Rape Culture - Is it undefinable? Where do I start?

After I met with my Supervisor at SACE and starting my research on rape culture, I realized that there are a multitude of angles that I could take with developing a presentation on understanding and identifying rape culture. This immediately got me hesitant in my ability to achieve a successful presentation at the end of my placement. There are so many ways to define rape culture that it is overwhelmingly difficult to narrow it down to specifics. I wrote a list of all of the possible ways in which rape culture can be defined by reading one a blogging article my SACE supervisor provided to me by Melissa McEwan from www.shakesville.com.

Here is just the tip of the ice berg that got me thinking about what direction to actually take for my future presentation. Rape culture can be defined as: a weapon, aggression, sexuality, control, male dominance, product of war, threat of sexual assault, victim-blaming, judgment, ‘safety tips’; blind trust (including authority figures such as teachers, police, etc). Rape culture is also immune to sex workers, wives, and the ignorance of rapists. And finally, Rape culture is just plain bad luck! I guess you imagine the extensive development and process that I need to take when I finally Identify what Rape culture is to my target audience of high school students and youth. 

I guess it makes a bit more sense to me when I agree with Brownmiller’s argument that rape is a political force that de-individualized the victims experience. I could however change my mind during the course of the semester as I research and learn more in the area of rape culture. This is merely a learning experience for me.