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As Ive grown older, I have become more informed about the world today and what
comes with living in this world. Unfortunately, there are things like murder, assault, and abuse.
Of all the horrible acts I can think of that take place in the world, rape tops them all. Every night
that I go out or walk home from a late class, I have to watch my back due to the fear of being
sexually assaulted. Women of all ages have this same fear, but in our society, it is still considered
acceptable to make jokes about rape and dismiss reports of rape. In order to change how people
think and speak about this horrific act, the multiple definitions of rape need to be explored and
evaluated. Currently, rape culture and victim-blaming have become a huge social and legal issue,
and scholars explore the multiple definitions of rape to try to explain rape cultures origin.
Rape is a violent and degrading crime which leaves victims emotionally scarred
(Friedland, 1991). Women who are sexually assaulted or raped undergo great psychological
trauma and often develop Rape Trauma Syndrome, which is much like Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder. Normally, those who have been sexually assaulted are called victims and this is
normal because the legal definition of victim is a person harmed by any criminal offense.
Although the term victim is used mostly as a layman term when talking about crimes, it has a
negative connotation when used in the context of sexual assault. In sexual assault cases, the term
victim often portrays the offended as helpless, passive, damaged, and powerless (Gupta,
2014). Because people are able to recognize that sexual assault has serious psychological effects
on those who have endured it, many of them prefer to consider victims of sexual assault as
survivors. It is believed that the term survivor is empowering because enduring a sexual
assault and living to speak about it afterwards takes courage and strength. For the purpose of this

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paper, I will use the term victim solely because of its commonality in language and because it
is a legal term.
In todays society, some rape offenses are considered more real than others. For
example, rape by a stranger is viewed as the most heinous, but rape by an acquaintance or date
is considered less serious (Friedland, 1991). The reason for this lax attitude toward rape is due
to the cultural acceptance of stereotypes (Friedland, 1991). Two main stereotypes exist that
contribute to todays rape culture: the aggressive male and the punished female.
The aggressive male stereotype encourages males to be socially and sexually forward
and to display and exercise strength in all aspects of life (Friedland, 1991). This stereotype
stems from the societal values of male dominance and patriarchy. Men believe that they need to
prove themselves by displaying dominance over females (Herman, 1988) and disregarding
anything associated with fragility (Friedland, 1991). The reason that this is a problem is
because as society encourages men to adopt vales of control and dominance, callousness and
competitiveness, and anger and aggression through history and the media, it creates men who
lack vulnerability, sharing, and cooperation and, as a result, produces rapists (Herman, 1988).
While the aggressive male stereotype focuses on male dominance and aggressive
behavior, the punished female stereotype focuses on sexuality and the females allegedly
inappropriate provocative behavior (Friedland, 1991). It is believed that a woman who displays
sexuality by dress or manner automatically forfeits her right to refuse a retaliatory male sexual
response (Friedland, 1991). In essence, most people believe that a woman cannot dress or acts

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as she pleases without inviting sexual punishment (Friedland, 1991). They also rationalize the
rape by portraying victims as bad women (Herman, 1988). The assumptions people make
about women and their sexuality as well as the labels they place on them are the reasons why
rape culture exists. People believe that a woman who expresses her sexuality by dressing,
talking, or acting in an alleged provocative manner, she deserves to be raped or is asking for it
(Herman, 1988).
Rape is not only a social issue, it is also considered a controversial legal subject. There
are many loopholes in laws and unclear language that make it difficult to define rape and
prosecute rapists. The law defines rape as "sexual intercourse by a male with a female, other
than his wife, without the consent of the woman and effected by force, duress, intimidation, or
deception as to the nature of the act (Herman, 1988). This definition proves contentious and
problematic because it is disregards marital rape. According to the law, the man has legal rights
over his wife, which includes her body. Defining rape as sexual assault by a man who has no
legal rights over the woman doesnt protect women from sexual violence and assault in her own
home (Herman, 1988).
Historically, rape laws were in place to protect men who viewed their wives as property
(Ryder and Kuzmenka, 1990). They only protected womens property value for men instead of
protecting women from violence and aggression (Herman, 1988). The marital rape exemption
stems from the theory that a woman is initially the property of her father, and when she marries,
she is then considered the property of her husband. It originated in England in 1874 in which a
man name Sir Matthew Hale expressed his beliefs that marriage created an irrevocable contract

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between a husband and wife (Bearrows,1983) that implies that the wife must abide by her
husbands marital right of intercourse (Ryder and Kuzmenka, 1990). The marital rape
exemption law only served to victimize women instead of help them, thus creating the rape
culture that we know today.
In order to understand the origin of rape culture, one has to explore the definitions of rape
and how perpetuating stereotypes contribute to it. The ambiguity of legal definitions and the
stereotypes of the aggressive male and the punished female contribute to how reported rapes
are prosecuted, as well as how victims are portrayed. Stereotyping discourages women from
being open about sexual assault or even reporting because they fear confronting their attacker, as
well as the judgements of others. Also, encouraging men to be aggressive and reject sensitivity
only contributes to the misogynist patriarchy that created the rape culture we encounter today.

Works Cited
Bearrows, Thomas R. "Abolishing the marital exemption for rape: A statutory proposal." U. Ill.
L. Rev. (1983): 201.
Friedland, Steven I. "Date rape and the culture of acceptance." Fla. L. Rev. 43 (1991): 487.
Gupta, Rahlia. "'Victim' vs 'Survivor': Feminism and Language." OpenDemocracy. Creative
Commons, 16 June 2014. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
<https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/
rahila-gupta/victim-vs-survivor-feminismand-language>.
Herman, D. "The rape culture." Culture 1.10 (1988).
Ryder, Sandra L., and Sheryl A. Kuzmenka. "Legal Rape: The Marital Rape Exemption." J.
Marshall L. Rev. 24 (1990): 393.
Taslitz, Andrew E. Rape and the Culture of the Courtroom. NYU Press, 1999.