Rape culture is finally in the spotlight—not just on college campuses but also throughout popular culture—and victim advocates say this is a welcome change.
At the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Sunday, Vice President Joe Biden and Lady Gaga took a stand by promoting the It’s On Us campaign, which encourages everyone’s personal commitment to keep men and women safe from sexual assault. Gaga, a survivor of sexual assault herself, performed her Academy-Award-nominated song “Til It Happens to You” from the film The Hunting Ground and reiterated her support for rape prevention.
“It’s such an important song to me,” she said. “One in five women will be raped before the time they finish college. One in twenty men will be raped before the time they finish their schooling at their university.”
Jennifer Huemmer, a graduate instructor in the College of Media & Communication who researches rape culture and its media representations, said statements made by celebrities and public officials are helpful in removing the shame and stigma associated with being raped.
“This issue has deep roots in the gender roles that we are still adhering to,” Huemmer said. “And there’s a tendency to address these things after the fact instead of saying ‘Okay, well, what elements of society are contributing to this insane amount of violence against women?'”
Huemmer, who along with COMC doctoral student Lindsey Blumell produced and directed Good Girls Don’t Tell, said accusations of lying are horribly offensive when people have already had to muster a lot of courage to tell their stories.
“Rape culture is more than just creating a system that condones and perpetuates violence against women,” Huemmer said. “It also works to silence anyone who has experienced that.”
Lady Gaga has been joined by other celebrities in shining a light on rape culture. Another pop star, who has reported sexual assault, was moved by Gaga’s performance.
thank u @ladygaga and VP @JoeBiden for bringing attention to sexual assault at the oscars. it hit very close to my heart for obvious reasons
— kesha (@KeshaRose) February 29, 2016
Jefferson Siegel/The New York Daily News
Kesha was denied a court injunction which would have allowed her to record music outside of her contract with Sony and not work with her producer, Dr. Luke, according to a Rolling Stone article.
Kesha filed a lawsuit against Dr. Luke in October 2014, claiming that for over 10 years he “sexually, physically, verbally and emotionally abused Ms. Sebert to the point where Ms. Sebert nearly lost her life.” The full text of the lawsuit can be read here.
The claim that gained the most attention is that Dr. Luke drugged and raped her. Pictures of Kesha crying in the back of the courtroom, taken by Jefferson Siegel of the New York Daily News after the decision, have gone viral.
Dr. Luke has denied having abused Kesha.
But I feel confident when this is over the lies will be exposed and the truth will prevail..
— Dr. Luke Doctor Luke (@TheDoctorLuke) February 22, 2016
That Kesha is lying is possible but unlikely, according to research on sexual violence. This infographic, made by The Enliven Project, uses various datasets to offer a visual representation of how often rapists are reported, face trial and end up in jail — versus how often innocent people are falsely accused.
The question of how often women who report sexual assaults are lying was recently addressed in “An Unbelievable Story of Rape” by the journalism nonprofit ProPublica.
Erika Brooks-Hurst, a service-learning coordinator at the Teaching, Learning and Professional Development Center, said people may think survivors are lying because they want to believe that we live in a just world.
“We want to think we can protect ourselves,” Brooks-Hurst said. “It’s a way of being able to distance yourself from the reality.”
She said most of the time sexual assault occurs between people who know each other, so there is no surefire way to be protected from it.
Some people support their claim that Kesha is not being truthful because she denied being abused by Dr. Luke in 2011. Brooks-Hurst said it is not unusual for victims of trauma to not realize what happened to them until later.
“Sometimes people aren’t ready to label themselves a victim,” she said.
Brooks-Hurst said it can be especially confusing when someone is assaulted by a person in a position of power.
“It can take someone a long time to realize she has been raped,” she said. “They’re trying to somehow justify what has happened.”
It also brings memories of a September 2014 incident at Tech, when a woman reported being sexually assaulted in a locker room at the Texas Tech Recreation Center.
A boat painted with “no means yes, yes means anal” at a Phi Delta Theta party elicited protests on Tech’s campus in 2014. This image was originally posted by user “Whitman” in a message board on oldrow.net.
“The victim was unable to provide any physical description or last known direction of travel of the suspect,” the report stated. “There are currently no known witnesses.”
Over a month later, Tech issued an announcement that after police worked “diligently” to review evidence and interview witnesses, the alleged victim admitted to making false statements. At this point, a new crime had allegedly occurred.
“Filing a false report is a Class B Misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not to exceed $2,000, confinement in jail for a term not to exceed 180 days, or both such fine and confinement,” the announcement stated. “Additionally, the filing of a false report is a violation of the Texas Tech University Code of Student Conduct and may result in campus disciplinary penalties.”
By contrast, the initial campus crime alert mentioned nothing about a punishment for sexual assault, which can be a second- or first-degree felony in Texas, meaning a person can be sentenced to up to 99 years in prison and/or a fine of $10,000. Sexual assault is also a violation of the Texas Tech Code of Student Conduct.
There is a strong possibility the victim made a false report. But the choice to include or omit the potential punishment in Tech’s announcements appears likely to intimidate women wanting to report a sexual assault more than men wanting to commit a sexual assault.
Brooks-Hurst said this was problematic because the punishment was detailed for a woman reporting her sexual assault more than it was for a fraternity promoting rape.
“The most problematic thing that came out of that is that everybody acted like this was an isolated incident in one fraternity,” she said. “Where, as we know, we live in a rape culture, and it’s pervasive. And it’s pervasive on our campus.”
Why did nobody notice the difference in the announcements? The answer may lie in what people take for granted.
The insidiousness of rape culture can also be seen on Yeti. The anonymous forum app is used on Texas Tech’s campus and elsewhere to post pictures of mostly women, without their knowledge, and to comment on their appearances.
Screenshot from Yeti – Campus Stories
One senior marketing major, interviewed for a previous Hub@TTU story because a picture of her backside was posted on the app, said she was grossed out knowing anyone on campus could see the picture without her consent.
“Even though you couldn’t see my face, it wasn’t a pleasant feeling,” she said. “I would tell them to show women a little more respect than that.”
This seemingly mundane event is an example of everyday harassment.
Hollywood has taken on that subject as well. For instance, the “Ladies And Gentlemen” episode of the show Master of None starring Aziz Ansari, shows how after a night out, two men walk by themselves and get home safely, while a woman walking by herself is chased by a man she rejected at the bar until she can get inside her apartment and call the police.
“The brilliance of this depiction is that it’s treated as terrifying… while also routine and inconclusive,” states Huffington Post’s entertainment reporter Lauren Duca in an A.V. Club article — adding that catcalling and telling women to smile make up the foundation of rape culture.
“Individual acts of catcalling, even when they try to squeeze by on the excuse of benevolent sexism, are still part of what perpetuates an environment where it’s unsafe for women to walk home alone,” Duca wrote. “They cement the idea that being aesthetically pleasing in public is a solicitation, that simply by not wearing a turtleneck under a nun’s habit, you’re inviting bad news.”
About Maddy McCarty
