Shifting Our Perspective: Rape Myths and Rape Culture

Rape culture is a term designed to show the ways in which society blames victims of sexual assault and normalizes sexual violence. Rape culture allows us to live in a society where it is acceptable to teach sexual violence prevention as “don’t get raped” instead of “don’t rape.” Rape culture is perpetuated through the use of misogynistic language, the objectification of people’s bodies, and the glamorization of sexual violence, thereby creating a society that disregards the individual’s rights and safety.

Rape culture impacts all of us:

• Regarding the perceptions of language around sexual assault, the use of the term ‘unwanted sex’ made individuals less likely to believe a crime should be reported and even mitigated the actions of rape.[1]
• Unlike many other interpersonal crimes such as robberies or muggings, victims of sexual assault are particularly vulnerable to being blamed for their attack.[2]
• Within rape culture, women especially are made to feel as though it is their responsibility to avoid being sexually assaulted and police their behavior as a result. 7
• For example, women may choose to avoid wearing certain clothing, drinking alcohol, or walking home alone at night. Survivors are often blamed for the sexual assault instead of the perpetrator, even though it is always the fault of the person doing the harmful sexual behavior.[3]
• One study found that rape culture bias is not only real, but it shapes how people determine what a believable rape case looks like, who is most likely a rape victim, and in which circumstances rape is less likely to take place.[4]
• Research suggests that while notions of who can be a victim have expanded in some ways, there still exists a subtle yet powerful uncertainty about members of certain groups of people. These are often based on assumptions about gender, race, ethnicity and behavior. For example, women sex workers experience extremely high levels of sexual violence, yet public views of these women often prevent them from seeking assistance, especially when compounded by other issues such as substance use disorder, lack of housing, and HIV status.[5]
• Another study found that 32% of college-age male responders said they would have “intentions to force a woman to sexual intercourse” if ‘‘nobody would ever know and there wouldn’t be any consequences.”[6]
• A meta-analysis of research on rape myth acceptance identified a total of 9 studies that demonstrated rape myth acceptance is correlated with sexual aggression.[7]
• In a 2010 research study conducted among first-year students at a large northeastern university, over 53% of students strongly agreed or agreed that: “If a girl acts like a slut, she is eventually going to get into trouble.”[8]

If you’ve spent any time discussing sexual violence, you’ve likely heard statements like, “Boys will be boys,” “She was drinking, so what did she expect?” or “Why did he wait so long to come forward?” Statements like these find a way to place blame on the victims or survivors of sexual assault, and at the same time alleviate blame from the perpetrators. Harmful statements like these are examples of how rape culture materializes in everyday conversation.

The use of such language upholds and promotes rape culture as normal. We need to be critical of the language we use and actively work to use language that empowers people, especially marginalized people, and advocates for enthusiastic consent. Monitoring and changing the way we talk about sexual assault is just the beginning of what needs to be done to tackle the deeper issues that support and sustain rape culture.

We should pay special attention to words that minimize the harm suffered by sexual assault survivors — words or phrases that blame the victim, muddle the matter of consent, imply that a survivor must act a certain way to be believed, turn the perpetrator into a passive actor, or default to terms typically used for consensual sex.

We all have a responsibility when it comes to combating (and hopefully dismantling) rape culture. Here’s where you can start:

Watch: Violence Against Women — It’s a Men’s Issue, Jackson Katz at TEDxFiDiWomen

Watch: KCSARC’s WordWatch with Mary Laskowski, Domestic Violence Symposium

[1] Wilkinson, C. (2008). Unwanted sex versus rape: How the language used to describe sexual assault impacts perceptions of perpetrator guilt, victim blame and reporting. Dissertation Abstracts International, Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, 69(7)

[2] Bieneck, S., and Krahé, B. (2011). Blaming the victim and exonerating the perpetrator in cases of rape and robbery: is there a double standard? J. Interpers. Violence 26, 1785–1797.

[3] Field, R. (2004). Rape Culture. In M. Smith, Encyclopedia of Rape (pp. 174–175). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press

[4] Schwarz, S., Baum, M.A. & Cohen, D.K. (Sex) Crime and Punishment in the #MeToo Era: How the Public Views Rape. Polit Behav 44, 75–104 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-020-09610-9

[5] Romero-Daza, N., Weeks, M., & Singer M. (2003). “Nobody gives a damn if I live or die”: Violence, drugs, and street-level prostitution in inner-cityHartford, Connecticut. Medical Anthropology, 22(3), 233–259.

[6] Edwards, S. R., Bradshaw, K. A., & Hinsz, V. B. (2015). “Denying rape but endorsing forceful intercourse: Exploring differences among responders”: Erratum. Violence and Gender, 2(1), 98.

[7] Suarez, E., Gadalla, T. (2010). Stop Blaming the Victim: A Meta-Analysis on Rape Myths . Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 25(11), 2010–2035

[8] McMahon, S. (2010). Rape Myth Beliefs and Bystander Attitudes Among Incoming College Students. Journal of American College Health. 59 (1)