Rape Culture In The West?
The phrase 'rape culture' sparked its tremendous momentum into the mainstream around 2013, when YouTube videos by leftists and social justice warriors alike started to spread the idea. In order to familiarise you with what this article will be discussing, we will first begin with a couple of handy definitions. Culture is best defined as "the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society". Paraphrased, the norms or beliefs of a group of people or society. Rape culture is defined as "a society or environment whose prevailing social attitudes have the effect of normalising or trivialising sexual assault and abuse." Pretty fair definitions, right? Agreed.
Now that we've gotten that out of the way, we'll continue by providing an answer to the question I recently asked my family regarding this topic: "Do you think there is a rape culture in the west?" I then specifically focused on the free world, as we are citizens there. Such countries included are: the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Canada, West Germany, Australia, New Zealand, countries included in the European Community and NATO. This can be more broadly defined as all non-communist countries. I then asked if they've ever met someone who is pro-rape or doesn't care if someone is a rape victim. They answered with a slightly confused expression on their faces and that they have never stumbled across such a person. Furthermore, saying that finding people that are that way inclined would be few and far between. The answers of such questions were just as I expected, and I challenge you to find anyone who is pro-rape. The answers to the questions I posed to only my family members don't hold enough weight in order to prove a point. So, now that we've concluded that my family have never met any pro-rape people, let's compare the west to the middle-east. I've discovered throughout the researching portion of this articles creation, that the official law of the land in many predominantly Muslim countries is Sharia Law. Such law is derived directly from the Quran, the holy scripture revealed by God to the Prophet Muhammad. This is the very same guy who had a total of eleven wives, one of them being Aisha, a six years old. They consummated the marriage when she was nine and he was fifty three. The state religion in all Muslim countries is Islam, the implemented laws are derived from the Quran, the central religious text of Islam, either in part or in full. Sharia is best exemplified in its total unrelenting power in Saudi Arabia. In such Muslim countries, under Sharia Law, rape against women is regarded in a lower manner than how it is in the west. Sharia Law is supported by a staggering amount of people; in particular, in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Middle East-North Africa and Sub-Saharan African countries.
This is the very same culture where under their misogynistic and regressive law system, they:
Punish thieves via amputation
Approve of female genital mutilation (removal of the clitoris)
Allow a man to beat his wife for insubordination
Allow a woman to have one husband, who can have up to four wives
Punish homosexuals with death
Force sex change operations upon homosexuals as punishment (In Iran)
Compare that to the west where we handle theft much more humanely by ten years of imprisonment. In the west we don't like hearing about our women being raped, let alone any violence against women, as we are taught from an early age that it's not socially acceptable and is unconditionally abhorrent. Even celebrities are ridiculed for abusing women, especially in the case of Chris Brown. Personally, my heart drops every time I see the little girl have the door slammed in her face at the start the video in the previous sentence. It's a western social attitude and virtue to live by each other's happiness and not each other's misery; we like to empower our men and women as much as possible. In fact, in Muslim countries, Mother's Day isn't celebrated - but the way into heaven is by loving your mother. A bit contradictory perhaps? Women abusers are regularly despised and are often ousted from polite society. A common consensus in the west is that the two worst crimes you could commit are rape and murder, due to the psychological trauma that is left behind afterwards. If such rape culture was our reality then we'd all have the mindset of "Oh you raped someone today? Good job!" But no, quite the contrary; rape is a crime that is abhorred by the general populace. You can be expelled from college or university as a result of making games which promote sexual assault. Rape is also a taboo subject, just like incest; both are so heavily disapproved in the western world. Ben Shapiro, a Jewish American political pundit, has said multiple times that rapists should be castrated; that's how serious the west views this crime, to suggest such punishment. If you're not going to use your genitalia in a responsible manner, you don't deserve them - or at least repeat offenders don't.
In recent times, Europe has seen an epidemic of rape and sexual assault crises. This is the consequence of poorly executed immigration policies under Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and the former prime minister of Sweden, Fredrik Reinfeldt. Immigration policies should emphasise strict vetting processes and only allow those in who will assimilate and help to improve and strengthen the economy and way of life. Perhaps Europe should take a page out of Australia's immigration system? In fact, 77% of rapes in Sweden are committed by the 2% Muslim men population. Statistics indicate that even Swedish music festivals aren't safe for women. This is not right to me, no member of society should fear for their safety at a music festival, regardless of gender, sexuality or race. This isn't standard European culture either, these immigrants failed to assimilate into German and Swedish culture, maintaining their own toxic and misogynistic view points upon arrival. In fact, according to a Swedish crime survey, the rate of rape and sexual assault offences against Swedish women has risen two-fold since 2012, after it maintained a steady 1.5% average from 2005 to 2012. This is the very same year, mind you, that Sweden set an immigration record number. The total tallied to be 110,000, which was a 19 percent increase from 2011, partly due to the Syrian civil war.
Political correctness is ever so present in today's modern society, which also contributes to this European sexual assault crisis. During 1997 and 2013 in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, there was a child sexual exploitation scandal which saw 1,400 children sexually abused by gangs of British-Pakistani men. These men weren't reported because residents in the area didn't want to seem racist. Many are fearing for the future of Europe, as Islam is set to be the world's largest religion by 2070. As a result of poor execution of immigration policies, Muslim men who failed to assimilate into the United Kingdom were recently surveyed and the findings were shocking to say the least. 52% of the men surveyed agreed that homosexuality should be banned. A further 14% believe that gays and lesbians shouldn't be permitted to teach in schools. If that's not regressive, I don't know what is. Yet, despite this, leftists still flock to and gush over Muslims. Additionally, Ben Shapiro cites that around 800 million people in all Muslim majority countries hold radical views; support of honour killings, Sharia Law, and justification of suicide bombings, just to name a few. That's around half of the world's Muslim population - which is no minority to say the least. In the big picture, this is roughly 11% of the world's population, or double the population America. These numbers are also not implying that all of these people are likely terrorists; just Muslims that think in a radically.
A survey conducted in 2008 in American prisons found that 216,000 male inmates were sexually assaulted while serving time. This is over double the amount of women that are raped outside of prison, with a total of 90,479 rape cases. One way to mitigate such a terrible and frequent occurrence in the future is to educate men on rape at an early age and make sure a reform is imminent, give extra incentive for men and women to report their rapists as well as giving protection to those who are victims of rape. These actions can be fulfilled by prosecuting the victim's rapist and ensuring they serve their full prison sentence without probation, so the victims don't have to deal with the torment of seeing them again.
It's a bold statement to say, but the west is indeed the best. There are just some cultures that are objectively superior to others. We are free to do, think and say whatever we want, when we want - although in recent times there have been issues with censorship. More on that to come.
A common occurrence under leftists, social justice warriors and third-wave feminists alike is citing the AAU Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct, which was conducted in late September, 2015. In this survey, women were asked if they had been a victim of sexual abuse. One crucial aspect of such survey that was neglected to be included was the fact that of all the women that were contacted to partake in the survey, only 19.3% of them took the time to respond, and that it was a total spanning across 4 years at college. It's a common and well-known sentiment, among scientific communities in particular, that the higher the sample size for an experiment (or survey), the chances of reliability and accuracy rises significantly. So, for the survey authors to publish a survey with such a poor response rate and have it circulate, is not only irresponsible and intellectually dishonest, but also perpetuating the myth of there being a rape frenzy on American college campuses. According to a study conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, the actual number of women who fall victim to sexual assault and rape on college campuses is one in fifty two women over their 4 years at college, or one in two hundred and ten women per year. While I agree this number is still too high, it'd be wise to surmise there's no culture behind this belief. It's a hysterical exaggeration.
In the same survey, sexual assault was poorly defined because it's a word with inherent power behind it. Falsely accuse someone as a sexual abuser and their life, reputation and livelihood could be ruined forever. My gripe with the definition lies in the fact that they defined sexual assault as "non-consensual sexual contact involving either sexual penetration or sexual touching.” And that “sexual touching” includes “kissing” as well as “rubbing against the other in a sexual way, even if the touching is over the other’s clothes. These can be interpreted in a variety of ways. The worst part is that even if somebody responded to the survey answering that someone has rubbed up against them in a sexual way, an answer like this has become fuel to the fire of the American campus rape culture ideology. An example of this is dancing at a night club, a man who grinds on a woman could be labelled as a sexual assaulter by definition of this survey. A while ago there was a sex scandal on the Australian reality TV show Big Brother during season 6, in which two men were ejected for sexually assaulting a fellow housemate. One of them turkey-slapped the woman. They were removed from the show thereafter as they broke the rules; the west handles it seriously, as you can see.
Celebrities are partly responsible for the spread of this movement, after the narrative started to circulate in 2013. Some of the celebrities who spearheaded this movement include Lena Dunham and Amy Schumer. Yes, the very same Lena Dunham who falsely accused someone of rape and did nothing to exonerate him, even when she knew he was under suspicion, and spread a video misinforming the masses about college sexual assault misconduct statistics. Not to mention how Lena sexually assaulted her younger sister. Amy Schumer condemned her friend Kurt Metzger for coming out and saying that women should use rape kits to provide evidence of the rape occurring and have their rapist apprehended. Kurt doesn't want rapists on the loose and possibly raping again, I agree with this sentiment; rape is indeed a disgusting crime. Steven Crowder said it best when he stated "She's mad that somebody, a man, is trying to prevent more rapes", Amy Schumer is further perpetuating this myth with her massive following and reach. She not only supports the narrative but doesn't think that the women should have to prove they were raped, wow. Rape is a hard crime to prove if the women don't come forwards to prosecute the perpetrator, as they should because rape is such a heinous crime, which justifies incarceration. Falsely accusing someone of rape and expecting that they be incarcerated without any evidence is also infringing on their right to due process. I would even go as far to say that false accusations of rape should also justify incarceration.
Women will often hesitate to come forwards and report a rape because they fear that, due to the abundance of false rape accusations coming to light in recent times, their case may not be taken as seriously (or serious at all) as someone's who was a victim of violent rape. Additionally, the trauma of having to see their rapist again. Let me introduce you to the white noise, the hazy area where nothing is clear to the onlooker. You can't tell who is lying and who is a legitimate rape victim. This allows falsely accused men to fall into the white noise and be incarcerated despite their innocence. Moreover, the same notable people who cry rape culture are also the ones falsely accusing someone of rape - practice what you preach. These people also belittle the crime of rape by not taking its severity as seriously as the rest of us. Those who do are shunned, as our society doesn't take too kindly to liars. A society as free as ours has the right and the natural instinct to disbelieve pathological liars. I'm not saying that we should start disbelieving rape victims, but rather realise it's hard to know who is telling the truth when such false rape accusations occur as often as they do. After all, you're innocent until proven guilty. I am confident that, within the previous statements, lay the strongest arguments which constitute why "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" was such a popular story to read to children when I was young, and children before me. Maybe there should be a new and modern iteration of such book aptly named "The Woman Who Cried Rape". Too dark?
Such contributing factors that bolster the bold claims regarding sexual assault statistics are the lack of fact checking, research and the media and prominent celebrities lying to the people. This is due to this view point not fitting the mainstream narrative. This is a society where under any controversial subject, a conflicting opinion on such matter will be pushed aside as fake or get labelled with a buzzword because it doesn't match the mainstream belief, despite the statistics. It's the mainstream or nothing. Furthermore, to find statistics comparing rape incarceration and other crimes, I had to go digging into academic studies instead of using simple Google searches which should've sufficed. In fact, in addition to mainstream society censoring the views of the minority, the mainstream "fake news" media and the three major internet outlets (Google, Facebook and Twitter) have a history of censoring conservative or otherwise less popular opinions and figureheads. Doing so only allows one side of the argument to be heard. To name a few, see:
The banning of Milo Yiannopolous and Mike Ma on Twitter
If this is the case, that this rape culture phenomenon is a myth, then why is there a narrative of the west embracing this rape culture? It's apart of this misandrist agenda espoused by leftists aiming to victimise women and condemn men as much as possible. It also contributes to this idea that there is still a patriarchy. Women, you are not oppressed. Under the law, you are permitted to earn the same amount as a man in the same position, with equal amassed hours worked per week, and any bonus waging for overtime if you choose to do so. You are allowed to vote. You have the freedom to think, do, wear and say anything you wish. You're allowed to pursue a career after studying in University, unlike in the 1950s where women were forced to drop out of high school if they fell pregnant. These days you can still get an education whilst being pregnant, it's difficult yes, but it's both allowed and possible. If anything, in the long run, women are better off than men. Western women are probably the most protected people in the world.
More women than men are attending college and earning degrees
Boys perform worse than women in school
Men are jailed at much higher rates than women
Men are more likely to commit suicide than women
Men enter more dangerous careers than women
Looking at life through the lens of a victim when you're not actually a victim won't get you far in life. The left is also known to perpetuate this outrage culture, in which they hyperbolize and over react to absolutely everything and anything. Another talking point of the left is how people on the odd occasion use phrases like "Oh that test raped me!", "Fuck her right in the pussy!" (a once popular meme) or "Fuck that bitch!", used in context of someone who isn't very favourable after a situation. But does this equate to rape, at all? No. But what about comedy pertaining to rape? Ah! But comedy is subjective and an all-encompassing part of the arts; nothing is off limits. For example, Islam, something so controversial in recent times is routinely integrated into comedy routines. The same with Donald Trump and all that could be joked about with him. Making exceptions for rape in comedy not only further contributes to this politically correct climate that I wish we'd so hastily evade, but it is also thought controlling too. You can't laugh at or say this because we don't want you to! It offends us! No thank you, that's not very free of you. If we take rape jokes off the table, what will be next? The idea of there existing a rape culture is closely linked to these talking points.
The epitome of a leftists point of view on consent and how malleable it is to them and how it should be for others, is evident in a video by the Rebel Media, in which Lauren Southern, a Canadian reporter who holds certain conservative views, sparks an interesting and incendiary discussion with a few young women. These women contacted her asking that the Rebel Media not use the footage of other attendees at the 2015 Vancouver SlutWalk, that was according to Lauren, gained fair and square and that they consented to the interview which was filmed in a public space, but decided they would like to revoke them consenting. Sorry hun, that's not how consent works. By consenting to an interview, you're saying "Yes, I allow you to film me for your video and include me if you wish", just the same for sex, when you consent you're also saying "Yes, I allow you to have sex with me". Possible causality for the consent revoking after the interview would be to perhaps save their image as they may portrayed themselves as an idiot during the interview, or maybe they have a skewed idea of what consent actually means. There have been real life cases of consent revoking after sexual affairs - in particular, the case of Peter Yu, where he was expelled from college after a consensual night of kissing and drinking. Whether or not you regret it afterwards is your own fault. If you are one of these people, I suggest you improve your decision making skills.
There are known criminal cases where rapists have been let off the hook fairly easily, namely the Brock Turner case, where he was sentenced to to six months in the Santa Clara County jail, followed by three years of formal probation. But, rapists are routinely shunned and exiled out of society, often being fired or having their name permanently defamed, as they should be. It's a fact and a fair point that "Prison sentences for rape are not uniform. A study made by the U.S. Department of Justice of prison releases in 1992, involving about 80 percent of the prison population, found that the average sentence for convicted rapists was 9.8 years, while the actual time served was 5.4 years." But you know what else is fair? Researching the median prison sentence for rape and time served, then compare it to other crimes like theft and manslaughter. As you can clearly see here, there's a common trend that all these prison sentences share. The prisoners got off easy by only serving half of their sentence, no matter what the crime was. We don't have a lazy attitude towards rape, we have a lazy attitude towards all crime - a major intrinsic problem with the judiciary system. I believe a reform is in need. This applies to other crimes too, for example: homicide, kidnapping, robbery and assault. Rape jail sentencing should definitely be reformed and inflicted as a more severe punishment. The culture of the west doesn't take too kindly to rapists. No one goes "WOOHOO! ANOTHER RAPE TODAY BOYS!" when rapes are reported. Rape is occasionally dismissed due to lack of witnesses or evidence. This is a sound stipulation because it stops people from falsely accusing people of rape and ruining their lives, as most evident with Lena Dunham. We can't devolve to believing someone just because they're a woman or cry rape, we need evidence in order to prosecute someone. You wouldn't expect a judge to be coerced into incarcerating someone for manslaughter if there was no evidence bolstering such bold claims, would you?
Now, you may be curious as to why this might seem quite one sided, so allow me dismantle some of the common arguments and talking points from the left. One talking point is how cat-calling is normal and that women should just accept the fact they'll get cat-called in their life, I personally disagree. You don't encounter or hear about cat-callers in the media or from others in society. Furthermore, those who cat-call are regarded as scummy and disgusting people. Cat-calling doesn't equate to rape, so this isn't a valid point in the rape culture argument. Cat-calling is a disgusting and slobbish behavioural habit that typically would be perpetrated from overweight balding men in their forties or fifties who haven't had a partner in fifteen years, or perverts on a construction site. You know, the kind who walk around in a white singlet with grease stains on the belly area and subsequently sit at home screaming at the TV with a pile of chip crumbs stacked up on those same grease stains. Secondly, people aren't happy when court cases involving sexual assault or rape aren't settled properly or even when rapists are let off the hook with shorter prison sentences. No one was happy when Brock Turner only got three years probation instead of six, if there were then those people dwell in the crevices of society, in such a minority their voice don't resonate.
Regarding sexuality and things of a sexual nature, there are many double standards which exist in our society. In particular, the double standard which arouses the thought that a woman can't rape a drunken man, I think this is bullshit. Women are just as capable of raping a man or woman, as men are as capable of raping another man or woman. It just so happens that men tend to do it more often than women. If two people are drunk then it can't be rape since neither are sober to consent, it's just drunken sex. For it to be rape only one person would need to be sober, or one of the two drunken people would've needed to have bad intent by, for example, spiking someone's drink. Even then it's hard to prove this. One of the biggest lies that leftists spread is the idea that women are taught to invest in rape prevention, e.g. pepper spray or tasers, but men are not taught about consent. I don't know about you, but in high school I actually attended sex-ed class, alongside other boys and girls. We had a few lessons dedicated to consent. Also, how is teaching women how to defend themselves a bad thing? I just don't understand. Everyone should be taught how to defend themselves, even to the slightest of degrees. What if a drunken man or woman comes up to you in the city and starts whaling on you? What are you going to do then? What will you do if a home invader breaks in and starts stealing your possessions? Are you just going to stand there and take it? Additionally, some people are that morally bankrupt, to quote Blaire White, they're just going to do it anyways. How do you think serial killers kill people? Most often then not they are told that murder is bad, but they do it anyways.
There have been multiple criticisms regarding this idea, the most notable being Christina Hoff Summers, a classical feminist academic (so the good kind of feminist). All criticisms are supported with information from academic studies; Christina Hoff Summers' was bolstered by a study conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Christina is a rational thinking woman who doesn't jump to conclusions and makes sure to does her own research before believing any wild assertions thrown around my the masses, which is why she tends to be an academic contrarian. It's also no secret that the majority of academics on colleges and universities these days tend to be left leaning and reject conservative ideas, making the discourse increasing less diverse, and reducing the opportunities for others to learn about different points of views. I fear that the future of tertiary education thinking and view points will become ever so one sided, that they will become their own bubble of thought, and those who emerge with a university degree, will have a limited view to the schools of thought that inhabit any work place or society. If this is the case, those same people will think they're right no matter what, and no matter the facts. If you want to be sure you know what you're talking about, make sure you see both sides of an argument and deduce the facts from that.
In any society there will be a dominant culture, otherwise referred to as the mainstream, and there will be the minority or the outliers - those who don't fit in with the rest. One person that instantly comes to mind is Roosh V, a YouTube personality who in recent times come under fire for his video entitled "Why are women being educated?" To my surprise he isn't actually Middle-Eastern, despite looking and acting the part in the video. During such video he lays out an argument consisting of misogynistic talking points which objectify and demean women, a few being: their only purpose in life is to bear children, becoming homemakers and to satisfy her man's needs. Such abhorrent claims garnered an abundance of negative feedback. There are also the rape fetishists, these are another group of people who hide in the fringes of society. Their belief is that the idea of rape turns them on, not that it can be a scary experience. Such people aren't generally accepted by the mainstream of society, and just like convicted rapists, are shunned or exiled. They lurk in the darkened crevices of the internet, on such sights as Tumblr along with other mentally deranged folk.
To conclude, I would like to recap the article's strongest points thus far. The statistic regarding the extraordinary claims of "one in four women are sexually assaulted" myth was discovered by a college campus survey whose response rate was a significantly low and intellectually dishonest 19.3%. The real number is actually one in fifty two women over four years, or one in two hundred and ten per year. This ideology was heavily promoted by celebrities who espoused this movement without doing any intensive research, of the likes I undertook in the writing of this article; diving into academic studies instead of perusing Google for information. Rape isn't a sentiment the majority would hold in a positive light, it's a crime which is despised by all of polite society. I've never met anyone who supports rape, nor come across someone who supported an openly guilty sexual assaulter. Under Sharia Law in Muslim countries, rape is regarded in a lower manner than it is in western society, as women aren't allowed to testify against their rapist, and need four witnesses. Personally, I find the phrase "rape culture" to be downright insulting. It's a sexist assumption that says "men partake in or encourage rape". As a man I'd risk friendships and even my own safety to stop a sexual assault. I'd wager most other men would agree. I'm really tired of being vilified by feminists for the demographic I was born into.