.
A key note from the seminar is that rape culture, or an environment in which rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence against women is normalized and excused in the media and popular culture, is often perpetuated by the language we use to describe different instances of sexual violence, the victim and perpetrator (“Women’s Center” 1).
Many experts believe that this is due to something called the “Just World Theory” that describes the belief that “most people implicitly believe that the world is fundamentally fair and rational and that misfortunate is inversely related to one’s prudence, competence, and virtue. These “basic beliefs” (see Janoff-Bulman, 1989) provide the bedrock of psychological security people need to live purposeful lives in a world that is often unpredictable, malicious, and hazardous.(Harber, Podolski & Williams 603)” This leads to the issue of victim blaming. When people want to ignore or reject tragedies to feel safe in their own minds they decide to blame the victim by saying they’re causing trouble or just want attention. The point of victim blaming is to “temper disturbing emotions that victims arouse. Victim blaming therefore serves as a form of emotional management through reappraisal.(604)” In other words, because we don’t want to hear about bad things and feel sad we choose to deny them in any way we can rationalize, in order to make ourselves feel safe. For victims, this “impugns their morals, demeans their judgment, and diminishes their right to sympathy at the height of their suffering” which an extreme ethical issue (Harber, Podolski & Williams 604).
To avoid further damaging people who have already been victimized i think that rape counseling seminars, just like the one i attended, should be mandatory in all schools, from pre-k to colleges and universities because predators work at all levels and all people need to be able to recognize warning signs. This is critical because violence can happen to anyone at any time. It could happen to you, your family member, dentist or colleague. Also, language used to describe rapes in any form of public media needs to be reduced. Also, the physical appearances and location of victims shouldn’t be used unless it’s absolutely pertinent to discussing the details of the crime. Lastly, reporters need to call sex crimes actual crimes and not use language that alludes to any kind of consensual sex.
In terms of news media ethics this issue is extremely concerning. We know society tends to victim blame because they want to see the world they live in as good and just but what can be said for the reporters and broadcasters who use language and tones that perpetuate victim blaming and rape culture? We know, as journalists, your first and most important responsibility is to report the facts to people without bias. If people read an article about sexual assault and the accused rapist is painted as a harmless guy while details of the victims personal life are dissected and exploited, then other victims of sexual assault will be less likely to come forward or trust the media. Reporting stories of sexual assault without sensitivity and accuracy is a slap in the face to victims and readers. I believe newspapers and police departments that do press releases should be required to consult with some sort of rape counselor on languages that are appropriate to use in the media.
The issue persists because of the way society often mocks or criticizes alleged victims of sexual assault. Imagine how horrible you would feel if you found out something tragic had happened to someone close to you and they never reached out for help because they were afraid to be blamed by the people around them, including you? No one wants to see that happen, besides predators. Let’s not give them the upperhand. We need to listen and pay attention to one another. Men and women of different classes and races need to listen to each other and adults need to listen to children. The problem is that people don’t want to feel anything that they aren’t forced to. If people became more empathetic and it became more natural for people to care about the issues of strangers then we could go much further in combating sexual assault. If you feel like you don’t know what to do, you can imagine every person that reports a sexual assault as yourself or someone you love in that position.
Citations
Harber, K. D., Podolski, P., & Williams, C. H. (2015). Emotional disclosure and victim blaming. Emotion, 15(5), 603-614. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/emo0000056 Retrieved from http://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1666305405?accountid=13158
Women’s Center. “Rape Culture.” Marshall University, Marshall University, 2017, www.marshall.edu/wcenter/sexual-assault/rape-culture/.