What is “rape culture?”
Here is the definition straight from Oxford Dictionary.
“A society or environment whose prevailing social attitudes have the effect of normalizing or trivializing sexual assault and abuse.”
We have organizations right here on our campus that believe rape culture doesn’t exist. Quite frankly, we all WISH it didn’t exist. But it does, and brushing a major issue like this under the rug doesn’t solve any problems. This is why we speak up, this is why we protest, this is why we want to change rape culture.
I was sent home after a date I thought went well because I wouldn’t have sex. The third time I moved his hand away from under my skirt he said “I think it’s time to go home.”
“But rape culture isn’t real.”
I said I only wanted to have sex with one person who I was going to be with forever. He said that we were, and I believed him. He already knew he was going to break up with me when he said that, but I believed him and lost my virginity under false pretenses.
“But rape culture isn’t real.”
He locked me in a room, and I was wearing an outfit with a high neckline. Somehow he still managed to get his hands down my shirt. When I pushed him away and asked him why he did that, he just shrugged and said, “Because I wanted to.” He continued to try and lock me in a room numerous times, but who would believe me if I spoke up when I was working in an all-male dominated environment?
“But rape culture isn’t real.”
I’m on a medication that makes me have a non-existent sex drive, however my boyfriend is the complete opposite. He gets frustrated and mad at me when I don’t want to have sex, and he’s in the mood. Sometimes he doesn’t ask anymore, I just wake up with him or his fingers inside me.
“But rape culture isn’t real.”
The list sadly goes on and on. But according to some people, “Rape culture isn’t real.”
It. Is.
That’s why amazing students here at UTSA are coming together to bring awareness to rape culture — there is power in numbers! To join in with the fight to #ChangeRapeCulture, here are the organizations to follow.
#ChangeRapeCulture // www.twitter.com/chngrpecultr
Students United for Planned Parenthood at UTSA // www.twitter.com/SUPP_UTSA
Thank you to those that shared their stories with us above. We stand with you, and we support you.