Cultural component of Rape

[Jolly_Penguin]

I read an article a few years ago that I can't again find, that researched the cultural component of rape. People from different cultures and from different times have viewed rape differently, and this has had a much larger effect on how victimized and traumatized rape victims have been. In some times and places (possibly now) rape has been worse than the most extreme torture; and in others it has been no big deal so long as no lasting physical damage was done.

How much of a component in victim suffering due to rape do you think our culture plays today?

 

[Malintent]

rape as a cultural component exists to the extent to which the culture views women as property. Cultures that do not view women as property (and do view women as equal to men with respect to civil rights) do not have a 'rape culture'.

In the US, women have as many (if not more) rights than men do. It is impossible to argue that the culture of the US is one of rape. That said, it is important to note that 'college life' does not represent 'American Culture'... it is but a sub-culture that has historically been governed such that rapes have been covered up to protect the image of the school. But that does not represent the national culture in a broad sense at all.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

rape as a cultural component exists to the extent to which the culture views women as property. Cultures that do not view women as property (and do view women as equal to men with respect to civil rights) do not have a 'rape culture'.

In the US, women have as many (if not more) rights than men do. It is impossible to argue that the culture of the US is one of rape. That said, it is important to note that 'college life' does not represent 'American Culture'... it is but a sub-culture that has historically been governed such that rapes have been covered up to protect the image of the school. But that does not represent the national culture in a broad sense at all.

And note that the whole college rape epidemic is fake in the first place: Young women in college are less likely to report being raped than equivalent young women not in college.

I do agree whether women are seen as property would have an effect on the overall perception of rape. Women who are property are used to bad things happening and thus will attach less importance to a particular bad thing that happened.

 

[braces_for_impact]

This thread will end well, I'm sure of it.

 

[Bronzeage]

I read an article a few years ago that I can't again find, that researched the cultural component of rape. People from different cultures and from different times have viewed rape differently, and this has had a much larger effect on how victimized and traumatized rape victims have been. In some times and places (possibly now) rape has been worse than the most extreme torture; and in others it has been no big deal so long as no lasting physical damage was done.

How much of a component in victim suffering due to rape do you think our culture plays today?

It is not the component it once was, but it's still there.

The definition of rape is purposely vague. In the law, we have to divide it into grades of severity, and even define special cases of rape, where force or coercion is not present.

Whether a rape victim suffers more than the obvious injuries of assault, depends on many factors. In cultures where a woman's sexual activity is strictly controlled, getting rape means a woman somehow evaded all those restrictions and left herself vulnerable. It's her fault because she stepped outside the protective curtain. The shaming of a rape victim and her family is a consequence far greater than the physical trauma.

This kind of cultural deterrent for rape victims can only exist when the woman is seen as the property of her family. Her value to the family is as a bride who can form an economic alliance with another family, and as a mother of new family members. Virgin brides are preferred, perhaps because it's believed an inexperienced and ignorant woman is easier to control. A rape victim is greatly devalued on the marriage market. If her negligence contributed to the rape, she is complicit in stealing from the family fortune.

One of the strange aspects of rape, is it is seldom enjoyable for either party. To put it bluntly, where's the fun in sex with a woman who is either screaming and hostile, or catatonic with fear. Something else besides simple sexual lust is in play. In cultures where a woman's sexual activity are controlled by other people, and her personal worth is tied to her sexual activity, rape is no longer about the assailant's sexual relief. It becomes an exercise in power and domination. It's an assault on her and all those who committed to protect her. The rapist demonstrates his power is greater than her family and all society. That's heady stuff.

When sexual control of women were no longer such a big factor in our culture, the power and domination aspect will loose some of it's thrill.

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

This thread will end well, I'm sure of it.

Maybe, given that it is on this forum full of hot head reactionaries. But if cooler heads prevail, it could be an interesting discussion. That's why I put it in this section instead of the politics one.

If you suffer they violation and physical trauma of rape, that is bad, but how much more bad does it become, and how much more torture and anguish are you put through by your own society's reaction to rape? That varies from time to time and culture to culture.

 

[braces_for_impact]

It even varies from woman to woman.

 

[ronburgundy]

It even varies from woman to woman.

Sure, so does everything about human behavior. That doesn't mean there are not cultural assumptions and practices that have a general impact.

I think the OP raises an interesting question about cultural impact not merely on whether rape occurs and how it is treated, but in shaping the psychological response of the victim.

The same framing of rape (and of sex crimes against kids) that is used to increase prosecution of it perpetrators is likely to have harmful psychological impact on the victims, whose can be further traumatized by the cultural insistence that they suffered something so extremely traumatic,regarless of how traumatic the actual experience itself was (such as when the victim didn't even know they were raped until someone told them they were). The culture of shame around sex generally likely feeds into this, making many sexual assaults psychologically worse than they would be and experienced as worse than other types of physical assaults and harm that objectively should cause more trauma due to the event itself, absent the cultural framing.

 

[jimrich]

Parenting

I read an article a few years ago that I can't again find, that researched the cultural component of rape. People from different cultures and from different times have viewed rape differently, and this has had a much larger effect on how victimized and traumatized rape victims have been. In some times and places (possibly now) rape has been worse than the most extreme torture; and in others it has been no big deal so long as no lasting physical damage was done.

How much of a component in victim suffering due to rape do you think our culture plays today?

I'm a guy and now I can see how inadequate parenting allowed me to see rape as "no big deal" and I am pretty convinced that both a rape victim, whose parents FAILED to adequately prepare her to deal with guys and rapists in particular (like a few of the rape victims in our family), and the rapists (like I could have become), whose parents FAILED to adequately teach them NOT TO rape someone. IMO, it's all about good/bad, adequate or inadequate parenting and we had mostly INADEQUATE parenting in my family. It's a miracle our little sister did not end up as a rape victim or one of us boys did not end up raping some girl! Our culture is still very lax and ignorant about sex and sex education although I believe the internet is helping kids see things Realistically. Sex, condoms, methods, realities are more openly available to kids than back in my day. Date rape is all about very inadequate parental training of both the victim and the offender! The 2 girls, in our family who were raped, had extremely inadequate parental help so they were both SITTING DUCKS!

 

[Valjean]

What's considered outrageous or insulting is learned and varies with culture, nor does the offensiveness of an act doesn't necessarily correlate with the physical or economic harm done.