Rape Definition Essay

When I was younger, rape was always a distant topic to me. It was something intangible that I could not understand. My mother would occasionally speak on instances of violence where rape could be a result, but she would never directly come out and say “rape” to define it. It was always just how to avoid those bad or dangerous people that society whispers to children are haunting the night. Rape became a harsh reality for me when I was fourteen, at a lock-in hosted by my middle school. As the night turned into morning, I was in the gym with my best friend and we were playing catch. I knew the night had been tense, because of previous drama that had happened between the other girls, but I did not think it would extend to us. I was wrong. Suddenly,

Part of this can probably be because “some women don’t even realize that they have been raped,” and therefore it goes unreported (Valenti 65). Topping the charts, rape is “one of the most under reported crimes, with 68% still being left unreported” (RAINN). If one out of six and one out of three wasn’t enough, imagine if this number was increased 68%. The frequency rape is happening at makes it near to impossible to measure it quantifiably. Rape is something that is known to happen, but people don’t like to recognize it and society is “so quick to excuse it” (Valenti 65). Every person in society is different in their own way, and when one member of society exercises rape over another, they are using power and control to suppress and violently assault another. In society, it is difficult enough to gain recognition for simply existing and having “differences… that are separating us” in a lack of acceptance, but rape accentuates this negative quality of society. (Lorde 1). Then to take this context further, after everything about a person has been violated those differences are no longer merely “misnamed” in the “refusal to recognize them,” this refusal turns into a harsh exile that leads to feelings of inferiority and segregation of basic rights (Lorde

If rape culture is prevalent in academia, the institutions for higher education, and they are being sent underlying messages, what does this say about the new found adults society is gaining? These are not only the newest members to society, but also the people who are raising the next generation. We need to realize that if rape culture is personified within institutions of education, then the students there are going to learn the ways and regretfully they will adopt them. How can academia solve this issue? Do they have a board to review all advertisements? Do they get rid of fraternities and sororities? Whatever they would chose to do would not be able to combat the issue because it is so wide spread and this is what needs to be examined by