RAINN on Rape Culture

[jimhines]

Will Shetterly wrote a blog post asking if I had addressed “RAINN’s refutation of ‘rape culture’” yet. I’m writing this less to respond to Shetterly and more because I think there’s some good conversation to be had around RAINN’s recommendations. But I should warn folks that by invoking his name and linking to his blog post, I’m basically

Comments

[dionysus1999]

It is a culture, and one I wish would change FASTER. If more of our alleged authority figures would take rape seriously it would be one giant step in the right direction.

[jimhines]

I think some of it is just a basic misunderstanding -- sometimes deliberate, fueled by authors like the one in TIME -- that the idea of "rape culture" must mean "all men are OMG evil rapists!!!1!"

It's rather annoying.

[tylik]

"Personally, I have very little problem with a risk-reduction approach."

I am not opposed, with the caveats you mentioned. Though darn, I wish that more of what passed as risk reduction had more to do with reducing risk, and less to do with enforcing a very narrow set of behaviors. I mean, you hear all this "don't dress like a slut" - you'd think "wear something you can run in" might make a bit more sense, yes? (I am not, by the way, saying that women - or anyone - should feel obliged to always be ready to fight. That's the sign of a sucky society I don't want to live in. *I* dress like that mostly because clothes that I can't do martial arts in art inevitably clothes I will put holes in on my first or second wearing. And I don't like having my movement constrained.) "Don't wear too much makeup - but not so little that anyone thinks you're a lesbian" (okay, corrective rape is less common here)... "Don't go out alone" rather than "Don't spend time with male friends" because really, check out the stats...

[rimrunner]

I wish that more of what passed as risk reduction had more to do with reducing risk, and less to do with enforcing a very narrow set of behaviors. That's an excellent point, and one that I like to call out, i.e.: "What evidence do you have that your suggestions actually reduce risk?" The reply usually cites common sense, a sure sign that the promoter just pulled his recommendations out of his ass. (My personal favorite is being told not to run after dark. Every single time I've been harassed and/or threatened with assault was in broad daylight. It's never happened at night. Not to say it couldn't, of course, but my actual experience never seems to count with these people

[tylik]

I get all stabby when I hear about how women should take martial arts classes, or when people smugly explain how their now three year old daughter is going to take martial arts classes. And take this in context - I'm a 5'11", broad shouldered muscular martial artist and martial arts instructor. I can not think of anyone among my (many, mostly male) sparring partners with whom I've been overwhelmed by size, weight or strength. (I certainly have sparred with people bigger and stronger than I, though they aren't the majority of people I've sparred with. And I'm not saying it couldn't happen - darn, I want to spend more time with such people on the mat, because that sounds like a great bout - but it keeps not happening.) All things being remotely equal - and of course they're unlikely to be, because what kind of predator is cruising for a fair fight? - I have a far better than average chance to fighting off a physical attacker. Possibly even a few physical attackers. ...and mostly, that's barely relevant. (Even before you get to the bits

[rimrunner]

Totally agreed. I study martial arts as well, though I don't teach it. I am regularly outclassed in terms of size and weight by my partners--currently all of them are men, and I'm pretty small: 5'4" and around 145 lbs, which means the nearest of them in terms of weight has about 25 pounds on me. I'm okay with this because in an actual confrontation an assailant is likely to be bigger and stronger than I am, so knowing how to deal with that is huge.

I'll freely advocate for it if I'm talking with someone who is interested in exploring this option. What I see all too often, though, is people treating it as a sort of good luck charm, which all too easily segues into blaming behavior--like, you know martial arts, why didn't you fight him off? A dude I know with major training was once knocked unconscious by a shoplifter who had a brick in her purse, so

[rosefox]

The major concern I've seen expressed about relying on bystander intervention is that bystanders are more likely to intervene if the person being attacked is, say, a young white cis woman than an older black trans woman. In some demographics, the person being attacked would be right to fear bystanders rather than relying on them for help.

That's also a concern with these frankly naive comments from the RAINN letter:

We believe that the most effective - the primary - way to prevent sexual violence is to use the criminal justice system to take more rapists off the streets.

[C]onfusion discourages victims from coming forward to take the brave step of reporting this crime.... When these crimes aren’t reported... serial criminals are left unpunished and free to strike again.Again, that assumes the criminal justice system is there to help rape victims and survivors rather than victimize them further. Even for white cis women, that's often not the case. And the further one gets from that place of privilege, the more likely it is that one

[tylik]

The rape I mention above I did not report. For a number of reasons, most prominent that it did not register that I'd just been raped for 36 hours or so, obviating the whole rape kit thing. But I was also mistrustful of the justice system's dealings with such things, considering how badly they did by me around some family issues.

And it appears he went on to become a registered sex offender.

This is not a comment on the merits of reporting or not, just something I feel really weird about.

[rosefox]

Many many sympathies on every aspect of that.

[rachelmanija]

I just wanted to mention a factual issue regarding current rape kits. In NO WAY am I saying you made the wrong decision, for any reason whatsoever. This is purely for the benefit of anyone who might read this, since it's a little-known issue and one which has changed in recent years:

Evidence, including DNA evidence, can still be collected for up to a week following a rape. The sooner the better, of course. But 36 hours is definitely no longer too late as far as evidence-collection goes. I'm speaking here of a forensic gynecological exam. Evidence on unwashed clothing may be collected indefinitely, since there could be hairs. etc.

Whether one wishes to report, have a forensic exam, etc, is of course a purely personal decision.

I'm sorry that happened to you.

[sinboy]

It is 100% impossible to have tier 3 in RAINN's approach without addressing rape culture. Also there *are* problems with the way the "risk-reduction" approach tends to be addressed, like telling young women not to go to parties and drink.

Not drinking to excess is good advice for anyone, but "don't drink to excess at a party because there's a good chance you might get raped" is basically an acknowledgment of rape culture while refusing to admit that it exists, or that the people throwing those parties don't care too much if you do get raped.

It's stupidity and anti-feminism writ large, and largely responsible for the continuation *OF* rape culture. Rape culture denialism is about protecting rapists and denying personal responsibility.

[ironed_orchid]

it’s equally absurd to claim that crime occurs in a cultural vacuum, or that these two ideas are mutually exclusive.

Thank you for another smart and sensible piece on this issue. People who don't like the term 'rape culture' tend to interpret it as "but you're saying all men are rapists" whereas people who do use it tend to interpret it as "in our culture, sexual harassment, and even rape are often excused or treated like minor social gaffs, rather than serious offenses."