Emilie Buchwald's Transforming A Rape Culture

Rape culture is a serious societal issue amongst us today. It has become such a normality that society ignores rape culture for what it truly is, an abomination to women (and some men). It is a way to further demean women for being just what they are, female. Many people believe that rape culture can be attributed to the action of rape itself, they believe that rape culture stems from the act. In fact, that statement is false and rape culture has more so to do with how society sees women and how women are treated due to the everlasting ideals of patriarchy. Rape culture was a term coined in the 1970s by feminists and it is believed that the actual culture does not exist, blaming the women’s rights group for fabricating such a term. Rape culture

It is a society where violence is seen as sexy and sexuality as violent.” In rape culture, women are often faced with various amount of violence, sexual harassment of all kinds, to the act of rape itself. They are viewed as a species that is supposed to bow down to their male counterparts and welcome these harassments with pride. In this society, women cannot exercise their right to say no and are subjected to accepting these terms. Women would rather give in to these harassments than deal with the possible outcome that can range from verbal abuse to death. Buchwald also states that “The rape culture condones physical and emotional terrorism against women as the norm . . . In a rape culture, both men and women assume that sexual violence is a fact of life, inevitable.” Rape culture makes the act of rape seem ordinary, where people will excuse the man for such acts and blame the victim for getting into these circumstances. The common excuses that has been used for victim blaming include, what the victim was wearing at the time of the event, her possible past and if the male is a respected member of society. In fact, many people will disregard the accounts of the sexually abusive encounters from the victim but will believe the perpetrators views of the event. Because of how society views victims,

It can be dated back to the beginning of patriarchy, or ever since men began to believe that they were the dominant and superior species. The male gaze plays a huge role in how the culture is depicted and how it continues to thrive. The male gaze was concept derived from feminist film critic Laura Mulvey. Mulvey defines the male gaze as the way visual arts are structured around a masculine viewer. There’s no doubt that when you walk by ads, read magazine or turn on the television that everything that is being shown is to satisfy some type of hunger within men. The way women and even little girls are depicted gives way unto how men view women outside the media realm. Women are given these rules based on what people pick up from the media. The media sexually objectifies women and women to uphold these standards unknowingly fix themselves for the male gaze, even if they say they do not. Regardless of how people view women and if whether or not they agree with patriarchy and the male gaze, one thing holds true, women will be blamed for what happens to them and how society views them and in a huge place like social media, the effects can be