Seemingly every day I read about references to "rape culture" in relation to various American institutions, such as academia, the military, and popular culture. Wikipedia describes "rape culture" as one in which rape is
"pervasive and normalized." This is because of behaviors that
"include victim blaming, sexual objectification, trivializing rape, [and] denial of widespread rape."
Funny how
Fifty Shades of Grey is never brought up in discussions of sexual objectification. This is because of an uncomfortable truth for feminists, that most women want to be sexually desired and dominated.
Radical feminists would like us to believe that we are in the midst of a national rape epidemic. This is all done for political reasons, so that the radfems and their social justice dilettantes can install their cadre into positions of power. The fact is, that rape has been declining for forty years.
Nevertheless, radfems have decided that what we need is a moral panic. One way they hope to accomplish this is by pushing meaningless statistics. One statistic that has no inherent context, and is being promoted by RAINN, claims that
only three percent of rapists ever receive punishment. This is an estimate presented as fact, which can only discourage women from reporting their rape. After all, there is virtually no chance that
your rapist will ever be punished. That statistic relies on a rape reporting rate that is little more than a guess, and isn't limited to forcible rape. Various degrees of sexual assault, attempted rape, and rape threats are included to inflate the total.
Leaders at all major institutions are in a state of hypervigilance about rape and sexual assault. The Secretary of the Army recently insisted that
preventing sexual assault was his "top priority." I believe the Secretary's top priority is combat readiness, and his remarks about sexual assault are a way to avoid being hauled up to Capitol Hill and being interrogated by Claire McCasharridan and Kirsten Gilliharpy.
Using a term like "rape culture" implies that environmental influences are the main causal factors behind sexual violence. One thing these cultural commentators always ignore is that we are in the midst of the greatest sociological experiment in human history. Generation after generation of boys and girls are being raised by single mothers. Millions of boys with no male role model. Millions of girls who never experienced a dominant male modeling desirable behaviors.
There is recent, compelling evidence that
genetics plays a decisive role in determining whether a person commits rape. Since most rapes are committed by repeat offenders, my theory is that rapists are missing important empathy traits, much like most psychopaths. These people may interpret sexual resistance as a play signal. No amount of "Take Back The Night" rallies and sensitivity training will affect brains like these.
This is not to say that the way that men and women are socialized does not play a role in how sexual encounters are experienced. The current moral panic about rape may be backlash from the sexual liberation of the 1960's. Women have been conditioned to expect sex without attachments, and they are not emotionally equipped to deal with that. One way women used to be expected to control the outcome of sexual encounters was by "playing hard to get." This has conditioned generations of men to interpret "no" as less of a stop sign than a flashing red light: proceed, but with caution.
The term "rape culture" comprises a constellation of fallacies. One is an appeal to emotion. It is right to defer to the feelings of rape victims. So much so that today, the elevated status of a rape victim may be tempting for broken women to aspire to.
Another fallacy is the appeal to authority. Rape victims are no longer called victims. They, and victims of sexual assault, are now referred to as "survivors." This is done to elevate their moral authority above all others.
A third fallacy comprising the term "rape culture" is an appeal to science. In this case, the appeal is to social science, with cherry-picked statistics, conclusions in search of data, and ignoring evidence that disproves a desired conclusion.
Amanda Marcotte and Jessica Valenti have spilled copious ink defending the perpetrators of UVA's gang rape hoax. They and others have been conspicuously silent on the gang rape on a
Panama City Beach, or the systematic rape factory known as
Rotherham. This is because the perpetrators afflict the narrative. As members of protected classes, they must not be identified.
The magazine
Everyday Feminism has a top-ranked Google page entitled
Examples of Rape Culture. The page is a collection of broken links, Richard Mourdock references, and absolution of women for any and all negligent behavior. Each of the twenty-five on this list is supposed proof that women face a rape gauntlet, and public indifference to it, everytime they leave the house.
For example, one item says that
"sexual assault prevention education programs focus on women being told to take measures to prevent rape instead of men being told not to rape." The penalty for a convicted rapist is prison. This fact is not being kept secret. Part of a prison sentence's intent is punishment, part is deterrence. Punishing rapists and deterring would-be rapists is more effective than so-called positive reinforcement. All the sensitivity training in the world won't deter a psychopathic rapist. Neither will awarding them a cookie for not raping or not cat-calling.
Women used to be expected to guard their virtue. There was a strong evolutionary reason they did so. This was one way that a male could ensure the children he was helping to raise belonged to him. Today, this concept is vulgarly referred to as "slut-shaming." Police investigating sexual violence are being discouraged from inquiring whether a female was walking home alone, or drinking too much. This is now called re-traumatizing the victim. Also, rape jurisprudence is being dropped from
law school curricula. This is leading to erosion of due process protections for men accused of sexual violence. The constitutional guarantee of equal protection before the law may not apply to men.
Another item in the
Everyday Feminism article decries
"Rape jokes – and people who defend them." The link points to the website imgur.com, and is broken. Perhaps columnist Shannon Ridgeway was referring to when Rush Limbaugh called Sandra Fluke a slut. That insult launched a relentless campaign to silence him, that continues to this day. But when David Letterman jokes about Sarah Palin's 14-year old daughter being raped, so-called champions of the oppressed rush to his defense.
A joke about rape is tolerated if the person telling it is a Democrat supporter. It is also tolerated if the joke is about male rape. The movie
My Cousin Vinny has a memorable bit about male rape anxiety. Every comedy involving incarceration has male rape as a prominent sub-theme. But that's ok, because males are the oppressor class, and it's always funny when they are afraid.
