Rose, Conyers....the list continues to grow

[Dill]

(11-22-2017, 07:23 PM)jason Wrote: Outside of context clues, I'm really not 100% sure what "rape culture" means. I just kinda assumed it was a phrase made up by the women's studies intellectual types to describe the natural phenomenon that you are speaking of. I just used it because I've heard the term thrown around and mocked from time to time. But you and I are on the same page here.

When coined, the term referred to institutional/cultural norms that encouraged authorities to doubt victims of sexual violence and make it hard for them to bring charges.  Date rape vis a vis police and legal indifference was the first issue, then this migrated into universities and the workplace, where management indifference became the target.  A "rape culture" exists when victims of sexual violence are encouraged to shut up or otherwise lack support and can't get a fair hearing. Victim blaming is an aspect of this.

The final section of this 1994 essay by Diane Herman gives a good summary of what the term is supposed to mean. The blame is placed not on men per se and not on "nature," but on the gender roles given for both men and women.
http://homepage.smc.edu/delpiccolo_guido/Soc1/soc1readings/rape%20culture_final.pdf

People thought the problem was being dealt with, as many schools and workplaces were requiring workshops and sensitivitiy training and changes their rules and norms for reporting assault. Every city has rape crises centers and every college has counselors and advocates for rape survivors

Then Trump was elected, and that older culture now seems to be re-sanctioned from the highest office in the land.  I suspect that the wave of accusation we are currently experiencing may in part be backlash to this. Formerly silent women have been moved by desperation and the example of others to come forward.