In Response to Stuebenville

I wrote this post in response to my Facebook newsfeed. I have "liked" many political and feminist pages- therefore, the Stuebenville rape trial and verdict have been blowing up my newsfeed. The pages I "like" have been posting a multitude of statements condemning the media's portrayal of the rapists- to sum up, the media was basically pitying the girl's attackers.

 On top of this, the victim has been getting threats. Wow. Just wow.

Freaking imbeciles.

My interest in feminism started about half way through my junior year of high school, when I read Full Frontal Feminism- an excellent, powerfully-written book by my now-idol Jessica Valenti. Up until that point, I didn't think of feminism very often at all, nor did the thought cross my mind that I am (and always have been) a feminist. Though Valenti's book introduced a variety of topics- from the wage gap to the virgin-whore dichotomy, today I am going to focus on a phenomenon so common and repugnant it makes me physically ill. That phenomenon, dear reader, is rape culture.

Simply put, rape culture is a society giving women a list of to-do's that boil down to, "make sure he rapes the other girl".* We live in a world where rape is condoned and victim-shaming is commonplace. Take a moment and think about it. If a prostitute is raped, she is told that it is all her fault and that it is to be expected; a work hazard or, perhaps worst of all, it wasn't rape. If a woman who had been drinking is raped, she is told that she was asking for it; she shouldn't have drunk so much, she shouldn't have worn such revealing clothing, she shouldn't have flirted with her soon-to-be-rapist. Society says that date rape isn't rape, GHB rape isn't rape, if you don't fight back tooth and nail it was not rape. Society says you had better be bloody, bruised, and hanging on to life by a thread in order to be a rape victim.

No. Fuck that. No one "asks for it". I don't give a shit if the victim was naked and so drunk she passed out in the middle of Times Square. She STILL has the right to not get raped. A woman's profession does not excuse rape. The victim's sexual history is irrelevant. If a woman is drugged, guess what? IT IS RAPE. Why do none of the above scenarios blame the woman's attacker? If I were a man, I would be incredibly offended. Patriarchy tells us that men are so base and Neanderthal-like that women must be the ones to prevent rape; because men just can't help themselves. What a pile of crap. Feminism holds men to a higher standard, and finds them mentally competent.

It is high time we change the world's view of rape. We must make everyone see rape is an inexcusable offense- that it is NOT O.K.

*not my own statement- I took it from someone on Facebook.