TEA TIME WITH TINA: The Unadmitted Rape Culture

Posted on by

TINA CHEN
Opinions Editor

The impunity of rape in patriarchal countries is sadly prevalent. The National Crime Records Bureau has reported that West Bengal has the highest crime rate against women, where a woman is raped every 20 minutes, and the number of children raped has increased by 336 percent in the past 10 years. Why? Because men “believe that women do not have the right to say no.”

While we are aware of rape crimes in other countries, what about our own? By the time you finish reading this column, someone in the U.S. has been sexually assaulted. According to Rape, Abuse, and Incest, National Network, 207,754 people are sexually assaulted annually—approximately one assault every two minutes.

In almost every aspect, the U.S. is a huge advocate of human rights. However, when it comes to laws protecting individuals from sexual assaults, we are virtually archaic. It wasn’t until 1993 that marital rape became illegal, and many Republican Party leaders have given misguided statements on rape. Fox News newscaster Liz Trozz, even said, “women [..] should expect to get raped.” When women live in a society that believes their own people are bound to get raped, what message are we sending across to the guilty? Are we telling them it is okay to continue with what they do and the increase in sexual assaults will be seen okay, because it is now “expected?”

The truth is, America is suffering from an unadmitted rape culture. When 54 percent of sexual assaults are not reported to higher authority, it is clear that the media is sending the wrong message to females.

So why is all of this so unheard of in the land where we protect “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”? In recent years, society has been objectifying women, holding victims accountable for crimes committed and offering forgiveness to rapists. Girls are said to have been “asking for it” because their skirts were too short. Women are also criticized with, “Are you sure you didn’t say no? You were pretty drunk” instead of, “You must report it, because that’s not okay—it’s far from okay.”

We shouldn’t allow rapists to roam around and believe that committing such heinous actions is not a crime and that rape happens because the victim does something wrong. As a whole, we are good at noting other countries’ abhorrent laws and treatment of individuals and yet we overlook our own. As a country, in order to stop this rape culture, we must first learn to admit to it.