Quote:
Originally Posted by Replaced_Texan
I use rape culture all the time to describe behavior and norms that make it easier for assault and harassment of women to be normalized and dismissed. And even worse, promoted and admired.
For example, the scenario described in this reddit post I would describe as the perpetuation of rape culture.
This particular one strikes a nerve with me, because the same damned thing happened to me in fifth grade, but I didn't speak up because it's so fucking ingrained in the world I lived in at the time that I knew that there was no point. And I was socialized to think that having boobs meant you have to endure this sort of shit. Maybe I'm not serious in the way you want me to be, but I'm dead serious about observing this shit because I've had to navigate it my entire life. |
That's an insane post. That principal is creating an environment where sexual assault is tolerated. He should be fired. That he's considering expelling her is mind-bending.
But the fact that this shit is upsetting, that it's been tolerated for too long -- it doesn't license us to degrade the language. These shorthand words that are appearing in the culture are turning serious conversations into binary conversations. You think Occupy had a point? You're an SJW. Are you straight and unaware of LGBT issues? You're CIS Male (dropped pejoratively). You think Kavanaugh's innocent? You're part of Rape Culture.
We seem to have a massive societal hard-on for categorizing people these days. You're this. He's that. She's this. You're thinking makes you X, Y, or Z. Here's how I identify you. Here is your group.
Rape Culture is an attempt - I think a failed one - to lump a ton of things under a single descriptive. We have untold numbers of words to describe the varying types of behavior comprising this societal rape denial. Why simplify? So we can fit something on Twitter? So we can blurt it out in a 30 second live hit on cable news?
