I came across this article on Huffington Post’s Twitter feed
and was reminded of our discussion in class a few weeks ago about rape culture. Fox News roundtable was having a debate about Colorado
legislation that would possibly allow women to carry a concealed weapon to help
prevent sexual assaults on college campuses. Bob Beckel asked, “When’s the last
time you heard about rape on a college campus?” which surprised his co hosts
(and me). They proceeded to inform him that it is “rampant” and then mentioned date
rape to which he replied, “Yea, date rape, that’s one problem, but you gonna
take a gun out and shoot your date?”
I think Beckel’s statements represent many people’s lack of
knowledge about rape on college campuses and throughout other places all over
the world. He seems to be implying that when a woman is slipped a date rape
drug, she’s always literally with her “date”. He doesn’t consider that it could be
a complete stranger and that she may have no idea anything is happening. Throughout
my undergrad at Kansas, we would get text message alerts about sexual assaults
happening on campus fairly often. We’ve received email alerts from DU since
I’ve been here as well. The article also states that 20 to 25 percent of women
have reported experiencing either an attempted or completed rape during their
time in college. To be quite blunt, lately we’ve seen a bunch of old, white
conservative men discussing rape, birth control, etc. and basically have no
idea what they’re talking about. In my opinion, it seems pretty ridiculous that
Beckel actually asked that question and then followed it up with his statement
about date rape.
In the article, Five
Ways Rape Culture Exists Unnoticed and Goes Unchecked in Our Everyday Life, rape
culture was defined as “a culture where sexual violence is largely expected and
made insignificant by cultural norms” (Ogden). It touched on the normalization
of sexual violence and that many times there is a tendency to blame the victim
- maybe her dress was too revealing, maybe she had a few too many drinks, etc. I
think the misperceptions of people like Beckel as well as cultural tendencies
to blame the victim are all problems facing our society when it comes to the
issue of rape. Maybe I’m just coming from a defensive position because I’m a
woman. What do you all think about Beckel’s comments and this idea of rape
culture?
Well this round table was certainly running circles around the issue but getting no where. I wonder if Bob Beckel too realized as he was sitting there that the discussion wasn't addressing much of anything - so he threw his colleagues off with his statement..
ReplyDeleteI certainly do find his statement to be ridiculous as well. I think in our culture when we hear of a child being raped or if someone is taken, raped, and murdered we are mortified and quickly want to seek justice on the perpetrator. But when a college student, female is most cases, is raped I do think our society tends to be a little more lax on situation.
This is a popular idea - that female college students are out, drinking, experimenting, throwing themselves on eager male colleagues - so "naturally" rape can and will happen. And we as a society move on quickly from the news. Not in all cases of course but I do see there being almost a tolerance for rape incidences on college campuses versus say a kidnapping situation.
Rape, in no circumstance, should be overlooked, tolerated, or denied that it happened. Our society needs to have a 100% zero tolerance for rape - because no one deserves that violence no matter what state of mind or stage of life they're in.
Whatever Bob Beckel's intentions were, I certainly see his statement feeding into this lax mentality we often have when hearing about rape on college campuses
And to be honest - I think Bob Beckel just wanted to steal more of the show and call attention to himself when he was feeling a bit ignored by the other members of the round table.
This reminds me of Rep. Todd Akin's statement about "legitimate rape" in August.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/21/us/politics/rep-todd-akin-legitimate-rape-statement-and-reaction.html?_r=0
When discussing the legality of abortion in the circumstance of rape, his statement is as follows: “It seems to be, first of all, from what I understand from doctors, it’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down.”
His claims are ignorant, untrue and completely inexcusable. I agree with Joanna that the "old, white conservative men" are often the ones leading the discussion about women's issues, and more women need to speak up and represent themselves on these issues, because it's becoming increasingly more clear that many politicians aren't going to.