The Prominence of Rape Culture

Nicole Ndlovu, Volunteer

"Rape culture" is a concept in which rape is ordinary and pervasive due to our society's outlook on sexuality and gender. It indulges in victim-blaming, sexual objectification, rape trivialisation, denial of widespread rape and refusal to acknowledge certain forms of sexual violence.

The rapper Tyga's relationship with Kylie Jenner along with its acceptance is a prime example of how rape culture has become trivialised. Although Kylie Jenner is now 18, her alleged relationship with the 25 year old rapper raised suspicions among the general public as she was only 17 when the allegations began. The rapper was not arrested, questioned or ostracised because of his involvement with the then minor. Instead he gained support from his peers most notably Kanye West who praised Tyga by stating that "he was smart" because he "got in early" which implied that the relationship had begun earlier. Furthermore, the rapper released a song "Stimulated" which made reference to Jenner. However, the song's explicit lyrics "They say she young, I should have waited, she a big girl dog when she stimulated" horrified many as they implied that the rapper was romantically involved with Jenner before.

"The Pick Up Artist" also known as Julien Blanc is a prime example of how rape culture is becoming trivialised as many people, particularly men, flock to Julien's talks to be advised how to attract women....at any cost. For example, his advice to his male clientèle includes the technique of “choking” women that they’re interested in and “hushing them” until they get a date. Recently, the comedian Dapper Laughs was under fire for his comment to a female audience member, in a video footage by the Mirror that she was "gagging for a rape". He, however, defended himself by saying that he was not teaching men how to sexually assault women.

It is undeniable that these notions about sexual violence and intimidation are increasingly contributing to the rape culture that our society seems to be familiarising itself with. In January 2013, the Ministry of Justice, Office for National Statistics, and Home Office reported in "An Overview of Sexual Offending in England and Wales" that approximately 85, 000 women are raped on average in England and Wales every year and over 400, 000 women are sexually assaulted each year. Furthermore, it reported that 1 in 5 women (aged 16-59) have experienced some form of sexual violence since the age of 16. However, researchers at the University of Surrey have stated that between 70-90% of rapes go unreported as victims fail to report their ordeals to the police. This mainly stems from fear of not being believed, being blamed for the incident as well as being ostracised. In addition, 94% of the reported cases don't end in conviction which exemplifies the reason why many victims are not willing to confide in the law enforcement. 

Victim shaming is an element that has prevented Bill Cosby's victims from speaking out about their ordeals as they lived in fear that if they came forward, they would be vindicated. Unfortunately, Cosby's victims were vilified by many when they did speak out, as many people accused the women of trying to damage the actor's legacy. Actress Jill Scott stated that she would not believe the sexual assault allegations without "proof" or "charges". Cosby's lawyer Pressley also insisted that the victims had "waited too long" to report the incidents and had a "responsibility" to gather evidence and report the incidents.

Social media has become an instrument which is encouraging rape culture with Twitter being the platform for many insensitive memes and comments regarding rape. In particular, many female users have been displaying attitudes which suggests their disregard for male sexual assault. For example, in response to the question "Ladies, if you wanna have sex and your man says no, what would you do?", many women seemed to ignore the fact that a man can be raped as they reacted viciously by mentioning that they would "rape him", tell him to "lay back and I won't be long" and some responded by asking "What is no?"" Others responded to the idea of forcing sexual intercourse on a man as a privilege that he should be "grateful" for as they mentioned that "if a man gets raped he should be grateful because he got laid".

It seems that our society today has become desensitised to the idea that sexual assault and rape are serious matters that should not be joked about or ignored. Unfortunately, the dismissive behaviours are dangerous in that they incite the rape culture within many as they adopt ignorant beliefs and attitudes towards rape. This results in victims feeling ashamed and blamed for their ordeals, which causes many incidents to go unreported. It seems we should individually educate ourselves as well as correct each other when we display these dismissive attitudes. Through this way, we would be reducing the risk of a culture that normalises rape.

Political Education In Schools

There are many young people who attend school and they are not even aware of the name of our Prime Minister, Brexit or who the leading political party are. In addition to this, some young people do not even know how to register to vote and why they should vote. For those that are questioned on why they do not want to vote, they tend to reply with the statements, "My vote won't make a difference", "The politicians are all the same.", "I don't know who to vote for".

The indifference and unawareness is unfortunate however, it is worth considering that maybe political education should be pushed for within schools. This is mainly because schools are a place where students are exposed to ideas, theories and fields of knowledge of the world that hey would never encounter within everyday life. Further to this, school allows young people to critically analyse, perform, read etc. Therefore, this begs the question that shouldn't the education system incorporate political education within the curriculum as politics is part of the outside world that students are being taught about? Shouldn't students be encouraged to have knowledge on a topic that affects their lives from birth until death? Shouldn't they be encouraged to stand up for their views through political awareness and engagement? Shouldn't they keep up to date with the country's political status?

There are some students who are registered to vote and are politically aware due to educating themselves during their spare time. Nevertheless, for other young people who do not have the initiative to educate themselves, it is essential that the education system put forward political education in order to make sure that all students know about politics. It is understandable that the vote is not eligible for young people until the age of 18. However, young people being politically aware is an aspect that would increase the amount of young people registering to vote as well voters during the elections. Furthermore, the participation of young people within politics can lead the age of the vote being lowered to 16 as politicians and the general public would conclude that young people are politically responsible to make the right judgements when it comes to voting.

Bite the Ballot is advocating for political education within schools through the Northern Ireland's "Schools Initiative". This initiative makes it easier for schools and Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) to work together in order to increase the amount of young people registering to vote. When some changes were made to the Northern Ireland's electoral registration,only 244 attainers were registered. However after this programme was introduced, the number increased to 11,227. From these results, it is without a shadow of a doubt that if a United Kingdom, nationwide "Schools Initiative" was implemented, perhaps it would have a similar success rate by registering around 34,448 attainers.

It would essential for the education system to look at the idea of having politics within education from this perspective. Young people should have the chance to be educated on how their country is run as well as how they can participate in making a change through voting. After all, as the late Nelson Mandela once said, "education is a weapon which you can use to change the world".

My Picture Of the Year

First and foremost, I love these pictures. So much. I just had to write that again in order to emphasise how much I love these pictures.
Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of asylum seekers from different religious backgrounds including Hindu, Muslim and Christian during an Easter mass outside of Rome on Thursday.  The "gesture of brotherhood" epitomised tolerance and I am glad that the Pope did this act because he showed that despite the increasing tensions around the world, it is important to continue treating people with respect and having tolerance towards people who are not from the same religions or cultures as us.
It is without a shadow of a doubt that there are some people who do not and can not possess tolerance in the way that the Pope exemplifies within these pictures. After the Brussels attacks, many Europeans (and to an extent Americans) are now vehemently anti-immigration and they want the open door policy revoked as well as boarders closed. They have concluded that welcoming immigrants, especially those from Islamic states, only causes hostility and terrorist attacks. In addition, many also hold the misconception that Islam is a religion of terrorist attacks and this is worsened by the likes of Donald Trump who has proposed an anti-Muslim policy by saying "they're not coming to this country if I am president" as he believes that America is "out of control" and needs to be protected.
Nevertheless, the Brussels attacks have also caused some within the United Kingdom to strongly want to "vote out" of the European Union in the June 2016 referendum. It seems that the people who want to leave also believe that immigration only causes harm and does not have any benefits. In addition, some individuals strongly feel that the European Union controls the country as it allows immigrants, through the free movement, to "flood" the country without the permission of the government. "Don't let them in!" is a statement that I have seen circulating among the Daily Mail comments in regards to the refugees in camps and in the Calais jungle.
In addition, many refugees within the refugee camps are treated in an abysmal manner. Their human rights are almost non existent, they have no access to food, clean water shelter and basic sanitation. Last week, there was outrage over a woman who gave birth and the infant was washed with muddy puddle water due to lack of clean water. The incident at the Greek boarder with Macedonia opened the eyes of many in regards to the lack of resources the refugees have access to. Furthermore, there has also been many reported incidents of sexual assault on women and children within camps however this is hardly addressed nor dealt with. Migrants in Calais have sewn their lips shut in protest of the way that their human rights are not being respected. Unfortunately, however, it seems that all the efforts are not even being acknowledged by the authorities or the people who have enough political power to change all these deprivations.
This is why I said I love the pictures above because among all the hostility, hate, tension, intolerance, hatred and ignorance, the Pope may be the only European person who has shown these refugees respect since their arrival at the refugee camps. His actions are a breath of fresh air considering that we only see immigrants in the media outlets being discussed as the enemy that want to cause harm to Europe. Someone stated that he is a religious leader so he has to do that. Even if that is the case, at least he showed the respect and utilised this opportunity to showcase that they are people too... just like us.