Rape Culture (sorry it's lengthy)

The other night I was contemplating the chances of me finding a Zapdos on my college campus as I walked to the V-Day meeting- the club on my campus that devotes their energy to helping survivors and, of course, hosting an event honoring women and their sexuality every year. All of a sudden I saw a shadow dashing towards me. Like most other women, I felt my heart jump into my throat and my body stiffen as I prepared to attack my attacker. I turned around, my hand already in the shape of a fist and my mouth open in a scream when I realized my "attacker" was just a middle aged man going for an evening run. 

Rape culture is not just "locker room talk". It's not just joking about one of the most traumatic things that can happen to a person or judging those people as weak. It's not just telling boys not to cry and to be strong and showing them violent films and games that subliminally tell them this violence is okay. It's not just a society that lets rapists go after only three months in prison while the heroin addicted father gets ten years. 

Rape culture is mothers teaching their daughters to carry pepper spray- but not their sons. Rape culture is the lyrics in every modern song that tells women they are physically desired, to dress as the objects they are, and that of course we want it. Rape culture is the college student who can't take a seven minute walk to her anti-rape meeting without being on the defense from everyone. 

I'm done fighting people on the existence of rape culture. Perhaps y'all have a skewed definition of it- I looked it up on urban dictionary and found that all the definitions were not truly what it is. I'm done fighting people about how Donald Trump encourages rape culture and sets a standard that increases bullying and victimizing others all across the States. I don't need to try and convince other people of something that they experience mostly subconsciously. If you're a man and you say rape culture is fake, think about the last time you made a rape joke, cat-called or allowed a friend to cat-call a girl in short-shorts and a tank top in ninety degree weather, or the women in your life who have experienced sexual assault. Remember, the stats say one in four women will be sexually assaulted at some point in her life. This could be your mother, your girlfriend, your aunt, or your baby cousin. And for women who think rape culture is nonexistent, think about the fear you feel walking alone at night, the pressure you feel to "just say yes", and the way you apologize every time you say no. This issue effects all of us. Rape culture is not an Islamic issue or an Indian issue. Stop blaming the violence on other cultures and take a look at your God damn selves. Rape culture is Just as much an American issue and if we could focus less on arguing it's existence and more on changing it perhaps it wouldn't be one anymore.