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Will King
Professor Thiele
English 101
October 29, 2015
The Occurrence of Rape in America and its Effects on Victims
Is rape new to Americas culture and society? With media covering rape more and more
through the years, it seems as if rape is invading America. However, rape is not invading. It has
been prevalent even before the conception of America and still is today. The only thing that has
changed is Americas idea of why rape occurs. A century ago, the source was considered to be
black men, and today its the victim. Victims of todays rape culture, whether they be men or
women, are subjected to male superiority and stigmas. Luckily, Americas population is
beginning to acknowledge that rape exists, but we still have a long way to go. Prevention
methods and the education of rape are only in their infancy and require public recognition and
funding in order to grow.
An analysis of Americas rape culture unveils a multitude of problems with common
philosophies and our legal system. Rape has been swept under the rug, because it is considered a
taboo subject. This ignorance has reflected negatively on society, such as how people tend to
perceive it as trivial, the legal system shows difficulty and sympathy when prosecuting
assailants, or it is believed to be a rare occurrence. These perceptions are caused by naivet and
display that we need to re-evaluate the way we perceive rape in America in order to become a
more inclusive society.
One of the biggest misconceptions surrounding rape is that it is an uncommon
occurrence. This is shown in a quantitative study: One out of every six American women and

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one in 33 American men will have had an experience that qualifies as a completed or attempted
rape (RAINN 1). These statistics show that it is not just a small amount of people who have
been involved in rape, but instead, it is a huge chunk of Americas population. Media platforms
like the news often contribute to these misconceptions by barely publicizing rape cases due to
their complexity. However, when rape cases are looked at, it is only the most extreme and
outlandish, which leads the public to believe in a false reality that rape cases are rare and
enigmatic. On top of that, the media tends to remove most information on why it happened and
focuses more on a description of the event. This is very ambiguous and leaves the interpretation
to a viewer who is usually uneducated about the topic and most likely biased in some way.
Instead, people who watch media outlets, such as the news, should not take what the media says
at face value, but rather, they should research and educate themselves about any aspects
pertaining to the event. Doing this will allow people to become more of an individual by
developing their own unique opinions.
Lack of knowledge is another origin for Americas misconceptions of rape. Inadequate
knowledge when critically thinking leads to improper conclusions. Americans tend to understand
rape as a stranger danger narrative and use it as the foundation for their understanding of rape.
When in actuality, it is most often committed by somebody you know! As of 2009,
Approximately four out of five assaults are committed by someone known to the victim. 47% of
rapists are a friend or acquaintance (RAINN 1). The reason for this occurrence is that the
common public lacks the knowledge of what rape is. To most, there is a vague line between rape
and consensual sex. why you may ask. Well, it is simply because public education does not
cover it. From my own personal experience, I was never taught about consensual sex in public

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schooling and had to educate myself. This is problematic, but it is not out of our hands. America
needs to address this issue. Educating the public on what rape is and prevention methods will be
the most effective way to promote awareness and cultural sensitivity towards the subject.
Currently, in Americas modern culture, male superiority is slowly dying, but it is not
eradicated. Inequalities persist in many aspects of life and influence the way we think. Within the
legal system, difficulty arises when convicting sexual assault criminals, who are largely male. It
has been estimated that at best only five percent of sexual assaults result in a criminal
conviction (Hildebrand 1060). That is over 200,000 un-convicted people yearly. Lack of
conviction is also due to the amount of unreported cases. Approximately sixty-four percent of
women do not report their sexual assault experiences to the police (Hildebrand 1060). From the
statistics provided by Hildebrand, it becomes very apparent that people fear something-this
something is victim blaming. In a nutshell, victim blaming is a devaluing act where the victim
of a crime, an accident, or any type of abusive maltreatment is held as wholly or partially
responsible for the wrongful conduct committed against them (Victim Blaming Law & Legal
Definition 1). People do not want to be shamed or recognized as having involvement with rape,

mainly because most societies consider anything sexual as taboo. The idea of reporting the rape
to the police is also often suppressed by people in order to protect the image of an organization,
family, or individual. The recent accusations against Bill Cosby is a great example. The victims
who recently had their claims taken to court were denounced in the past on the claims that they
wanted to extort money from Bill or that the accusation was completely preposterous
(Meadows 1). In a few accusations against Bill Cosby, this may be true, but denouncing every
proposed victim is unjust.

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Another common perception about rape is that it is trivial or not serious enough to be
reported to the police. When rape occurs, the victim often has side effects such as PTSD and
other similar psychological disorders. PTSD is taken seriously and is considered to be no
laughing matter when it comes to veterans or people who were abused, but why is it not
commonly associated with rape? One paper titled, Rape Trauma Syndrome by Tammi A.
Tannura, describes the stages of trauma experienced after the incident and is compiled into three
sections: acute crises reaction, outward adjustment, and resolution and integration. Acute crises
reaction is what follows after the rape has taken place. It becomes difficult to remember and
describe the event. Home life feels disrupted, and the survivor may not be able to cope with
everyday tasks like cleaning the house or playing games. This makes it feel as if the rape has
taken control of their life and is ruining it. The second stage is outward adjustment and is
described as the survivor making an adjustment to their life such as changing jobs or ending a
relationship. This adjustment is considered to be a coping mechanism in order to make the
survivor feel as if they have regained control of their life. Lastly, the process of resolution and
integration begins. This is where the survivor feels that the event no longer controls their life and
recognize it as an experience they can learn and grow from. They have reconciled their emotions
allowing them to heal. During the study, these series of psychological states were found to be
true for over 90% of the participants in the quantitative study. With this said, it allows for a
better insight into the mind of a rape victim and the psychological processes that they endure.
The data shows that this is no minor incident; it controls and sometimes ruins the victims life
and take years for recovery. Meaning that America should no longer look at the subject light.
Instead it should be considered a serious crime.

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Most of the previous statistics cited have been only relating towards females, but they are
not the only victims of rape. With women being the most common victim of rape, men tend to be
excluded from being considered a victim in a rape scenario. Men usually do not associate the
words male and victim, but rather the word accomplishment. Social stigmas, such as male
superiority, see men as sexual initiators, making it difficult for people to feel sympathetic for
male victims. Supporting this perspective is a study by Michelle Davies that was conducted in
2006 to show how reactions to male victim rape scenarios differ depending on the participants
gender, perpetrators gender, victim sexual orientation (homosexual vs. heterosexual), and prior
sexual experience of the victim. They concluded that women on average blamed the male
victims less than men in every dependent variable, except the situations where a heterosexual
male victim was raped by a homosexual man. In this situation, both genders were sympathetic
towards the male victim. This shows that generally men fail to recognize that the perpetrator was
at fault and only recognize it when they are influenced by their homophobic tendencies.
As Americas society and culture change and grow, edits must be made in order to change
with it and correct the wrongs of the past, especially in our modern rape culture. The fact that
America still has unsupported psychological norms in something so basic in ethics as rape,
shows that we as a country need to question the way each and every one of us thinks. We should
be independent thinkers who are not defined by their environment. Instead we should be defining
ourselves. Whether it is an unjust legal system or social norms, America has a long way to go
before removing these fallacies from our culture. Americas society has been able to avoid it for
dozens of years, but we have done this for too long. Instead, lets embrace the fact that we have
been doing wrong for so many years and use that as a foundation for change. The most effective

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way of change is through education: teach the common public what rape is and how to prevent it.
Tell that rape is an atrocity in order to invoke change in the next generation. In that way, in only
a few decades, rape could be circumvented from Americas mainstream culture.
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Bibliography
Davies Michelle, Paul Pollard, and John Archer. "Effects of Perpetrator Gender and Victim
Sexuality On Blame Toward Male Victims of Sexual Assault." Journal of Social
Psychology 146.3 (2006): 275-291. Education Research Complete. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.
This study was tested between females and males that varied in sexual orientation. The
goal was to show how sexuality, gender, and experience effected peoples views on rape. There
didnt seem to be any biases in the study, but the portions of females and males werent equal
and was skewed to students who were in social science courses. The reason why I chose this
article was because it included male victims. This is very important because many studies I have
listed only pertained to female victims and ignored male victims. I plan to use this for the male
perspective on rape scenarios and myths.
Hildebrand, Meagen M., and Cynthia J. Najdowski. "The Potential Impact of Rape Culture on
Juror Decision Making: Implications for Wrongful Acquittals in Sexual Assault
Trials." Albany Law Review 78.3 (2015): 1059-1086. Academic Search Complete. Web.
4 Nov. 2015.
The article is about how Americas rape culture effects the way we think, in turn effecting
juror decisions. Leading to the lack of conviction concerning the perpetrator. The author uses

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psychological studies in order to support her findings of causation. I plan to use this as the
foundation of my paragraph on rape in the legal system. Using quotes from the paper to show
what may happen to the victim if he/she brings it to court.
Meadows, Bob, et al. "Cosby and his Accusers." People 63.8 (2005): 109-110. Academic Search
Complete. Web. 29 Nov. 2015.
This academic journal contains a compilation of the cases and accusations being made
towards Bill Cosby. It provides detailed explanations as to why people may have been unable to
or didnt report the rapes in the past and why it is only now being taken to court. I plan to use
exact quotes from his legal advisers as an example to show how easily charges can be suppressed
and contained without the public knowing.
"Statistics | RAINN | Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network." RAINN, 2009. Web. 4 Nov.
2015.
This is a short article whose goal is to show how common and unjust rape is by using
statistics. The statistics showed the groups rape affects and influences, such as the victims and
perpetrators. I plan to use these numbers in order to support my opinion through statistics rather
than opinions.
Tannura, Tammi A. "Rape Trauma Syndrome." American Journal of Sexuality Education 9.2
(2014): 247-256. Education Research Complete. Web. 16 Oct. 2015.
The essence of the article is to quantify and describe the phases of Rape Trauma
Syndrome using the studies researchers have conducted. I would have to say this source is
unique compared to the others because its position was the most neutral and gave plenty of

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studies that supported their idea. I plan to use this as a foundation for the effects of rape portion
of my paper and use the politically correct definitions when I refer to what rape is.
"Victim Blaming Law & Legal Definition." Victim Blaming Law & Legal Definition. Web. 29
Nov. 2015.
I plan to use this source in order to correctly define victim blaming. I do not want to
phrase it in a way that is confusing or leads to more misconceptions by the reader. This will make
it easier to dissect and explain how this relates to Americas culture.