Rape Culture is Real.

“You were wearing tight clothes and drinking. What did you expect?”

This is something many female victims of rape often have to hear when speaking out about their experiences. Questions about a victim’s personal choices are raised rather than questions regarding the choices a rapist made. This is what is now known to many as rape culture- a culture in which sexual violence is the norm and victims are blamed for being assaulted.  People say that rape culture is merely a theory over-hyped by “feminazis”- and that is just those who acknowledge rape culture. There are still many people who ignore rape culture and its effects on society. We as a society have collectively chosen to deny the existence of rape culture; we as a society have perpetuated rape culture, we as a society have failed to put an end to rape culture. Rape culture is a very real thing, and we as a society need to stop being so oblivious to it and recognize that it is a serious issue that needs to be fixed.

A big misconception about rape culture is that we Muslims don’t have the problem of rape culture. Not only is that false, but some Muslims, unfortunately, are the biggest perpetrators of rape culture. There are many, many stories about Muslim women who get raped and instead of being asked about their clothing, they are shunned all together as though it was her fault for getting raped. The women will usually be looked down upon and will never marry as she has been raped because society sees her as “damaged goods”. In Saudi Arabia, it is law that a woman must be accompanied by a male at all times when outside of home. There was a 19-year-old girl who had walked out of her home alone to visit a friend nearby. When she was in the car with her friend, two men jumped into the car and drove the girl and her friend to a secluded area. The girl was raped by seven men and when she went to the authorities, she was sentenced to 200 lashes on the back. She was punished for leaving her home without a male guardian while the men who raped her walked freely with no punishment. This is just one instant in the Muslim world where a girl is punished for being a victim rather than the rapist for raping. This is what rape culture looks like in reality.

Rape culture is not some imaginary theory made up by angry women- statistics have been calculated that further prove the existence of rape culture in our society. Over 60% of rapes are not reported to the police for fear of being ridiculed and discredited. Of the 40% that are reported, 97% of the rapists never spend a day in jail and are found innocent. Only 3% of reported rapists go to jail- this number should surprise you and should ignite anger within you. There are more people who are sent to jail (4.2%) for murder, that are later found to be innocent, than rapists who are proven to have raped another person, yet somehow, don’t spend any time in prison for the crime they have committed. The most prominent reason for this startling statistic is because victims of rape are made out to be the ones who actually initiated the sexual act or made a certain choice that caused their sexual assault.

By now, everyone knows who Brock Turner is. Some know him as “former Stanford swimmer” and some know his actions to be “boys just being boys.” He is most famously known as a rapist. A twenty-two-year-old girl (only known by Emily Doe) went out to a college party with her younger sister, expecting to have a fun time. Like every other person at that party, she had been drinking and dancing. Later that night, she had woken up on a gurney in a hospital with dried blood between her legs. The doctors kept saying the words “rape victim” around her. This girl couldn’t remember anything. When she asked what had happened to her, she was informed that a college, male student had raped her behind a dumpster while she was unconscious. If it hadn’t been for two other college students who found her being raped, far worse could have happened to this girl. Brock Turner was arrested for sexual assault and faced up to 14 years in prison for his crimes.  Brock Turner has been found guilty of 3 counts of sexual assault and was sent to prison for 6 months because the judge had feared for the boy’s safety in prison and thought the boy had so much potential to be a successful swimmer. This sentence was then reduced to 3 months and Turner was let out of jail and was free to return home. “You don’t know me, but you have been inside me…” these famous words of the victim now echo in our ears after the case had been taken to the courts. The victim had addressed Turner directly when saying these words. Disappointed in the “gentle” sentence for Brock Turner, the victim still remains positive in believing that this case has ignited a fire for other victims to follow. This case is the epitome of what rape culture truly is. Questions like “How old are you? How much do you weigh? What did you eat that day? Well what did you have for dinner? What were you wearing?” should not be asked during a trial as they have literally nothing to do with the clear fact that the victim was raped. Nothing other than the word rape can describe what had happened to her and yet, rape culture continues when it is the victim’s choices that are questioned rather than the actions rapist, Brock Turner, made that night.

Rape culture is a very real thing, and unfortunately, even after reading this article, people will still claim it to be some over reaction by feminists. It is our job and obligation to inform those who deny it’s existence and to stop this phenomenon of blaming a victim of rape rather than convicting a rapist.