Track 4: Rape Me

Alright, let's bring it down. Today's blog is about rape culture, and although it's something people don't like to talk about, it's something we should talk about.

First off, the main question we need to ask is, "What is rape culture?" Well, rape culture is essentially the argument that due to the openness we have in society about the concept; leading to a lower severity of the concept, and normalization, excuses, tolerance, and even acceptance, of rape within public opinion.

Now the main question I'm supposed to answer here is whether or not I believe rape culture exists.

Not only do I believe it exists, I'm surprised that anyone could possibly be shocked it exists. Rape culture has been around for literally over 1000 years, and although we saw it hushed during the last century, it's impossible to ignore the hundreds of prevalent years it saw before then.

If we think back to, say, the 15th and 16th centuries, we see a pretty severe example.This was a large time for European expansion, France, England, and plenty of other countries decided they wanted to find a passage to China from the West, and stumbled upon the undisturbed chunk of the Earth know now as North America. Long story short, they came over expecting to find no one here, but they were surprised when they found thousands upon thousands of native peoples already here. What they do? Well they decided to take what they wanted largely by force. Battles, bum deals and treachery was abound. But on top of that, it's known that a fair bit of sexual violence occurred around this time too. So were the rapists charged? Were they outcasted for their misbehavior? No. Nothing was done because back then, and before, and after, Men largely considered themselves superior to women. They were bolstered by their religion, their size, their strength, and solidarity. So although even back then it wasn't a thing that was talked about often, rape culture existed because almost no one was even so much as punished for it, and if a problem were to arise legally, the largely male authorities of the time would usually do something like tell the woman she should've been more faithful, more loving, or more tripe like that.

Now do I think this is right? Of course not. No one deserves the humiliation and hurt that comes from a sexual assault. It's a wound that never heals, and that person will always feel exploited and used. Do I think this is solely a male overpowering a female situation? Absolutely not, especially now in our sexualized society, it's possible for pretty much any one person to do any number of sexual activities regardless of what natural equipment they possess or who they're with. Although I will admit that the most common case by far involves a man mistreating a woman.
 
In short, rape culture is an abhorrent, unfortunate, and sick, flaw in human society, but it's been a part of it since the inception of humans. As much as we all hate to admit it, it's hard to imagine a society completely free of rape culture and gender stereotyping, because that involve the belief that men and women are synonymous terms, when we all know from a very early age that they are not. We should have equal rights, but we should try to celebrate our differences, rather than bury or exploit them.

Naturally, the track of the day is Rape Me by Nirvana. A song that almost got the plug pulled on them during their last MTV Awards Show performance. You may argue that this song glorifies rape, or condones it, or what have you, but really, it's artistic expression, and although I don't know Cobain's specific intent with this song, I can say that one of his most strict beliefs as a writer was that music came first, and words came after. It is what it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CK6_DIMyIY