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Entertainment Above All Else: America’s Culture of Rape Sympathy
Posted by: Necci – Sep 12, 2011
A few months ago I reviewed Tyler, the Creator’s new record, Goblin, and opened myself up to some criticism regarding my response to the record’s misogynistic, homophobic, and rape-glorifying lyrical content. The lines that most people seemed to take issue with were: “Go ahead and tell me that I just don’t get it, I’ll tell you that you’re a rape sympathizer and a coward.” Apparently, it was a big claim for me to suggest that Tyler, the Creator fans are rape sympathizers. I disagree, and here’s why:
Most Americans, not just Tyler, the Creator fans, are rape sympathizers.
I’m not saying Americans think rape is okay. They don’t. If you ask almost any American if they think rape is acceptable, the answer will be no. We’re not bad people, necessarily, and neither are people who enjoy Tyler, the Creator. We’re largely morally aware human beings. Of course rape is wrong. We get that, as a culture.
We get that it is wrong, but we are largely ignorant of rape and its prevalence in America. It is a distant, abstract concept. A classic case of the “it doesn’t affect me, so I don’t worry about it” attitude. What we don’t get is that it affects almost all of us and the ones we love. We don’t seem to understand, for example, that one in six American women will be victims of either completed or attempted rape in their lifetime. You probably come into contact with a survivor of rape every day. Most likely, you come into contact with several. Rape permeates our everyday lives.
We don’t get that rape doesn’t just happen when some stranger attacks a woman in a park. It’s not some masked villain lurking in the shadows who is most likely to rape or sexually assault women in this country—it’s normal people. Two-thirds of rape survivors knew their rapist. If one in six women are raped and two of three of them know their rapist, then guess what: you probably know them too.
Ignorance can be as bad as willing participation, and for that reason, we as a culture are rape sympathizers.
We are rape sympathizers because the way we talk about rape (i.e., not talking about it) creates the illusion of a world where rapists are bad people, in black and white terms, and to understand that normal people can commit such a horrible crime is beyond our limits of that definition. Rapists are bad, and our friends are good, and rapists and our friends are mutually exclusive. This type of thinking needs to be left behind.
We are rape sympathizers because we blame the victim. “She shouldn’t have been walking home alone at that hour. She shouldn’t have been wearing that dress. She shouldn’t have let him buy her those drinks. She didn’t say no, she just didn’t say yes. They had sex a few times before. They were dating. They were married.” Claims like these are just a few examples of victim blaming, but there are many more. Let me put it simply: rape is never, ever the victim’s fault.
Now, that’s not to say that sometimes people don’t put themselves in compromising situations. Like other crimes, there are measures that individuals can take to decrease their chances of being victimized. Being aware of your surroundings, your level of inebriation, what types of body-language signals you put out, who you spend your time with, and how you spend your time with them are all examples of risk reduction. Choosing to be aware of these tactics are certainly advisable, but it doesn’t change the fact that if someone is raped/sexually assaulted, it is never their fault. They never deserve it. To put it in a different context, if you decide to walk through a “bad neighborhood,”* late at night, alone, in your Jordans, listening to your brand new iPod Touch, and casually riffling through a large stack of crisp bills with Benjamin Franklin’s face on them, you are putting yourself in a high-risk situation to get mugged. If and when you get mugged, however, it is still a crime. Your rights were still violated, and another human being took something from you that didn’t belong to them. They are in the wrong for doing it, not you.
We are rape sympathizers because when we talk about risk reduction, we make it the woman’s responsibility and prerogative to avoid being raped. Why is it the victim’s responsibility? People make conscious decisions about their actions when they rape someone. Survivors don’t make conscious decisions to get raped. It is an active crime, not a passive one. We need to focus on creating men who are as informed about rape as women are.
Some numbers from the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network:
*If a rape is reported, there is a 50.8% chance of an arrest.
*If an arrest is made there is an 80% chance of prosecution.
*If there is a prosecution, there is a 58% chance of conviction.
*If there is a felony conviction, there is a 69% chance the convict will spend time in jail.
*So even in the 39% of attacks that are reported to the police, there is only a 16.3% chance that the rapist will spend time in prison.
*Factoring in unreported rapes, about 6% of rapists will ever spend a day in jail.
*15 of 16 accused rapists walk free.
We are rape sympathizers because six percent is a staggering, tragic, and unforgivable number.
We’re rape sympathizers because entertainment, be it in the form of sports, music, the Internet, or anything else that we distract ourselves with, is more important than victims. In Texas, two years ago, a star football player raped a cheerleader. When the case came to trial, it was dismissed. When it came back to trial, the football player was charged with misdemeanor sexual assault, and sentenced to one year of probation. A year later, the same cheerleader refused to cheer for the same athlete at a basketball game. She was expelled from the cheerleading team by the school. When she sued the school for violation of her right to free speech, she lost the case. The football star has since been awarded a college scholarship. She has been ordered to pay $45,000 for costs of the frivolous court case she filed against her school. (source)
Ben Roethlisberger is one of the most popular quarterbacks in the National Football League. In the past few years, three different women have accused him of rape or sexual assault. In the most recent case, a woman said Roethlisberger raped her in a hotel room while his bodyguards stood guard outside. This allegation was dropped when pressure mounted to take the case to court. Considering the statistics above concerning prosecution rates and the case of the Texas cheerleader, can you blame this woman for not wanting to risk it? Roethlisberger has not been convicted of any crimes, and after serving a six game suspension at the beginning of the last NFL season he guided his team through the playoffs and to the Super Bowl. Roethlisberger’s jersey has been in the top 25 jerseys sold almost every season since 2004. (source [one of many])
And yes, we’re rape sympathizers because Tyler, the Creator is one of today’s most successful musicians. In a time when record sales are plummeting around the world, Goblin has sold over 100,000 copies. It debuted at the number five spot on the Billboard charts, but never rose any higher than that. At the end of August, however, Tyler received the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist, and Goblin’s sales have rocketed back up the charts. Tyler is quickly approaching the top of the ladder of the entertainment world in terms of popularity and influence. When his lyrics are at their best they are unpredictable, subtle, and on the brink of genius. At their worst, they are one-dimensional, heavy-handed, and barbaric. No matter the content, though, it’s clear that people love Tyler and the rest of the Odd Future crew, much like they love Ben Roethlisberger or Kobe Bryant. There is little that can’t be forgiven in the name of entertainment.
So no, I don’t think that Tyler, the Creator is a rapist, or a bad person, or even responsible for people liking or not liking his music. He’s just a kid without a filter. He is not the cause of the problem, but he is a telling symptom. Supporting his music doesn’t make you the cause of the problem either, but it does make you, as well, a symptom of a diseased system. I hope that reading this encourages you to change that.
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If you’re interested in learning more, here is a list of further reading, resources, and ways to get involved:
National Organization for Women
Transforming a Rape Culture edited by Emilie Buchwald, Pamela R. Fletcher, Martha Roth
Sources for residents of Virginia/VCU Students:
Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance
VCU Men Against Violence Mission (This is a great one. I can’t stress how important it is to eliminate the perception that eliminating rape is a woman’s mission.)
mav.vcu@gmail.com
SAVES (Sexual Assault and Dating Violence Education by Students)
saves@vcu.edu
By Carl Athey
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