Alcohol And Popular Culture In American Rape Culture

Within American culture, the intersectionality of alcohol, gender, and sexual interactions is apparent. Alcohol and its consumption has played a large role in developing stigmas and stereotypes that are rooted in gender, race, and the way individuals interact sexually. Throughout history it has become apparent that alcohol, college campuses, and sexual assault are connected. Animal House (1978) is riddled with these themes and falls within the concept of rape culture. Southern Connecticut University defines rape culture as an enviroment in which rape is prevalent and normalized and disreguarded by the media and popular culture. Furthermore, rape culture objectifies the bodies of woman and glamorizes sexual violence and disregards the safety

But, throughout the film there are countless instances of sexual passes made towards women without their consent. One of the most noticeable instances is when Pinto considers taking sexual advantage of the young girl he brought to the party. They are both intoxicated and proceed to a bedroom where they are engaging in a sexual relationship, but then the girl passes out on the bed. As Pinto is standing over her, staring at her, an Angel and Devil appear on his shoulders. The Devil says, “Fuck her, fuck her brains out” and a few seconds later says, “you know she wants it”, (Animal House, 58.15). It is obvious that the Devil on his shoulder represents Pinto's sinister inner thoughts. The girl was drunk and passed out, she had no way to give consent to sexual intercourse. And despite that Pinto was still considering using her body. There is another interaction between the same two characters later on in the movie. Pinto goes over to the girls house and asks if they can grab beer and “take a walk or something”, (Animal House, 1.32.05). She laughs and responds with, “Besides, you might get lucky without it”. It is later revealed that she is 13, and This interaction indicates that Pinto thinks alcohol needs to be present in order for him

The movie is plagued by the sexual objectification of women. As talked about before, women seem to serve one purpose in this movie, to do sexual acts to the men. Women are presented in this movie as a means to an end. Men want to be sexually satisfied and will act and do anything to achieve that. The most abundant example of this is the interactions between Pinto and the young lady. The phrase “Fuck her, fuck her brains out”, and saying that she wants it despite being passed out is riddled with misogynistic language, (Animal House, 58.15). But that isn’t the only example of misogynistic or sexist language, in the lunch room scene, Otter asks to massage Babs inner thigh. When she refuses he says, “Is that anyway to treat an intimate friend”, (Animal House, 32.33). Otter makes another similar statement, he says, “we took a few liberties with our female guests”, (Animal House, 1.04.42). There are even less noticeable examples, like the local paper reads “Local Teen Molested”, or the constant reference that the Delta Fraternity rapes and molests girls. This is seen towards the end of the movie when Pinto is introduced to the girl's father as “the boy who molested me last month”, (Animal House, 1.41.43). The reason this movie falls within the concept of rape culture is the blatent disregard for the actions that were taken. The Delta Fraternity is seen as a group of good guys, who did some bad