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Date Rape: Americas New Epidemic

Nalani Kochey

English 111
Mrs. Erskine 2A
December 19, 2015

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For decades American culture has taught women how to avoid being raped, while the
lesson of how to not rape remains untaught, and untouched. A substantial part of why cries of
rape are not believed is because rape is the only crime in which the victim has to prove the
incident occurred. After someone reports a theft, the police never ask the victim if they wanted
their jewelry to be stolen, or tell the victim they asked for it because they wore it outside, and
that is the very problem surrounding rape culture. The word no has lost its meaning in todays
society, and that is the sole cause of the rise in rape.
Sex becomes rape when consent is not given. While there are many causes for date
rape, the most common is lack of communication. When a woman sends a signal to a man, he
should not assume that the signal means she wants to have sex. Men are readily taking signals
and using them as an alternate form of consent in an attempt to justify rape. Consent is verbal, it
does not lie within foreplay, a kiss, or a nod. What many people do not understand is that no one
can assume consent on the basis of past, or current relationships. No matter the relationship
status between the two people, consent is something that should never be presumed. To assure
that consent is given before sex, a conversation must take place. It is unfair to assume that
someone is consenting to sex because dont say no. Many people believe that if one party does
not say no or stop that they have consented to sex, but the law says otherwise (Anderson &
Craighill 1). If having a conversation before sex about consent is too uncomfortable for either
participating, then sex is most likely not going to be an activity that both are comfortable taking
part in.
The sexualization of women and the fetishism of rape are increasing through outlets such
as porn sites, social media, and television. Videos online and clips from movies are all
contributing to the normalization of rape, and when the only videos of sex that teenagers see are

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the ones being depicted in these outlets, it becomes all they know, all that they can base their
knowledge off on. And this is becoming a major contributing factor into the epidemic that is date
rape. Women are becoming more commonly seen as objects and prizes, and less as human
beings. From the beginning of time boys have been raised differently than girls. They are taught
that being masculine, loud, and tough are all just facets of their genetics. While women are
taught to be dainty, fragile, and to act unattainable, to give the men something to marvel in.
Further proving that sexual promiscuity has been prematurely embedded in the minds of young
girls, paving way to the ultimate objectification of women that is so prevalent in current day
American culture. This objectification has lead to reduction of women down to their bodies, and
when rapists transfer these ideals onto real women in their lives, they begin to see women as
objects that are always available for their own purposes, rather than actual human beings.
These ideals have become embedded in the most susceptible, some of which are teens.
Occurrences of date rape are increasing in general, but especially on college campuses. The
Statistics end up speaking for themselves; one in four women will be sexually assaulted on a
college campus, and while this statistic is so significant, there are little to no cases on sexual
assault or rape shown on any news outlets (DeVaron 1). Proving that some campuses refuse to
investigate or even report rape accusations to the police. This helps explain why people believe
they can get away with these egregious acts. Because in these cases the victim typically knows
their attacker, they may feel as if the blame should be placed partially on them. Whether it is
because they let the attacker into their dorm, or showed interest prior to the attack, that they
somehow asked for this to happen to them, when that is a weight the victim of such a heinous
crime should never have the burden of carrying.

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Another common factor contributing to why men rape is because their masculinity was,
or is being threatened. Through mass media, society is taught that men are superior to women
because they are able to dominate sexually. Because of these subliminal messages, men who do
not feel as if they are able to dominate sexually begin to assert their masculinity by raping
women. As they take away the womans power, they gain a sense of it. These messages in mass
media can also cause men to fall prey to low self-esteem and a sense of inferiority, and instead of
gaining superiority by building self-confidence in healthy ways, they rape women to feel
superior. For men it is all about control; if they feel as if their life lacks control, they may try to
regain it by exerting control over less powerful people in their lives. If they view a woman as
small, weak, or easy to dominate, they may target her and overpower her to feel a sense of
control in one aspect of their lives (Radwan 1).
Other people will argue that alcohol or drugs were reasons for an assault, and that the
substances were responsible for a distorted perception or a lack of control. And the fact is that
alcohol muddies everything. Many students find it hard to tell when someone has drunk too
much and is therefore incapacitated, when a gesture or murmur in the dark might not be what it
seems (Anderson & Craighill 1). Alcohol is toxic when added to situations including sexual
assault, its when people begin to misinterpret meaningless motions as invitations for sexual
advances. Not only does this confuse the situation further, but it can add to the trauma of the
victim. If they dont remember everything that happened that night, the unknown will slowly
begin to eat away at them.
A way that many researchers are trying to reduce these situations from occurring is
through rape-prevention lessons. The underlying problem with these lessons is that it promotes
victim blaming and places the encumbrance for prevention on potential victims, which

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completely obscures the responsibility that should be wholly allocated to the perpetrators
(Hoffman 1). Another substantial problem with these lessons is that protection against rape is
taught, but on the basis of avoiding walking alone at night, avoiding dark alleys, and not talking
to strangers. Rarely is rape by an acquaintance or a romantic partner ever a concept considered in
these programs. This is an essential lesson that all women should sadly, but truthfully be taught.
Simply because in a womans mind it would be easier to be physically aggressive towards a
strange man attacking them while on the street, as opposed to their boyfriend attacking them in
their dorm. A big reason why women do not say no or stop when they know the attacker is
because they are confused, scared, and worried that they might ruin future relations with that
person or their friends. The victim then keeps quiet and convinces themselves that they were not
victims of sexual assault so they can continue their daily lives without the impediments that
usually follow these horrific incidents.
Repressing the assault can lead to serious psychological trauma. A survivor of the
assault may turn to drugs or substance abuse to cope, using the activities to bring a sense of
control into their lives. The effects of rape vary from survivor to survivor, but there is not doubt
that each assault leaves lasting, residual, mental and physical effects that can permeate their daily
lives, making it that much harder to heal (Effects of Sexual Assault and Rape 1).
It is saddening to know that rape prevention classes are being taught, and date rape drug
detectors are becoming more prevalent in the consumer market. Instead of teaching women how
to prevent rape, society should be teaching men not to rape. Parents dont tell their children to
wear bullet-proof vests so that they dont get murdered, so why should women have to take all of
these precautions to avoid being raped? The causes and effects of these assaults are problematic,
but for a country that walked on the moon, this should be an effortless problem to fix.

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