RAPE CULTURE AROUND US

 Sir,

Examples of rape culture are all around us. They permeate our society at individual, one-on-one levels, as well as in institutionalised, structured ways. That is, after all, exactly how oppression works. The phrase ‘rape culture’ has been used a lot in feminist movements, but many of us are still not familiar with what it means exactly.

We understand the word ‘culture,’ from a sociological viewpoint to be things that people commonly engage in together as a society. But how do we link that with rape? I know that at its core, our society is not something that outwardly promotes rape, as the phrase may imply to many. That is, we do not all commonly engage in sexual violence together as a society.

Promote

We need to understand that it’s not necessarily a society or group of people that outwardly promotes rape (although it could be). Rape culture is something more inherent than that.

We’re talking about cultural practices that excuse or otherwise stomach sexual violence. These practices make it easier for perpetrators to commit rape because they will either be protected/justified, or the focus will be shifted to blaming the victim.

Think

So, when we talk about rape culture, we’re talking about the way that we collectively think about rape. More often than not, it’s situations in which sexual assault, rape, and general violence are ignored, trivialised, normalised, or made into jokes. And this happens a lot. Starting from the most common comments; ‘She asked for it, what was she wearing’? to blaming the victim for being out of the house at night.  To drive it home, let me give a few examples of what rape culture is in our every day lives.

Rape culture is when your mother tells you that your dress is too short and, ‘batakulaya baholeli’, when you leave the house. Rape culture is when journalists use the word ‘sex’ instead of ‘rape’ – as if they’re the same thing. Sexual assault prevention education programmes at schools and in communities that focus on women being told to take measures to prevent rape instead of men being told not to rape, that also forms part of rape culture.

The omnipresence of street harassment and how victims are told that they’re ‘overreacting’ when they call it out, and excusing stalking as ‘kusoma’and that is it part of culture are all examples of rape culture.

The examples are many, and are all around us. Only when you know what rape culture is will you work to find ways to prevent it. And knowing how it hurts women in many different ways should make anybody want to fight for its eradication.

Nomsa

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