Research Essay Literature Reveiw

Rape and Rape Culture, while widely ignored, are a huge part of the normal everyday society that we are all a part of.  Today in the US many women and men are raped and sexually abused and we hear very little about it.  Very few rapists are tired for these crimes because the victims sometimes are more shamed then the guilty offender. This paper will look at the effects of the acceptance of rape culture and the stereotypes and stigmas surrounding it. What is rape culture and what does that look like in today society? How are the accused and how are the victims treated? How does the media depict and treat the victims? Sources for this paper are categorized by history and statistics, stereotypes of victims and treatment, as well as a defining category of what "Rape culture" is.

There are many sources that relate to the history and statistics of rape. One of these sources is written by Carolyn Gage, her article written "The Women's Rape MVSVEM". (Off Our Backs) in 1992, is a great smaller example that covers many different categories. It briefly discusses some statistics about rape in the U.S. Another source I used to look at the statistics of rape is Rainn. "Statistics Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network." This Webpage gives great statistics about rape in the U.S. and most importantly how often it occurs. This will be helpful to my paper because it will create credibility of my words and integrate more facts into a very personal issue for some people. To look more globally I used a source called "Top 10 Countries With Highest Rape Crime." on WondersList.com. This source briefly describes the countries with the most sexual abuse rates. This is  helpful because it is gives more insight on other places around the world. To look more locally I'm using a source called "List: States Where Rape Is Most Common" from CNN.com. This source plainly lists the states in which rape is the most common. Much like the source above this list creates a glimpse of how common or uncommon this kind of abuse is other places. Next I have five graphs/charts to help show my points more clearly. 

The next defining category of my paper relates to stereotypes and stigmas of the victim. My first source deepening this category is ”Diminishing the Legal Impact of Negative Social Attitudes Toward Acquaintance Rape Victims”written by Anderson.The main point in this article is to show how victims are looked at once they have been open about their attack. Looking at the negative stereotypes surrounding them and their case. This article is trying to fight those stereotypes and make it clear that the victim is not the one who the public should be against. Another source for this category is written by Mccaughey and King, "Rape Education Videos: Presenting Mean Women Instead of Dangerous Men.". This article says that women are just a capable of rape and sexual assault  as men are. This is interesting because most of the time when a person imagines a rapist they think of a man. Relating to this is a article is one written by Bennett Capers called "Real Rape Too". Written in the California Law Review  the main topic of this source is male to male rape in prisons and outside of prison. The paper talks about the completely unknowable frequency of  prison rape, because of the men not wanting to step forward and admit that it happened to them. These men that don't come forward are afraid of being looked at as weak or homosexual or both. This stereotype revolves around any man who is sexually assaulted and I will use this source in my paper to prove that fact. Men should be able to step forward about their assault as much as women can. Another article viewing talking about male rape is called “Male/Male Rape and the "Taint" of Homosexuality” written by Sandesh Sivakumaran for Human Rights Quarterly. This relates because of how people are looked at after their assault. As well as "Rape and The devalued victim" written by Gincopassi and Wilkinson, talks about the negative effects on the victim after they come forward about their assault. A article that contradicts the main points I am trying to make is called ""It Can Happen to You": Rape Prevention in the Age of Risk Management" written by Hall. This article is written to inform girls what they can do to stop a attack on them. Although their are lots of things you can do to lessen your chances sexual assault is never the victims fault. 

My third main category is a definition of what "Rape Culture" is and why we should fight it. Barnes writes in her article "An Unblinking Look at Sexual Assaults on Campus." about the different types of rape. This examines forceful rape, drugged rape and date rape. It talks about the victims after their assault and how it affected them and their lives. To look at this deeper, Cowan and Campbell's article "Rape Causal Attitudes among Adolescents" examines how people today see rape and "Rape Culture". They write. "Rape and sexual violence are not rare experiences in the lives of young women; yet little is know about adolescents' beliefs about the causes of rape." Another article agreeing with my points is “Rape Culture: It's all around us” written by Pearson. This source talks about how much this is happening that we don't even see. Then Ruby's paper “It's Time to Stop Tolerating Rape”comes in with a strong argument about what it really mean to tolerate rape and "Rape Culture".