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Gwenaviere Vang
Rodgers-Yonamine-Washington
Senior Inquiry
2/19/2016
A Lesson Society Teaches: Dont Get Raped
Rape has become a culture. A culture describes the way of life and norms of a group of
people- rape has become a way of life. When society calls it rape culture, the message that is sent
is to not get raped instead of do not rape. Society is telling rapists that they will not be persecuted
for their crimes because it was the victims fault for not taking precaution. Rape has had the
ability to survive and thrive because our general public chooses to impose preventative
behaviors onto women, place doubt on the validation of a victims claims, and not contribute
solutions to prevent and end rape. Where is the justice for victims?
When society is telling women to cover up their arms, chest, shoulders, and legs because
men will get distracted and have bad thoughts- theyre missing the bigger picture. Men are the
most powerful group in any society, rules and norms are set to cater towards them- any other
group is inferior. This is oppression. By imposing on women to follow the rules society has laid
out for them to prevent rape- it doesnt enforce that raping is wrong- it enforces that getting
raped is wrong (What is Rape Culture?). This creates more fear that the victim must overcome
when they report their case.
Victim-blaming is not a new trend- its been hanging around waiting to pounce on its next
victim. Too often the victim chooses to not report their rape because of the fear that the police
will dismiss them for lack of proof and evidence and therefore believe that the incident was not
serious enough (What is Rape Culture?). When the authorities believe that the emotional and
mental levels of pain felt by the victims are not enough to convict a perpetrator of his crimes, it is
a great disservice to not only the victim- but to the general public as well (Missoula Chapter 10).
Although some rapists do get convicted, the number of rapists who do get away with rape is
much larger.

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Why do rapists continue with their heinous act? A vast majority of the public has basic
knowledge as to what constitutes as rape, there are not enough people to make the message that
rape is wrong explicit. There isnt a clear punishment that rapists must face, other than serving
time in prison. However, time in prison does not deter people from committing crimes either.
There are people who get incarcerated multiple times for the same crimes. For example, drug
addicts and dealers go to jail, serve time, and then go right back into the same environment of
drugs. There are little to no other options for them to get out of the lifestyle. The death penalty is
classified as a cruel and unusual punishment. People argue that it is a denial of the right to
life, the right live free from torture and it is discriminatory. What does this say to the victims of
abuse and rape? If everyone has the right to life and a right to live free from torture, why does
society create an environment where the victim is blamed for the crimes of their perpetrator?
What I believe would be a good solution is to have rapists who get convicted learn about
what fully constitutes as rape and acknowledge that they were a rapist while they are serving
time. If there is a large sum of money going into facilitating jails, a portion of it can go into
instilling programs to help educate the convicted rapists and hopefully it will be a catalyst into
educating more people about all of the aspects of rape and how it is an oppression against many
different minoritized groups.