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Lesson 15: Rape Culture

Social ProblemsRobert Wonser

What is ‘rape culture’?

Rape culture is a concept which links rape and sexual violence to the culture of a society, and in which prevalent attitudes and practices normalize, excuse, tolerate, or even condone rape.

Elements within rape culture: Objectification

What is sexual objectification?  If objectification is the process of representing or treating a person like an object (a non-thinking thing that can be used however one likes), then sexual objectification is the process of representing or treating a person like a sex object, one that serves another’s sexual pleasure.

Sexual objectification of women – turning a person into an object, a thing, or a part.

1) Does the image show only part(s) of a sexualized person’s body?

How to spot it:

Headless women, for example, make it easy to see her as only a body by erasing the individuality communicated through faces, eyes, and eye contact:

2) Does the image present a sexualized person as a stand-in for an object?

The breasts of the woman in this beer ad, for example, are conflated with the cans:

Or sometimes objects themselves are made to look like women, like this series of sinks and urinals shaped like women’s bodies and mouths and these everyday items, like pencil sharpeners.

3) Does the image show a sexualized person as

interchangeable?  Interchangeability is a

common advertising theme that reinforces the idea that women, like objects, are fungible. And like objects, “more is better,” a market sentiment that erases the worth of individual women. The image below advertising Mercedes-Benz presents just part of a woman’s body (breasts) as interchangeable and additive:

This image of a set of Victoria’s Secret models has a similar effect. Their hair and skin color varies slightly, but they are also presented as all of a kind:

4) Does the image affirm the idea of violating the bodily integrity of a sexualized person that

can’t consent?

This ad, for example, shows an incapacitated woman in a sexualized positionwith a male protagonist holding her on a leash. It glamorizes the possibility that he has attacked and subdued her:

5) Does the image suggest that sexual availability is the defining characteristic of the

person? 

This ad, with the copy “now open,” sends the message that this woman is for sex.  If she is open for business, then she presumably can be had by anyone.

6) Does the image show a sexualized person as a commodity (something that can be bought and sold)?

By definition, objects can be bought and sold, but some images portray women as everyday commodities.  Conflating women with food is a common sub-category.  As an example, Meredith Bean, Ph.D., sent in this photo of a Massive Melons “energy” drink sold in New Zealand:

7) Does the image treat a sexualized person’s body as a canvas?

In the two images below, women’s bodies are presented as a particular type of object: a canvas that is marked up or drawn upon.

Elements of rape culture: Victim Blaming

Victim blaming is the phenomenon in which a victim of a crime or an accident is partially or entirely attributed or responsible for the transgressions committed against them.

Elements of Rape culture: Slut Shaming

Slut shaming is defined as the act of making a woman feel guilty or inferior for engaging in certain sexual behaviors that deviate from traditional or orthodox gender expectations, or that which may be considered to be contrary to natural or supernatural/religious law.

Some examples of behaviors which women are "slut-shamed" over include: dressing in sexually provocative ways, requesting access to birth control, or even for being raped or sexually assaulted.

Elements of rape culture: Trivializing rape

Comedy and jokes

Link with masculinity

Link with rape myths

‘no means yes’

‘she really wanted it’

Hand stamp to gain entry into a bar.

Link with advertising

Fashion ads implying rape

Dolce & gabbana

“Apply generously to your neck so he can smell the scent as you shake your head ‘no’”

Implied gang rape in a Calvin Klein ad

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