“Rape Culture” Student Prespectives

By Cherae Hunt |News Editor|

The students and faculty have been affected by an article in the Coyote Chronicle titled “‘Rape Culture’ is not real.”

With this article came mixed reviews about the integrity of the writer and the Coyote Chronicle as a publication.

These quotes are statements from Facebook.

“People are entitled to their opinions. It is ignorant for people to attack the writer the way they did. He wrote an article and instead of being met with intellectuals, he was attacked by people who disagreed with him. Instead of calling him a misogynist, people should have countered it with it in an intellectual approach instead of name calling,” said student Jeremy Freely.

“Title IX exists for a reason. To say Rape Culture isn’t real is dehumanizing all the victims that fall under the Title IX category. Just because sexual violence survivors don’t walk around with ‘I was Raped or I was molested’ stamped on our forehead doesn’t mean we don’t exist, it doesn’t erase our past or the damage caused by the perpetrator. If the author wants to see the real world results or the manifestation of real statistics in our school then I challenge the author to take a poll anonymously in their classes. Ask classmates (if they feel comfortable enough to do so) to write YES or NO on a piece of paper in response to have you been a victim of sexual violence (rape, molestation, everything else that falls under Title IX) and tally the results on the whiteboard. There is your real world data, your Facts,” stated student Chelsea Henson.

“I think the current state of student activism on campus is pathetic and simply writing an alternative opinion piece is not enough. I want to know who allows things like this to be published with such little foresight, and to demand accountability in the form of resignations. We as students need to show that this kind of hateful sexism is not okay and that we won’t tolerate it. Sit ins, occupations and protests are in the works. I would recommend joining in order to make an impact on campus,” said student Andrew Crampton.

“There is no evidence of rape culture anywhere in the West as a whole and in its universities in particular. Moreover, ‘rape culture’ somehow implies that the act of rape is a common, normal thing whereas in reality rapists are despised and hated and someone accused of rape may face verdict as tough as life imprisonment. Other than that, social justice warriors insisting on presence of ‘rape culture’ in universities define rape rather creatively. The only places I can associate with rape culture is the Middle East and the war torn African Congo,” stated student Hovik Stepanyan.

“Rape culture is NOT the celebration of a rapist, but IS the act of blaming the VICTIM for the crime. So when a 5 year old little girl says a relative touched their ‘no no area’ rape culture response is ‘don’t tell anyone, this is a family issue.’ When a woman is raped or escapes from an attempted rape and authorities/friends/family members say ‘don’t press charges it will ruin his life’ THAT IS RAPE CULTURE. Or when someone’s response to a rape accusation is ‘He seemed like such a nice guy, or they (the victim) just wants attention, or you should be grateful he/she even laid a hand on you-ugly b**ch.’ Rape IS COMMON. Here are the facts 98% of Rapists won’t go to jail/or punished. 68% of Rape cases go UNREPORTED. 47% of the cases are committed by a friend/family member (someone the victim knows),” continued Henson.