The impact of rape culture in modern society and how we can help victims of sexual assault

Abstract

For this dissertation I will be focusing on the effects and trauma that sexual assault and violence have on its victims, how to best approach and help these survivors in overcoming it, and seeking help for themselves, and how the difference in public opinion has changed over the centuries. Public opinion is something that is greatly important to this subject, seeing as we live in such a media-filled society in this modern age and being judged by others is something that a lot of us fear the most. Speaking about sexual assault and personal experiences regarding it puts survivors in vulnerable positions. While it takes a lot of bravery to speak about something so personal, it is more than likely that someone will be judging them which can, in turn, knock this confidence off course and making speaking out a lot more difficult.

The aim of this dissertation is to find an effective, helpful way to approach and help survivors of sexual assault from a non-professional standpoint and how the stigma around the issue has changed for the better over the centuries, but ultimately still requires progress and change. I will research into case studies to showcase personal experiences and how they would prefer to be approached/how negative reactions affected their growth, I will also look into historical context regarding the attitude towards sexual assault and violence and how it has grown and changed from then. Modern approaches to sexual assault and violence will also be present and how they have impacted the growth of positive attitudes and, in turn, the equivalent to negative attitudes and modern rape culture.

Introduction

Over many centuries, sexual assault and violence have been something that is widely stigmatised and shamed. So many survivors feel too vulnerable and alone to come forward about their experiences and therefore results in years, if not lifetimes, of psychological and emotional damage. (Rape Crisis England, 2017). So how can we, close friends or family, aid these people in speaking out and seeking professional help to avoid this long-lasting trauma? This is one of the main points I’m intending to explore as it appears to be something that the majority of people lack knowledge about. This is because of the common stigma that surrounds this topic and the sensitivity that comes with it. But that also poses a very vital question. Why is there a stigma to begin with? This can date back to a number of things truthfully and there are a variety of reasons why the stigma is so large still. It dates back to the 1800s when women were raped and assaulted regularly and told that they should be grateful for the protection they were granted by belonging to a man (S. D’Cruze, 1992), it also dates back to a more recent socially acceptable concept, rape culture, where instead of questioning the victim’s assaulter on why they did what they did, the victim is questioned on what they were wearing. These are just two very brief descriptions of a vast landscape of reasons why rape and assault are so largely stigmatised in today’s society.

Historical context and modern rape culture are two concepts that I wanted to research and compare to one another to showcase the growth and similarities stated previously. For example, there is a striking similarity in the way that society treats sexually confident women. In the 19th Century, women who were confident sexually and didn’t treat their sex lives as something shameful or something that a man “had to unlock” (S. D’Cruze, 1992), is very similar to how women are “slut-shamed” in today’s society for the same reason. Though society has come on in leaps and bounds in regards to successful campaigns such as ‘#MeToo’ and ‘Time’s Up’, there are still so many areas for improvement, such as normalised rape culture and victim-blaming. In a society where we have made so much progress in the terms of sexism and equal rights, why do we still choose to blame victims and shame them through the media? Negative phrases and blame inflicting words are still very heavily used throughout today's media which, in turn, promote rape culture. Again, whilst there is a clear difference between our society now and centuries ago, there are also some striking similarities that you wouldn’t expect or want to necessarily have.

Due to the normalisation of rape culture and the stigmatisation of sexual assault and rape, survivors find it increasingly difficult to speak about their experiences because of the shame they will likely experience due to judgement from others. Rape culture is something we see every day without even realising it and is incorporated into so many forms of pop culture, causing it to desensitise audiences to rape and sexual assault in the way it is portrayed. In order to help eradicate the stigma behind sexual assault and rape, we need to first identify what rape culture is and how to combat it effectively.

Contents Page

Introduction - 1

Context of study

Rape Culture and Its History - 3

Rape Culture in the media - 4

Anti-rape culture movements - 5

Women and sexual assault through history - 7

Tackling rape culture - 9

Approaching Survivors - 12

Final Results and Findings - 14

Discussion - 15

Conclusion - 19

References - 19

Context of Study

Rape Culture and Its History

Something that has become incredibly apparent throughout this study is the stigma behind sexual assault. This is one of the biggest reasons why I chose this topic to research, however, as I have gone through each and every piece of research it has become more and more clear why this is the case. Why is there so much fear, embarrassment and humiliation behind admitting being a survivor of sexual assault, harassment or rape? The answer is Rape Culture. To even begin to be able to understand the trauma of what survivors go through, we first need to understand what rape culture is and how it impacts society.

So, what is rape culture? According to the WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre, rape culture is the normalisation of sexual violence and rape within a society. Rape culture desensitizes audiences to the reality of sexual violence and the trauma that it has on its victims. Instead of asking questions as to why the perpetrator did what they did, society is often conditioned to think about the way the victim was dressed, how much they had to drink and how often they have sex on a regular basis. This is the very definition of rape culture (Choice Words Blog, 2012).

The history of rape culture dates back centuries, however, the term itself was coined in the 1970s by a group of American feminists. They worked to create a documentary that highlighted modern rape culture and brought awareness to the subject due to the fact that society had turned a blind eye to it for so long. (History of rape culture, N/D). Although, this movement didn’t come without criticism, with a number of protests taking place once this movement got going. One of the most notable protests was from a group in Vancouver called MRA (Men’s Rights Activists) who plastered posters across the city with phrases such as “It isn’t all men” and “Are you sick of this shit yet?”. Their argument against the anti-rape culture movement was that it slandered all men and made them look like monsters. They didn’t like all men being stereotyped and put in the same basket, which makes perfect sense. The whole point of this movement was to stop stereotyping women, so what would they benefit from by doing the same? However, none of the anti-rape culture campaigns used this phrase and simply stated that they wanted to stop the objectification of women. They pointed out the statistics that show men are the main perpetrators, but that certainly doesn’t mean it applies to all men.

Carrying on with the statement that rape culture isn’t accepted or glorified by all men, a survey carried out on American College men in 2000 showed that 30% of the people who answered said that if they could get away with it, they would rape a woman. Already, this is quite a large percentage that implies some individuals only care about the consequences rape has on themselves. However, when the question was reworded to say “force a woman to have sex” instead the percentage raised to 58%. This is because of the fear that comes with the word rape and by rewording the sentence, the situation almost seems less taboo or wrong. (WAVAW, 2013). A continuation of this study shows that 83% of responders said that they agreed with the statement “some women look as though they’re asking to be raped”. This is another look at how we perceive the way that women dress and what is socially acceptable. This response essentially tells us that an overwhelming percentage of men who answered this survey agreed that the way women dress indicates whether they want sex or not.

Rape Culture in the Media

With rape culture being so large in today’s society, it is also widely shown throughout the media. However, a lot of the representation isn’t good, in fact, bad representation in the media is what causes rape culture to continue to exist. It normalises blaming the victim in rape and assault cases. For example, The Brock Turner case. Brock Turner was eventually sentenced to only six months after being found guilty on 3 accounts of rape: Attempted rape, sexual penetration of an unconscious woman and sexual penetration of an intoxicated person. He was facing 10 years maximum, however, the judge settled for six months, claiming that due to Brock’s clean criminal record he didn’t believe he was a danger to others. Before the final hearing, Brock’s dad wrote a letter to the judge stating that “it’s a steep price to pay for only 20 minutes of action…” (US Weekly, June 2016).

There was a lot of controversy around this case. Some said that it wasn’t fair for Brock to miss out on future careers because of one mistake and others say that it isn’t fair for Brock to get away consequence-free for the crime he committed. No matter what side of the argument you agree with though, his case is a classic example of modern rape culture. The victim put herself forward when reporting the case and her statement is truly harrowing. “I was pummeled with narrowed, pointed questions that dissected my personal life, love life, past life, family life, inane questions, accumulating trivial details to try and find an excuse for this guy who had me half naked before even asking my name” (The Independent, 2016) This is a direct quote from the victim’s statement that highlights the experience she went through during her court hearings. She was constantly told that because she was unconscious and couldn’t remember what had happened, Brock was the only one who could be believed. Instead of being given time to recover from the experience, she was forced to relive that night over and over again whilst being given question after question to throw her off. Nobody should have to be demeaned for their assault and this case is the perfect example of how women are told their stories aren’t dire enough and the predator is believed.

Another controversy in the media was Robin Thicke’s song “Blurred Lines” and how the lyrics promoted rape culture. The lyrics are said to very obviously objectify women and state that when it comes to consent there are “blurred lines”. There were many varying opinions when this song first started gaining traction and Robin even gave his own opinion, stating that he had written the song about his wife. The lyrics are still seen as questionable and The Sociological Cinema points out that some of the lyrics, such as “I know you want it” are very similar to quotes given by assault and rape victims which are bound to make the song sound uncomfortable. (Thesociologicalcinema, 2013)

The final piece of rape culture representation in the media that I’ve identified is quite a broad one and there are many different opinions surrounding it. Sitcoms are designed to make jokes out of things, but some shows don’t exactly do the best job at portraying it well. A poor example of Rape Culture representation within one of these shows is The Big Bang Theory for the portrayal of one of its main characters, Penny being harassed by another one of the characters, Howard. Her character is constantly sexually harassed throughout the second season and when she eventually confronts him about it, she’s made out to be the bad guy and ends up apologising. (Shameless Magazine, 2012). Many people argue that sitcoms shouldn’t be addressing serious issues like this because they’re meant to be comedic, but other shows such as Brooklyn Nine-Nine do exactly that. They manage to stay comedic and interesting whilst also addressing serious, topical issues with great representation, such as racism, gun control, homophobia and even rape culture and sexual harassment. The difference in the two shows approach to this topic could be put down to dates, seeing as this season of The Big Bang Theory aired ten years prior to Brooklyn Nine-Nine, however, whichever way it is perceived, it is still a representation of rape culture that was portrayed poorly.

Anti-Rape Culture Movements

There have been a number of different anti-rape culture movements that have come about over the past few decades, especially since the coining of the phrase, however, there have been a few that have had a very large impact on society. These movements were created to raise awareness for rape culture and work to change the idea that society has regarding sexual assault, harassment, and rape.

One of the most recognized movements is the MeToo Movement that have been ongoing for almost fifteen years now. First founded by Tarana Burke in 2006, the MeToo Movement was created to create a community for sexual assault and violence survivors, particularly black women, to allow them to come together and share their experiences and encourage each other to speak out (MeTooMovement, 2018). However, this soon turned into a global movement when it was reintroduced by actress Alyssa Milano in 2017to encourage both women and men to come forward and share their experiences. This is what sparked the interaction and recognition that the movement has today. The reintroduction of the movement was caused by the allegations against Hollywood producer, Harvey Weinstein. This is what triggered so many other individuals to begin exposing powerful people exploiting their power in the entertainment industry along with sports and politics, too (Verywellmind, 2019)

Another movement that was derived from the Me Too Movement was the Time’s Up Movement. Times up was initially designed to expose powerful figures in Hollywood, but over time it has been backed by hundreds of celebrities and become so much more. It was created in an attempt to stop future abuse and gender inequity in the workplace. Hollywood actresses such as Reese Witherspoon, Halle Berry, Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman publicly backed the campaign and used their platforms to support it, giving it a wider audience and following. The campaign launched an open letter pushing for “safe and effective change in the industry” that was signed by hundreds of actresses. The more actresses that signed it, the broader the support became and it was soon joining Me Too in becoming a global movement. Male celebrities also got involved in supporting the campaign, including David Schwimmer and Justin Baldoni, and encouraged other men to support the initiative to help combat sexual harassment (Instyle, 2019). Even though there is still a lot of stigma surrounding sexual assault and harassment, movements like these are the big difference between today’s society and history. From my research already, I can gather that there is still a large issue within society surrounding this stigma and rape culture, but these movements and others among them are causing audiences to take a second look at sexual assault and harassment and view it in a whole different light.

A great example of a celebrity who used their platform to spread the message of destigmatising sexual assault and spoke out openly, is singer and actress, Lady Gaga. In 2018, she was honoured at Elle’s Women of Hollywood event and gave a powerful speech about her experiences as a woman in Hollywood. “...After I was assaulted when I was 19, I changed forever. Part of me shut down for many years. I didn’t tell anyone. I avoided it myself and felt shame even still today…” This quote from her speech is a prime example of how survivors feel after experiencing assault. So many of them are afraid to talk and feel ashamed of themselves due to the stigma that surrounds them. This stigma is created by the fact that people feel too scared or awkward to approach survivors and offer them help or believe that they aren’t telling the truth due to the way that rape culture is accepted within society. “...After I shared what had happened to me, with very powerful men in the industry, nobody helped me. No one offered me guidance or a helping hand to lead me to a place where I felt justice…” (ELLE, 2018) This quote shines a light on something that a lot of other survivors experience also and not just because they’re going up against a powerful man in Hollywood. This is why so many people choose to stay silent and suffer through the psychological damage that it causes because they’re so scared of being ridiculed and disbelieved. If we look back to the Brock Turner case again, in the victim’s statement she said several times that she was terrified to tell her boyfriend and her family what had happened to her in fear of how they would react (The Independent, 2016). Survivors of assault feeling scared and ashamed shouldn’t be accepted, especially due to the trauma it can cause them later in life by bottling up these emotions for however long. This is why movements like Me Too and Time’s Up are vital to changing societies thinking.

However, there are varying opinions about these movements like there is with everything. If we take a look at the Jubilee debate about if the Me Too movement has gone too far, it has some interesting points to analyse. The part of the debate I’ve taken quotes from is when they are discussing if the lines between sexual assault and rape are blurred.

“...so I think that part of the problem is that none of this is cool, like none of its okay, none of it is acceptable but I think what's happening is that we're conflating these things that are not on the same page it doesn't inflate the numbers and makes things look much worse than they actually are and it doesn't reflect the reality of how things actually are…”

In this quote, they are discussing how it’s not fair to group leering and unwanted touching into the same category as rape and serious assault as it can ruin people’s reputations. While leering and touching is vastly different from rape, there are still reasons to look at these actions in a negative light which is explained perfectly in this quote -

“...I'm trying to say when you're grooming someone and this is something that people do they test little things like if I look at her in a way that makes her uncomfortable or touches them in a way that makes them uncomfortable, how are they going to react? If they don't react these are seen as green lights by predators to increase that behaviour…”

This is a great argument for the point made previously and how we shouldn’t ignore small actions like this. Things like this are what movements like Me Too, making sure that nobody is unheard no matter how small the assault may seem.

Historical Context - Women and sexual assault throughout history

One of the biggest reasons why rape culture is so largely accepted in today’s society is because of the history surrounding it. If we take a look back through history, there are an array of examples of normalised rape and assault. Anti-rape culture movements didn’t exist at these points in time and there was clearly still a lot of sexism, however, looking at this history also allows us to see the progress that has been made today and how far we still have to go. Movements like Me Too are huge steps forward for our society, but by taking a look back you can still highlight similarities within our modern society.

One of the most classic examples of historical rape culture is from 1888 when Jack the Ripper was at large. Jack the Ripper was famously known for his hatred of sex workers and it was them who he chose to target at the time. He was notoriously known for “hunting” in Whitechapel, London which was well known for poverty, prostitution and violent crime at this time. There are quite a few murders linked to Jack the Ripper, however, not all of them were confirmed. What we do know though is that all of them were women and at least 5 of them were committed by him (Jack the Ripper, N/D). This caused Middle and Upper-class men to want to protect the “innocent” women from his attacks, creating patrols around the areas most prone to attacks. However, these patrols also lead to these men threatening “prostitutes” who lived around this area as it was a profession that was looked down upon by most. This promotes misogyny and toxic masculinity which contributes to rape culture. The idea that sex workers and prostitutes deserved death or violence implies that women who are sexually confident deserve less than women who are innocent or “pure”, which is still a common occurrence today (S. D’Cruze, 1992). Women are often “slut-shamed” for the number of people they sleep with which is where we can compare the similarities easily. Slut-shaming also contributes to rape culture as not only are women shamed for the number of people they sleep with, but also for the clothing they wear. If they are sexually confident or wearing revealing clothes, they are often told to have been “asking for it”, implying that their confidence or clothing preferences give consent.

A study by Anna Clark covering sexual assault and violence between the years 1770 and 1845 show that assault is widely based on mainly class relations. This is when higher class dominance created implications that women’s sexuality needed to be restricted and monitored and those who went against this idealogy were considered “fallen”. These views meant that it was extremely looked down upon for women to speak about sexual assault or rape, it was widely accepted that women should place themselves under the protection of husbands or fathers who were traditionally allowed to inflict sexual and physical violence on them to assert their dominance. A case study that Anna covered in this time period shows similarities to one from the modern-day. In 1817, a young working-class woman by the name of Mary Ashford was found in a field after being aggressively raped and then drowned. Upperclassman Abraham Thornton, the man which Mary had attended a local dance with, was trialled for the murder and was subsequently acquitted to save his reputation. The media only referred to him as Thornville as not to taint his family name and allowed him to keep his social status, stating that a man should not have to withhold his sexual urges and referred to Mary as an innocent and pure heroine (A. Clark, 1983). We can easily compare this to the Brock Turner case and how his sentence was reduced as not to taint his future. His father and closest friends both made statements claiming that he didn’t deserve such harsh punishment and his lawyer even claimed that because the victim blacked out and couldn’t remember what had happened, then Brock’s word should have been taken as truth. Though there are vast differences between the situations as a whole, there are glaring similarities in how the cases were handled and how the men both got away almost scot-free because there was sympathy felt for their reputation or future.

Moving on to early modern Europe, there were different perceptions of how rape was perceived due to the normalisation of prostitution. Prostitution was a common practice during this time and most towns had council-funded public brothels. However, it was also believed that rape was caused by pent up sexual frustration due to late marriage, though this creates a point to argue. How could rape be based on sexual frustration if the necessities were supplied? Prostitutes were available to all men and were even accredited by the local authorities. Despite this, rape was still common. From psychological based studies, we can find that men are inherently possessive and anger begins to pent up throughout childhood. Men would often turn to rape as a way of demonstrating their strength and dominance as well as proving that they are in fact an adult. This sort of toxic masculinity was more prone to males with absent or hostile fathers, as studies have found these men have a particular amount of pent up anger towards their mother’s for being the only parent. This can then lead to further hatred towards all women, thus resulting in assault or rape (S. D’Cruze, 1992)

Carrying on from this, we can begin to look at the story surrounding Peter Sutcliffe, also known as the Yorkshire Ripper. Peter was known to have absent and/or hostile brothers, peers and his father, proving the earlier study correct in his behaviour towards women. Peter had a similar notion as Jack the Ripper, primarily wanting to go after sex workers. This resulted in him murdering and mutilating 13 women and maiming 7 more, stating that they were all prostitutes. However, this was later proven false upon further investigation. This proves that Peter didn’t just have a hatred towards prostitutes but in fact just women. Having looked into the previous study, it’s likely this was caused by psychological damage due to the absence of positive male figures in his life (S. D’Cruze, 1992). This is a great example of rape culture and normalised violence towards women. Knowing that some of the women that Peter killed were not, in fact, sex workers shows that he either believed they were for some reason or simply didn’t care. But regardless, none of them deserved to be murdered and especially not for their profession. Peter’s story has easily proved the study regarding toxic masculinity and misogyny in male’s with absent male figures during childhood.

Despite these examples of historical cases of rape culture and misogyny, more recent cases from the 80’s still showing many similarities with those from the 1700s. A study carried out in 1989, conducted on 1,007 married and divorced women in England, showed that one in four of these women had been raped. This is a similar statistic to now showing that there hasn’t been much progress in this field whatsoever. 14% of these women were raped by their own husbands and four out of five of them reported that it happened frequently and 44% said that it was partnered with threats of violence. Women being raped and assaulted by their husbands is clearly something that has happened throughout past centuries and even now, but the large percentages in this study is obviously alarming. 112 of the women interviewed were experiencing rape frequently and didn’t have the courage to come forward about it. This is exactly why campaigns like Me Too are so clearly needed, to help these individuals that are suffering in silence. Though there are similarities to the present day and these past analogies, we have come on in leaps and bounds in the sense that campaigns against rape culture and sexual assault are allowing more and more people to talk about their experiences than say 40 years ago.

Methods/Sources/Material

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Tackling Rape Culture

If we compare the progress that we have made from the past, tackling rape culture is much more prevalent nowadays. However, there are still so many examples of bad representation and large amounts of victim-blaming, especially within the media. So how do we begin to tackle rape culture as individuals and as a society? Even small changes we can make as individuals can help us change society by influencing those around us. Rena Romano’s TED Talk where she speaks openly about her sexual assault and recovery, she speaks about how telling her story encouraged others to tell their own. “Remaining silent does not work...if healing begins by telling then we must make telling safe…” This is a direct quote from the talk and it speaks volumes. By allowing survivors to speak their truth and not be shamed is the first step towards healing and in a society where victim-blaming is unbelievably common, this is such an important step that we can all try to take, to reduce rape culture, also we should refrain from using negative statements when encouraging survivors to speak. “How we react to survivors can change whether they shut down or get help” This is why we must use positive phrases and praise when survivors tell their stories and encourage positive steps forward. Negative statements can severely impact a victim's mindset and how they view their experience as a whole. It can cause detrimental psychological effects down the line and even cause them to turn to harmful coping mechanisms to avoid thinking about it at all. This is why victim-blaming is something that needs to be acknowledged and stopped and by encouraging and praising survivors when they speak out, we can all take positive steps forward (Rena Romano, Date!)

If we look back at the negative media examples that were discussed, I compared a good representation to show that sitcoms can talk about serious issues whilst also keeping the light and easy feel. The show that I spoke about was Brooklyn Nine-Nine and the Me Too episode that they aired. The episode centred around two of the main characters, Jake and Amy, working to try and find evidence on an alleged assault. The woman who reported the assault was assaulted by her boss, resulting in a “he said, she said” situation. You also find out that the company that the woman works for offers her a large amount of hush money to avoid any confrontation or bad reputation brought upon their company. Later on in the episode, once they finally have the evidence to arrest the perpetrator, the woman still ends up leaving her job because of the dynamic change and how her colleagues speak to and act around her ever since. This is a great representation of a very real situation and the writers of the show didn’t try to sugarcoat the experience by giving it a satisfying ending. A lot of the time in workplace situations, it’s rare anyone gets convicted due to the lack of evidence and the portrayal of how the woman was treated by her colleagues afterwards was extremely accurate. The writers even added a part of the episode where Amy reflects on the week and explains to Jake how incredibly common sexual harassment was in her day to day life. She even states that she can’t think of one of her female friends that don’t go through the same thing (Mashable, 2019). The fact that the writers of the show created such an accurate depiction of such a common occurrence in most women’s everyday life is amazing and something that other screenwriters should aspire to do. Creating episodes that address issues like this is extremely effective in changing the way that society views rape culture. If making jokes about it desensitises audiences, surely speaking about it openly will make this topic more socially acceptable to discuss rather than leaving survivors ashamed.

One of the best ways of tackling rape culture is the amazing movements that have come about in the past few years. Along with these movements have come hundreds of protests and marches. One of the most notable ones came this year, in fact, from a Chilean feminist group who wrote a song titled “Un Violador en Tu Camino” which translates to “A Rapist in Your Path”. This song quickly became a protest chant amongst feminist marches throughout America primarily, but also all across the world. Not only are the words of the song extremely powerful, but they’re also accompanied by bright colours and dance. This is because of cultural differences in protests across the world. By incorporating dance into the performance, the protest has more vibrancy and catches this eye. This is what draws people in and compared to the “dull” protests we have in England, it is evident why it’s been so effective thus far. Some of the most notable places that the chant has been used are outside the courthouse during Harvey Weinstein’s trial and outside of Trump Towers after Donald Trump's many allegations came to light. These women have shown to be fearless also, protesting in countries such as Turkey and India where they have been threatened by police after performing it. This is clearly an amazing, effective movement that allows women to step up, come forward and speak out even when they have felt that they haven't been heard. The performance was used to voice women’s thoughts on the abortion bans that came about throughout America last year (2019) and although nothing was done to lift these new laws, the message was clear. These women are sick of being told what they can and can’t do with their bodies and being told whether or not they deserve something without their consent just because of their gender or what they’re wearing. Movements like this are what is needed to tackle rape culture and will be the making of a society that listens to what women have to say about their rights (The Guardian, 2020).

While these are all good ways of tackling rape culture, there needs to be something that we can all do. Obviously we can’t change society overnight or force people to change their views, but one of the most effective things we can do is listen. Relating back to Rena Romano’s talk, she states that we need to make talking safe to promote healing from the trauma. This is something that everyone can partake in by simply listening and supporting survivors of sexual assault and rape. When speaking to assault survivors myself, they said very much the same thing. That we need to stop blaming the victim and questioning them and instead we should start to listen to them.

“I would say talking about rape should not be taboo. It should be normalised to speak out about it. I know it is hard because I didn't tell anyone for months. However, I think we should know it is okay to speak out about it; it is not the victim’s fault. We need to avoid the whole "if you wore this... you asked for it" because that is the wrong mindset to have, and shows how ignorant you are to the subject.”

This is an amazing point made by one of the sources that I spoke to. Rape culture and victim-blaming are so widely normalised because speaking up about rape and assault is taboo. It’s looked down upon and people feel awkward and uncomfortable even discussing it. If we actively listened to survivors and praised them for coming forward then talking would be made safe. Questioning victims with presumptions about their clothes, how much they’ve had to drink or why they didn’t leave is what causes victims to shut down and bottle up their feelings. This is what leads to mental illness and psychological trauma. With the statistics surrounding sexual assault still extremely high, we need to try and get rid of this stigma to ensure that fewer and fewer people stop feeling so ashamed of what they went through. Instead, they should feel empowered and in control of the situation. By allowing victims to be in control and take that power back, we give them justice and unify our society in trying to eradicate this issue over time.

“I feel like when people mention the words rape/sexual assault they never know what to say. I feel like a lot of people don’t understand or have knowledge on the topic. The topic isn’t spoken about a lot and I think that it should be because it happens to a lot more people than you would expect.”

This is another statement that I gathered from my primary research and it also reiterates the point that we need to speak more openly about rape and sexual assault. It’s understandable that it's a personal and uncomfortable topic, which is why people should also be respectful when approaching the topic with people who have experienced it, but I don’t think victims should be shamed or looked down upon for trying to be open. The harsh reality of dealing with trauma from sexual assault is that the survivor is always worried about what other people think of them and if they’re overreacting about the situation. This is because society leads us to believe that victims should be questioned and blamed for what occurred and the negative depiction throughout the media doesn’t help this appropriation. If we, as individuals took it upon ourselves to be positive and helpful to those who have experienced this trauma, even just by listening to them, we can begin to tackle the severity of rape culture. Things will never change overnight, but with changes that everybody can make then, we can begin to make further progress.

Approaching Survivors

If helping to tackle rape culture means to start actively listening to survivors who open up to us, then we need to learn how to be supportive and what to say. Though encouragement may come naturally for some, rape and sexual assault is a difficult and personal subject to discuss and therefore can be challenging to talk about, especially to someone who doesn’t share a similar experience. Rena Romano has great insight on this from her TED talk and spoke about how negative statements that might not even phase you, can damage a survivor for a lifetime. Sometimes these statements come without even thinking and this is why reading up about how to speak to survivors is essential to avoid saying these statements. “Why didn’t you stop them? Why didn’t you tell? Why didn’t you say no?” These are all questions that assault victims face far too often when instead they should be faced with positive encouragement. This is something that Rena addresses a few times throughout her talk, reiterating the importance of “the praise approach”. This is where we praise and encourage survivors who speak to us about their experiences and help them take positive steps forward. It was something that Rena had experienced personally when she had called a suicide hotline on the brink of taking her own life due to the sexual abuse she suffered throughout her childhood. The responder on the other end of the phone congratulated her for telling him her story and told her that she was brave for taking those first steps towards the healing process (Rena Romano, 2017). The truthful recollection of Rena’s story is so vital as it shows relatability and allows for other individuals to see how their stories are similar in the sense that everyone is vulnerable after an experience like this.

As easy as it is to say “be positive and encouraging”, discussing rape and sexual assault can be a difficult subject to approach and discuss easily. This is why I did some research on how to effectively help survivors and speak to them with praise and encouragement. Time and time again positive statements have proven to help survivors when it comes to healing and recovering from trauma.

“I believe you.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“You didn’t do anything to deserve this.”

“You’re not alone.”

“I care about you and am here to listen or help in any way I can.”

“I’m sorry this happened.”

These are all encouraging and positive statements that can change a survivor's whole perspective on how they view their trauma. Having positive experiences with talking can be the first step towards healing truly. Of course, talking isn’t the only way we can aid survivors, however, it does help with the healing process significantly. If somebody feels safe enough to speak to someone else about their experience, they’re putting a lot of trust in this person. With statements like these and checking in often to ensure they’re doing okay, it can make the world of difference when it comes to someone’s recovery. Another way of helping someone who is suffering this trauma is by encouraging them to seek professional help if it’s a safe option for them. Receiving professional help for sexual trauma decreases the risk of lifelong psychological damage and the risk of them turning to bad habits instead. As long as you support and encourage a survivor, you’re already contributing to a more accepting and less judgemental society (RAINN, N/D).

One of the most effective ways of learning how best to approach survivors on this subject is to ask survivors themselves. It’s extremely likely that most people who have been through this experience have had at least one negative interaction regarding it that has stilted their recovery in one way or another. If anybody is going to know how to help a survivor, it’s survivors themselves. I spoke to a few assault survivors and asked them for their opinion on how best to approach the subject and how they felt others could help them.

“Be respectful before you ask, think how you're going to word what you're going to say because it can come across as insensitive, ask them if they are comfortable talking about it, and don't do it in front of a group of people. But, I think, for me, I will talk about it if I trust the person and if I know they won't talk about it. Even if it was a few years ago, it can still be raw, still hurt, and still be difficult to overcome. So remember that everyone feels differently and copes in their own way.”

“When speaking to someone who has unfortunately been a victim of rape/sexual assault. People need to be more considerate and understanding of the situation. There are so many misconceptions about it, people think that they must've been asking for it or it is because of what they're wearing. When that isn’t the case at all and when someone opens up to you about this type of thing, avoid asking these types of questions. From telling people that I am close to, I was quite shocked at the responses that I got. A lot of the time people were understanding and offered support which I was grateful for and the other times people were just confused or didn’t understand which relates back to the point that we need to normalise talking about rape and sexual assault so when people are in a situation with a person who has been through this much trauma they will hopefully know what to say or try to understand.”

These are both great quotes that relate and reiterate the points made previously. We need to normalise talking about these experiences to ensure that survivors always feel comfortable when telling someone their story. It’s easy to find the situation uncomfortable, but with encouragement and positivity given, survivors can find peace and closure by pushing themselves to seek professional help and even report their assault if it’s safe for them. The more we normalise speaking to others and create safe spaces for survivors to speak, the more we slowly rid our society of its appropriation or rape culture and victim-blaming. We can’t get rid of these appropriations overnight and maybe we can’t eradicate them altogether, but we can make the world a more accepting and judgemental place by taking small steps, bit by bit. There are so many ways to participate in tackling rape culture and helping survivors, whether it’s participating in protests, standing up against toxic masculinity or just offering your support to a survivor who needs it. Sexual assault and rape aren’t about what the victim said, what they were wearing or if they had anything to drink, it’s about the perpetrator’s actions and why they felt the need to do that to another person without their consent. It’s about giving survivors the power and justice that they deserve by helping them come forward, stand up and speak out.

Final Results and Findings

Throughout this dissertation, I have covered various points relating to sexual assault and rape. I wanted to capture how society has progressed throughout the years and how it damages those around us without the majority of us even realising. I covered five different main points: Rape Culture and it’s history, Anti-Rape Culture Movements, Historical Context, Tackling Rape Culture and Approaching survivors. All of these points varied off into research points that I was able to discuss and explain thoroughly.

I think I was able to capture the points I was trying to address throughout my product and I’m coming out of this much more well informed on the topic itself and very aware of the way society portrays sexual assault in a negative light the majority of the time. I wanted to prove that society is unfair on those who suffer the trauma of the sexual assault and often blame them, which I was able to do throughout a multitude of examples. One of the most haunting comparisons was linking the Mary Ashford case to the Brock Turner case and even though the cases had different stories, there were striking similarities in the way it was handled and how the media portrayed it. Considering that the two cases were centuries apart, it was shocking that this was still something that continued into the modern age and how it’s increasingly evident that Brock’s case is just one amongst thousands that are handled in the same way.

Another thing that seemed to confirm the point I was trying to address was something I discovered whilst researching. I had written about negative examples of representation in the media throughout my Rape Culture section, stating what they were and how they promoted rape culture blatantly. I wanted to do a similar thing in my Tackling Rape Culture section where I spoke about positive media representation, which I was able to do by addressing the episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and the Chilean marches. However, it took a lot of digging to find any of this information, meaning that I was left with only two examples instead of a plethora to pick from. This was a stark difference compared to what I had found whilst looking for negative examples. I was able to find examples of rape culture in the 80s-90s movies, within books and throughout the music industry. I had plenty of examples that I chose three from and the opposite way around had me searching all over. I think this alone proves my point that society and the media needs a vast change in the way they represent rape and sexual assault.

I would have loved to have done more research into some different anti-rape culture movements apart from the obvious ones like Me Too and Time’s Up, more specifically a men’s movement to raise awareness for male sexual assault and rape. This is something that is just as important as women’s and whilst I didn’t address it frequently throughout this product, it’s still something that I feel just as passionate about. Researching into a male movement would have given me a whole different angle, but it’s, unfortunately, something that I didn’t have time for. I did like the angle that the debate on Me Too gave though. It gave some different opinions that are maybe dismissed normally. The entire video itself gave an interesting insight on the topic, however, I was obviously not able to quote the whole thing.

Overall, I’m happy with the research I was able to gather and present to prove my points and thesis. Society does need to grow as a whole and helping survivors is possible with positivity, encouragement and support. Of course, there are other things I would have included if I’d had more time, but that could be said about anything. I believe I presented a wide range of examples to back up my points and was able to prove as well as counter-argue them with varying opinions. I wanted to be able to present both sides of the argument whilst also addressing my points which I believe I was able to do several times throughout my product.

Discussion

Though I have been able to easily articulate some points in my final results, I want to expand on some of the pros and cons of each of my main points throughout my discussion. I want to take the time to speak about why each point was relevant, what point it proved, how it worked alongside my thesis and what I would change if I were to write the dissertation from scratch. Overall, I am pleased with the product I was able to create, but there is of course always room for improvement. I will be expanding on each of my main points and the research points that I included within them to give a better understanding of why I chose each one.

Rape Culture

Throughout my entire dissertation, this first section was probably my favourite overall. I loved the content I was able to incorporate and analyse along with the depth that it went into. Rape Culture was something that I hadn’t necessarily covered or stated in my research initially, however, whilst trying to find more content to incorporate I stumbled across a case study about Rape Culture. This is the one that I annotated in my folder and it later spurred me into gathering my information about rape culture history and examples within the media. I thought it was fascinating to look into how the media portrays sexual assault and before writing this dissertation I had no clue how often it happened and how largely it affects our views on sexual assault. Looking at these examples was truly shocking and overall proved my thesis alone. Because sexual assault is a topic that is very taboo within our society, things like rape culture are so often forgotten about and just accepted as the norm.

There is so much information surrounding rape culture, especially examples of the way that the media portrays it but I simply didn’t have enough time to utilise it all. Seeing as researching rape culture was something that I did much later on if it was something I’d considered initially, I would have written much more. The fact is there is so much that society pushes on us and forces us to believe without us even realising and by researching and reading about rape culture and making ourselves aware, we already begin to make a difference to the way that society views things and that’s what I hoped to achieve within my dissertation. I educated myself in writing it and hopefully shed some light on a few points for others also.

Discussing and writing a section about rape culture allowed me to give my product more depth overall. After reading about the history of it and examples of poor representation, you can see why movements like Me Too are so essential amongst society. I’m glad I was able to add this depth and understanding and give a little more context to my product to help myself gain a better understanding of the stigma surrounding sexual assault and rape.

Anti-Rape Culture Movements

Movements like Me Too were always something that I felt the need to cover within my product. They’re such a large part of the progress society has made over the decades and they show growth in societal acceptance. Obviously, as I have stated several times, there is much more room for improvement, however, these movements are the first step forward. Survivors are being vocal and using platforms to speak out. The more that we promote these causes, the more we contribute to a fair and accepting society. Researching them also gave me something to compare to the lack of movements within my historical context section. By looking at the drastic changes that have come over the centuries, we are able to see progress quite clearly, despite the fact that much more needs to be done.

Something that I didn’t get across within this section was the vast amount of movements that are being created. When reading the article for the Chilean protests for my tackling rape culture section, it was stated how this movement was something that was growing rapidly as it seemed to reach minorities and resonate with them deeply. The thing about Me Too is that while it is an amazing movement, it only seems to be celebrities that are gaining anything from speaking out, however, this could very likely just be the way that the media portrays it yet again. I like the idea of researching smaller movements that are giving minority groups the chance to speak out as much as privileged groups, but unfortunately, I just didn’t have the time to start speculating and researching deeper.

What I did like about this section was how I was able to incorporate the differing opinions from the Jubilee debate. Having an argument to discuss is a great angle for a dissertation and that’s what I wanted to create by using this debate. There were so many other quotes I would have liked to include, but I felt the section was already dragging on a little and I didn’t want it to become boring, but the debate itself gave some interesting outlooks on the Me Too movement and how others portrayed it. Of course, there were some opinions that I disagreed with fully, but some of the opinions were interesting and gave me a different viewpoint to be able to consider both sides, which I also wanted to allow my reader to do so.

Historical Context

My historical context chapter is probably the section that I was looking forward to writing the most. I loved doing my research for this section as it allowed me to gather so much knowledge on the subject and I was left completely stunned by some of the stories that I read. I split up the dissertation that I read into separate research points, however, there was so much more I could have added. I wish I could have written more but I got a lot of information out of that one product alone. The product gave my own dissertation more depth and understanding, showing the other side of importance for modern movements along with rape culture.

Writing about these stories and the victims who suffered so greatly, in turn, gives them a sense of justice. We are able to compare and analyse the differences in our modern society compared to examples from centuries ago, but we also give these victims a platform from which to tell their previously unheard stories. It doesn’t make up for the tragedies that they suffered, but we give them justice by recognising and speaking about their stories. I’m glad that I was able to do this within my product, despite the fact that there were so many more stories I could have written about. I did the best I could to give a wide range of representation throughout this section.

If I were to change anything about this section, it would definitely be that I didn’t get the chance to write more case studies into the research points. There were so many within the dissertation that I analysed and unfortunately I couldn’t fit them all in. I also wanted to look into misogyny and sexual assault portrayed throughout Greek mythology however I didn’t have enough time to do the research and therefore didn’t end up writing it. I also didn’t know exactly how I would relate it back to modern movements, but it’s something I’m still interested in researching down the line.

Tackling Rape Culture

This section was by far my favourite to write out of them all. I really enjoyed expanding on the modern movements that tackle rape culture and setting out the few examples that I collected. I wanted to write a similar style section to the rape culture section but the other way around obviously. By writing this section I was able to delve deeper into the modern movements that are being created to tackle rape culture. Like I stated in the anti-rape culture movements section of my discussion, I would have liked to delve a little deeper on this section, and I was able to do that with this section, though it wasn’t as much as I would have liked.

It was fairly difficult to find positive media representation which sort of proved my point in the sense that the media really needs to expand. I found it extremely easy to find negative examples and bad portrayals of rape culture, but the complete opposite the other way around. I really wish that there were better portrayals of this sort of thing within the media seeing as how rape culture within TV shows and movies are so largely normalised in today’s society. It numbs us to the reality of it and how it impacts victims. With more accurate and realistic portrayals, rape culture and sexual assault wouldn’t be so largely normalised.

The quotes that I was able to gather from survivors added a whole new element to my section, I believe. It gives you a first-hand impression and a whole different angle on the situation. The only thing I would change is perhaps getting some counter-arguments in there, perhaps from individuals who think there shouldn’t be so much fuss made about some sitcoms making a few jokes. I think having this angle would have made this section just that bit more interesting, but it’s something I’ll know for future reference. I still love the quotes I was able to get from survivors themselves and they proved the point I was trying to address, that individuals need to be more understanding and willing to accept their situation instead of just brushing it off because they feel uncomfortable.

Approaching Survivors

My final section ended up being one of my shortest ones. I incorporated information about survivors and how to help them overcome the impact of sexual assault in the best ways. I drew from inspiration and information that I gathered from the Rena Romano talk, some sites online and survivors themselves. This way, I was getting information from all sides to get the most I could out of it. Despite this, I still wish there was more I could have incorporated. There is so much more to recovering from sexual assault than just “positive phrases”. While confiding in a friend can be terrifying, it can also be reassuring in many ways. However, this doesn’t account for the many times that survivors are left feeling alone and lost because they feel they have no voice.

I feel that if I had a broader range of survivors to pull quotes from, perhaps my results would have been a little deeper and more specific. I still love the quotes I had and I think they add a great angle for this section to really portray how survivors feel when being spoken to by people they confide in, but there’s always more to be done. Having these quotes yet again gave a first-person angle on how speaking to survivors can largely impact their wellbeing and how they move forward from their assault in the future.

What I wanted to achieve with this section was to give information and knowledge to those who might need it. Sexual assault is such an uncomfortable topic to discuss and many people don’t know how to approach it, which is okay. I wanted this section to serve as a little handbook on how to be reassuring and encouraging even when it can be uncomfortable. I also wanted to give survivors a platform to be able to say how they would want to be approached instead of just giving out facts. They got to voice their opinions and their views on it instead of being told what they should like to hear and what will help them.

Conclusion

From the various amounts of research that I’ve gathered and what it has taught me, I can safely say I have learnt a lot from writing this dissertation. Not only have I gained an in-depth look at how modern society views and portrays sexual assault, but also how historic society viewed it too. We have made much more progress over the decades than I originally thought, however, there is of course still a long way to go. We have so many movements that give survivors platforms to voice their opinions and speak their truth, They are given control and justice by doing this, but of course, there is still a long way to go in terms of normalised rape culture, victim-blaming and misogyny.

As individuals, we can’t expect to change culture overnight. We can help by applying differences though. We can support those who confide in us regarding sexual assault. We can attend protests or promote movements via social media to show our support. We can complain about shows and movies via social media that promote rape culture and give good feedback to those who don’t. There are so many different ways that we can contribute to a fairer society and every person that actively takes on this role moves us one step closer to the society that we deserve.

Victims of assault do not deserve to be silenced. They don’t deserve to be questioned or disbelieved in fear of jeopardising the perpetrators future. They deserve a platform that gives them justice for the pain and trauma that they’ve been through. They deserve a justice system that recognises this and gives fair punishments to those who think it’s okay to assault and rape. Survivors deserve to be respected and understood and by contributing to and supporting these forward movements, we contribute to and support a world where survivors are heard.

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