Rape Victim vs. Abusers

First of all, I think that this is one of the most interesting discussion I have ever had. I am very interested to know how we can observe the rape situation through different angles and how the environment is an important factor that might also serve as one of the causes of the abuse. It is also good to know that the theory of "intersectionality" discussed in class is in play here to better and fully understand the rape cases.

Richmond High School Homecoming Rape

I agree with Ms. Swensson that in this rape case, the school, witnesses, the drunk girl, and the city of Richmond can also be put to blame aside from the boys who actually conducted the abuse. For school, it was done in school property and it may have been prevented if the security of the school is tighter. The school might also seem like it failed to educate the young boys about rape, sex, and how to treat a female. For the witnesses, according to Professor Messner's "Dynamics of the Athletic Male Peer Group" are "wannabe boys and men who actively applaud and support the words and practices of the leaders." The witnesses are also in blame and involved in the rape since they did not report the situation to the authorities and they videotaped, laughed, and witness the whole scene. This also explain what Professor Messner explain as the "Culture of silence among peers", which is the same like the 6 boys who left the rape situation but remain silent and did not report to the authorities in the rape case that Professor Messner told in class. Furthermore, some people can also blame the girl since she put herself into that situation for being drunk. If she was sober, then she might realize what she had put herself into earlier and reduce the chance of getting raped. Moreover, the city of Richmond (the environment) is also one of the main cause of rape. Since rape happens frequently and the crime rate is high in Richmond, it leads to the perspective that it is fine to conduct rape since it happens all the time. Rape is being normalized in this culture. Culture affects child rearing process and strongly influence the way the boys think since childhood. In addition, media is also normalizing rape sometimes and affect the way people think about treating female as sexual objects as cool. For example, the video played in class where music videos often portrays women as sexual objects and these man who treated them like that are considered cool. This leads to a lot of sexual harassments that happen in public, as shown in the video. Therefore, media and culture of the city of Richmond can play as an influential cause of the rape.

Roman Polanski's Rape Case (comment to Amanda Winarko's post)

It is interesting to see the rape case as an intersectional problem involving age, gender, and class. By understanding each of these intersections, it is easy to see that Roman Polanski is not the only one at fault. I also want to point out the way Whoopi Goldberg said that "Rape is not rape when there is no violence." I am not quite sure what that means but from what I get is that she thinks the Roman Polanski's rape case is not an actual rape since there is no violence involved and the girl is not injured. The girl seems like she know what she had put herself into, but she keep on letting Polanski to keep on pushing to the higher level, leading to the sexual intercourse, until the last minute by just saying a mere "no". In this case, it is too late to say no and it may seem that she wanted to have sex with Polanski and no rape is done.

*There is one thing in common out of all of the four rape cases, which is there is only 1 victim of rape while there can be more than 1 abusers. Why in most rape cases there is only 1 victim?