Rape culture is a setting or environment in which the pervasiveness of rape and is normalized and promoted. The reasons are often harmful societal stereotypes, standards, and beliefs about sexuality. Rape culture as a societal construct works alongside slut-shaming, victim-blaming, trivialization of rape, and the sexual objectification of women.
These cultural norms support rape and male sexual aggression. They portray women as objects who are there for the taking, which can lead to a dangerous mindset in men that it’s okay to rape someone if she’s wearing something revealing or if she’s drunk. This is why it’s so important to talk about rape culture and to stop accepting it as a way of life.
In South Africa, there is a ravaging rape pandemic. Recently, in August 2021 a case came to light about a young schoolgirl who was raped in her school’s toilet by a manual worker. This is only one of the hundreds of rape cases that occur in South Africa every year. At least 1 in every 5 children is sexually abused in South Africa, which makes up about 18% for girls and about 8% for boys globally. One of the main reasons for this high statistic is the rape culture that exists in South Africa. This means that there is a general acceptance of rape and sexual violence as a norm. This can be seen in the way that victims are often blamed for their attacks, and in the way that society tries to hide or ignore these crimes.
As clearly defined by President Cyril Ramaphosa, “the crisis of sexual violence is a brutal war against women and girls”. Sexual violence begins in small spaces like schools, religious gatherings and they grow into the larger ecosystem, our society.
As much as South Africa has identified this, it has however struggled to come up with a feasible solution to combat this problem.
In South Africa as in most parts of the world, the major perpetrators of sexual violence are men and it will be impossible to exert change on rape culture without changing how men and young boys are raised and groomed.
A lot of gender norms, stereotypes reinforce harmful gender dynamics that allow young boys/men to build entitlement to sex and women’s bodies. This also involves dismantling toxic masculinity and the superiority complex men are often taught to imbibe.
There’s also a need to focus on a lot of consent. Teaching young boys and men to recognise and respect a woman’s consent. A woman’s word must hold water, in all circumstances, especially as regards her own body, needs and sexuality.
The two key players in effecting this change are the school and the home.
Rape culture has thrived for so long because there are systems that reinforce and enable it and the best way to dismantle it is to restructure society and create systems that are safe for women and girls. It’s about time South Africa starts to dismantle all these harmful practices and prioritize creating healthier, sustainable, safe societies for women to coexist. This can only be achieved by reinforcing the importance of gender equality in schools at a very young age, addressing sexual violence in schools and punishing sexual offenders too.
Rape culture is a plague and everyone has a part to play in eradicating and erasing it.
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