Is There Any Truth To #Notallmen?

Men aren’t to blame for “rape culture.”

Photo by Pavel Danilyuk from Pexels

In the United States, rape is considered a serious crime, and rapists are prosecuted by law. However, in recent years, there has been much debate as to whether or not we truly live in a “rape culture.”

Let’s start by unpacking the definition of rape culture.

Rape culture (n): a culture in which rape is tolerated, encouraged, or propagated by society at large.

The conversations around “rape culture” typically critique how people experience sexual violence or sexual harassment in society.

It encompasses all of the following:

• Victim-blaming or shaming (i.e. asserting that a woman who was raped was in part or entirely responsible for her assault)
• Many women, in particular, do not feel comfortable in certain scenarios because of the fear of being raped (i.e. going into public restrooms alone, commuting home or walking alone at night, social drinking, going to parties, clubs, etc.) where men generally do feel safe and comfortable
• Men in positions of power who abuse that power to garner sexual favors from vulnerable people
• Sexual assault on college campuses (that…