Rape Myths, Language, And Portrayal Of Women In The Media

Arising from feminist activism in the 1970s, the term rape culture is generally defined as an environment that normalizes and propagates sexual assault and rape. Rape culture is characterized by victim blaming, rape myths, and the normalization and tolerance of sexual violence (Kessel 131). In the book chapter “Rape Myths, Language, and Portrayal of Women in the Media” written by Helen Benedict, the author names ten rape myths commonly found in the media coverage of sex crimes (Benedict 14-17). In this essay I focus on three of these myths: “rape is sex”(14), “the assailant is motivated by lust”(14-15), and “women deserve rape” (16) and how they are not only found in common medium but in peer-reviewed scientific literature. Acts of sexual violence

Men are often labeled as the “predator” or “hunter”, and women labeled as the “prey”. This use of language not only contains overtones of violence and aggression but also portrays men as driven to animalistic tendencies by lust. An article entitled “Men are Hunters & How to Attract Them” provides examples of this dating culture. Men are “ hungry, they're hunting, and they're not going to stop until they've caught their prey” (Wygant par. 3). The internet is riddled with magazine articles, blog posts, and more just like this that perpetuate toxic masculinity and the myth that assailants are driven by lust (Benedict 14). Furthermore, these stereotypical gender roles are so prevalent they have seeped into the media beyond what any guy who thinks he has discovered the profound truth of dating can post on a blog, peer-reviewed journals. Medical journal articles about reproduction are not only influenced by conventional ideals of masculinity and femininity but also bear resemblance to the language discussed above. The sperm is commonly portrayed as “forceful penetrators” (Martin 493) on a “perilous journey”(490) that “assault”(490) the egg. In one article. Schatten and Schatten (qtd. In Martin 494) describes a biological act of the sperm as “harpoon[ing] the egg” . This description is unnecessarily violent, demonstrating how stereotypes of male behavior during dating

Although there are many factors that affect perception of gender roles during sexual intercourse and sexual preferences are unique to each individual there is often an understanding in heterosexual sex that the male plays the more dominant role and the female the submissive role and as identified in the paragraph above there is a general perception that men play the role of the seeker of sexual partnership while women play a passive role. The female role of passivity is also a common feature of scientific literature on reproduction, where the egg is “allocat[ed] the passive, waiting role” (Martin 496), just as a woman is when it comes to courting. These traditional gender roles designate control of dating interactions to men whereas the role of the woman is rarely considered. This designation of control connects to the myth that “women deserve rape”, that by dressingly too provocatively, or being too insatiable women are inducing the act of rape (Benedict 16). According to an article written by a man for the purpose of advising women, “like a wolf notices the scent of its prey, men notice a woman's sexual energy” (Wygant par. 7). This supposedly means a man knows when a woman wants him to pursue her even if her words say differently, that the innate animalistic nature of men makes the need for consent obsolete. Media that perpetuates