Newsflash: Stereotypes, Stereotypes: Rapists as Victims, Rape Victims as Sinners

Rape is something that continually occupies that dark place at the back of a woman’s mind because it is a horrible, stigmatizing, traumatizing act that she can be subjected to anytime, anywhere without warning, as Emilie Morgan knows all too well (Morgan 33-39). Although men can be and are raped by women as well as by other men and deserve attention and support, the overwhelming majority of reported rapes are women who were raped by men, which sends the very real message that no women are ever completely safe. Women are disproportionately vulnerable to rape because modern society is a rape culture where rape and violence against women is tacitly expected and accepted; therefore, rape is not always considered to be the heinous crime and violation of a woman’s privacy and power that it is. Thankfully, rape awareness has increased dramatically, so more rape victims are able to report these crimes, receive counseling and support, and erase the stereotypes, misinformation, and denial that surrounds rape, the victims, and the perpetrators. Until society recognizes what factors are really at fault for this rape culture – like patriarchy which includes rape-culture-friendly aspects like unequal power dynamics in which men hold more power than women, lack of information and communication, and cleverly hidden approval of women’s second-class status in various media like movies, advertisements, and magazines – and pledges to acknowledge and remove them, rape with its inevitable helpers of fear and shame will continue to be a devastatingly effective tool to keep women firmly in fear of and behind men in power and equality.

One of the overarching themes that rape awareness has undertaken to spread is the message that the rape victim is never at fault, no matter what the circumstances were, and that a woman is never “asking for” rape or insinuating that she wants to be raped through her actions, words, or dress. However, there are some people and groups that believe that female rape victims are at least partially or fully responsible for being raped because of certain decisions she made or did not make, a reasoning that has earned the label “victim-blaming.” Victim-blaming both by the victims themselves and others takes away women’s power to make choices and turns people away from seeing rape victims as they are – victims that need to be helped and loved. Morgan even said herself that when she was raped a second time that “[i]n those three years, I had fully internalized the view that a woman is somehow to blame if she is raped…Although I held him ultimately responsible, I couldn’t help scrutinizing my behavior. I had consented to everything up until that point. I knew what my limits were, but it’s possible I didn’t make myself clear to him. Maybe the word no wasn’t enough (Morgan 36).” An agent of this victim-blaming propaganda, a pamphlet declaring that the way a woman dresses invites rape because it inspires uncontrollable lust in men, reinforces incorrect stereotypes for both men and women, thereby supporting patriarchy with its unequal power dynamics and rape culture at large.

This pamphlet, entitled Women and Girls by an anonymous writer or group, has been handed out in various places in Tennessee. Keshia Canter recalled that she was handed the pamphlet by a woman that she was serving food to at her mother’s Hi-Lo Burger’s drive-thru window (Galofaro). She recalled the woman saying “‘Even though nothing is showing [in reference to her clothes], you’re being ungodly. You make men want to be sinful’ (Galofaro).” The pamphlet told Keshia that she has been given this pamphlet because of her attire since women wearing tight-fitting or skimpy clothing make men lustful (Galofaro). In other words, this pamphlet states that it is essentially women’s fault that men sin and thus deserve retribution (Galofaro). It goes on to assert that “‘Scripture tells us that when a man looks on a woman to lust for her he has already committed adultery in his heart. If you are dressed in a way that tempts men to do this secret (or not so secret) sin, you are a participant in the sin…By the way, some rape victims would not have been raped if they had dressed properly. So can we really say they were innocent victims?’ (Galofaro).” This pamphlet’s disturbing, victim-blaming message has angered and worried many women because of its offensive nature and the possibility of it being distributed to actual rape victims to convince them to not report being raped, blame themselves, and stop them from seeking help. Media perpetuating victim-blaming like this pamphlet would isolate rape victims from help that they need and obscure the fact that patriarchy, not women and the way they dress, is really at fault for modern society’s rape culture.

This pamphlet propagates stereotypes about women and myths about rape that would effectively keep rape culture in place if women and men continued to believe them. Firstly, the pamphlet stereotypes women as evil, sin-inducing temptresses who display their attractiveness through their clothes (or lack thereof) whether they do it purposely or inadvertently. By casting women in this age-old stereotype as heartless, conniving people who use their sexuality to manipulate men – even though society tells women to do just that to obtain the power women have so desperately wanted, as Douglas keenly points out (Douglas 156-157) – the people behind this pamphlet cleverly invert the power dynamics between men and women and make this inverted model seem like actual reality. Women are really the ones with power because they are the ones who possess the powerful weapon of sexuality which can inspire lust and sinful thoughts in men. They dictate how men act, so if men rape, it is because women made them rape. Because women are really the ones in charge, they have to take responsibility for men’s actions in response to their sexuality. If women are not aware of how they could incite lust through their dress, it is their fault for not being aware of something they should have been. By supporting the illusion that women have all the sexual power and thus control what men will and will not do sexually, the pamphlet takes away male rapists’ responsibility for their crime by decriminalizing their raping act. This pamphlet places the fault on the female rape victims because of some power that they do not possess, which is grossly inaccurate considering that men are actually the ones who hold power over women sexually and beyond.

The pamphlet’s horribly disturbing victim-blaming message does not only hurt all women personally and socially, but also harms men by insulting their humanity by lumping all of them into one big group of slobbering beasts that are ruled by their sex drives. The pamphlet’s enthusiastic embrace of very common male stereotypes –in particular, that all men are ruled by their lower anatomy and thus have no control whatsoever of their actions because all they desire, think about, obsess over, is sexual pleasure –is extremely dangerous in two main ways. It further absolves men of their responsibility in the entire realm of sex, including sexual decisions and actions, as previously done in the pamphlet’s stereotyping of women as powerful demons who incite men to sin. By relegating men to little more than animals, which do not think about their actions and rely almost purely on instinct, any shred of responsibility that people could still tag onto male rapists for their actions even after agreeing with the women-have-power, women-are-responsible stance is lost. However, by relegating men to animals, the pamphlet disregards all the men in society who have not raped women, who think rape is wrong and horrific, who think that female rape victims are victims and need help, who treat women with respect and dignity; it actually nullifies the possibility that such men exist because all men, no matter how gentlemanly or nice they seem, are really just beasts inside straining to break the chains of propriety and have sex with every female they see. This pamphlet’s logic strips men of any good qualities they possess, ignoring many men’s self-control, and ultimately, maintaining the inaccurate belief that men have no depth, thoughts, or ideas beyond sex.

This pamphlet is dangerous and disturbing on so many levels because of its wrongness about or distortion of women, men, rape, and society. It blames women for being raped by asserting that they have sexual power and choice that they do not possess. It inverts power dynamics which makes it seem as though patriarchy does not exist, which obviously deflects men and women’s awareness of patriarchy and how it orients society about female inequality and silencing. It pigeonholes men into sex-obsessed pigs with no higher thought or ambitions who cannot control themselves from raping a beautiful, skimpy-clad woman because they do not have the willpower to do so. By promulgating these untrue stereotypes, this pamphlet – along with any other victim-blaming propaganda – allows the real culprit of patriarchy to remain undisturbed in the shadows and the real result of rape culture to thrive unfettered.

Works Cited
Douglas, Susan J. Enlightened Sexism: The Seductive Message that Feminism’s Work Is Done. New York: Times Books, 2010.
Galofaro, Claire. “Blame the Victim: Religious Leaflet Claims ‘Ungodly’ Dressed Women Provoke Rape.” TriCities.com: Your TriCities News Source. Feb 28 2010. Dec 3 2010. < http://www2.tricities.com/news/2010/feb/28/blame_the_victim_religious_leaflet_claims_ungodly_-ar-236411/>.
Morgan, Emilie. “Don’t Call Me a Survivor.” Listen Up: Voices from the Next Feminist Generation. Ed. Barbara Findlen. Emeryville, CA: Seal Press, 2001.
MtJoy, Roxann. “Disturbing Rape Victim-Blaming Pamphlet Handed Out in Tennessee.” Change.org. Mar 2 2010. Dec 3 2010. < http://womensrights.change.org/blog/view/disturbing_rape_victim-blaming_pamphlet_handed_out_in_tennessee>.