Does rape culture exist or is it a feminist fantasy?

[GommeInc]

Fifty Shades is absolutely about a series of rapes, it completely ignores all of the safeguards of genuine BDSM relationships and focuses entirely on power play and coercion which is 100% not what that lifestyle is supposed to be about. BDSM as a whole is not rape behaviour, but the things taking place in Fifty Shades of Grey certainly are

I've never seen or read it but from what I understood from those that have is that she was finding herself in a mum porn sort of way. She's an innocent woman who had never done it and met someone who is also innocent but isn't all at the same time, and does like to do that sort of thing and has a dodgy background story where mum's seem to come over all maternal and care about him, despite his flaws.

It seemed consensual but it might be one of those books where it can be either way. All I know is that it is poorly written.

[FlyingJesus]

It's written by someone who knows as much about BDSM as Freddie Mercury does about safe sex, which is why there are so many problems in the supposed portrayal of such a relationship. The only people I know who thought it was any good are people who still get excited by the word nipple


@CaptainKilt; when quoting someone as a supposed authority on a matter it's a good idea to make sure that they aren't lying through their teeth in the very first sentence on the page, and aren't claiming that all sexual violence is male on female

[GommeInc]

These are the sorts of people who give feminism a bad name:

Bahar Mustafa: Goldsmiths Students' Union diversity officer to keep her job after vote of no confidence petition fails

Particular reference should be to these paragraphs:

The petition calling for Ms Mustafa's removal from her post alleged she had "used hate speech based on race and gender".

It read: "For example, the consistent use of hashtags such as #killallwhitemen and #misandry, and publicly calling someone 'white trash' under the official GSU Welfare and Diversity Officer Twitter account."

Ms Mustafa has said her use of the term "white trash" on an official account had been "not professional".

But she also said the use on her personal account of hashtags such as #killallwhitemen were "in-jokes and ways that many people in the queer feminist community express ourselves".

"It's a way of reclaiming the power from the trauma many of us experience as queers, women, people of colour, who are on the receiving end of racism, misogyny and homophobia daily," she said.

A comment on reddit perfectly summed it up.
"social justice FTW. rich white girl pretending to be oppressed"

[The Don]

These are the sorts of people who give feminism a bad name:

Bahar Mustafa: Goldsmiths Students' Union diversity officer to keep her job after vote of no confidence petition fails

Particular reference should be to these paragraphs:

The petition calling for Ms Mustafa's removal from her post alleged she had "used hate speech based on race and gender".

It read: "For example, the consistent use of hashtags such as #killallwhitemen and #misandry, and publicly calling someone 'white trash' under the official GSU Welfare and Diversity Officer Twitter account."

Ms Mustafa has said her use of the term "white trash" on an official account had been "not professional".

But she also said the use on her personal account of hashtags such as #killallwhitemen were "in-jokes and ways that many people in the queer feminist community express ourselves".

"It's a way of reclaiming the power from the trauma many of us experience as queers, women, people of colour, who are on the receiving end of racism, misogyny and homophobia daily," she said.

A comment on reddit perfectly summed it up.
"social justice FTW. rich white girl pretending to be oppressed"

It's ridiculous. Unfortunately i'm not that shocked anymore as it's becoming more and more common. If I remember correctly an active user on this forum also shares that idiots same views on racism (that minorities can't be racist). It's like they think they can just change the definition of the word to suit their deranged ideology.

On topic: I don't really think a few people joking about something means we live in a culture that accepts it. People joke about all sorts of depraved topics that they disagree with. It's insensitive, I guess, but that definitely doesn't mean our society condones it.

[FlyingJesus]

Interesting bit of news today; the ONLY men's shelter for rape/DV victims in the UK has had its government funding taken away. But of course, it's the rape of women that's seen as unimportant in our society, right?

[GommeInc]

Interesting bit of news today; the ONLY men's shelter for rape/DV victims in the UK has had its government funding taken away. But of course, it's the rape of women that's seen as unimportant in our society, right?

Saw that earlier. Survivors UK isn't it? It's disgusting they have had their funding cut when they have seen a 120% raise in reports. Their priorities are all wrong.

[FlyingJesus]

Yeah that's the one, and supposedly the overall funds allocated to those groups has been increased, so there really is no excuse whatsoever except that they know they can get away with it

[GommeInc]

Hopefully this is just a re-shaping exercise of the way in which men can see help and a new service will replace it because of a merger with other services. If not, something has seriously gone wrong.

EDIT: Apparently this has nothing to do with the General Election, but was done by Boris Johnson as, for reasons unknown, London was funding it so he just decided to cut funding today of all days. It makes you wonder why a national charity helping people in and out of London was funded by London in the first place :S

[CaptainKilt]

Joe, But by making rape jokes and you are implying that those jokes are funny and through that that rape can be funny. I feel like this is something we will likely agree isn't (I also don't want this to come off as personal in anyway!) They may not make you flinch or question yourself however others, as I said earlier, may not have the same morals as you, they may not have the same clear head of not having those elements effect you. I feel that largely that is the issue and that is a component that leads into the idea of Rape Culture.

Also, as far as I understand the debate is whether or not rape culture exists. So the fact that we both have differing views is something I think we could and should break down more and discuss, that is if you have time and are interested.

Further, I wouldn't disagree with the murder culture idea. But that doesn't make rape culture or any other forum of culture less prominent or less important. Of course there are an infinite number of different cultures, every single one of our interactions in life with anything consists of a culture of some sort.

The difference is is that some cultures are ok and can be beneficial to society and some are not and should be actively pursued against (ie. Rape and murder etc...)

FlyingJesus,

I didn't quote the website, I quoted a quote that was posted on the website. I agree with that specific quote, not necessarily with the website. I am a huge proponent of ensuring that male sexual assault is not forgotten in the midst as well. However, female sexual assault happens a drastically large amount more than any other form of sexual assault. Looking at the larger context of the article you will also realize that the quote I posted is not by the author of the post, or article it is in fact by a different individual all together.

I also implore you to understand the differences between men and women that has come from rape culture and the ideas of rape culture, regardless if it exists or not. For example, I assume for the most part you feel rather comfortable walking down the street by yourself, regardless of night or day. For many women this is not the case, for many women it is a constant background thought that something may happen to them while alone on the street. The fact that that exists in itself is rape culture. That we allow women to even feel that way when walking down the street by themselves.

This is just one example of many times in life that rape culture can and does appear.

[FlyingJesus]

I didn't quote the website

Yes you did, you even linked it

I am a huge proponent of ensuring that male sexual assault is not forgotten in the midst as well. However, female sexual assault happens a drastically large amount more than any other form of sexual assault.

Incorrect, prison rape of males alone outweighs all non-prison rape, and outside of prison approximately 40% of cases where a person is forced into sexual activity are cases of female-on-male attacks. You're stating things that you clearly have not researched beyond listening to what people tend to believe

I also implore you to understand the differences between men and women that has come from rape culture and the ideas of rape culture, regardless if it exists or not. For example, I assume for the most part you feel rather comfortable walking down the street by yourself, regardless of night or day. For many women this is not the case, for many women it is a constant background thought that something may happen to them while alone on the street.

Absolute nonsense. Someone FEELING a certain way is not indicative of truth at all - the reality of the situation is that men have far more to fear walking around alone at night, because the vast vast vast majority of all attacks in public places, sexual or otherwise, are aimed at males. Facts are more important than feelings, and the reason women may feel more threatened (quite irrationally in most cases) is because they're told to by people like you who quite obviously view them as walking victims rather than people who are capable of taking in a statistical fact and working with it as they choose to. This is not rape culture, this is self victimisation culture