Society deems it acceptable to openly shame promiscuous women, or even a woman who dresses in revealing clothing, if a woman provides any type of sexual image for herself, she’s asking for it, and any time where she is physically taken advantage of is dismissed as a slut being a slut. The issue here is innocent victims being blamed for the actions done to them. If we, as a society of intelligent and compassionate individuals were to focus as much energy into preventing the issue of rape as we put into judging and slut shaming, the issue of rape could possibly no longer be such an issue. By no means am I implying that getting drunk enough to the point that you lose control is in any way a smart or responsible decision, but, it does not excuse the fact that a woman was forced, by another person, to have sex. In any way it happens, rape is rape, whether it is a random ambush on a dark street, a close relative or boyfriend, or even, as hard as it may be for most people to believe, a drunken night at a party or a club.
Often people who hear the term date rape will dismiss the seriousness of the crime believing it was consensual because they perceive that the victim had an attraction to the person since they agreed to the date. Rape, regardless of who commits it, is a sexual assault that leaves the victim injured and traumatized. Victims of rape, especially when committed by an acquaintance, often feel a sense of responsibility for the attack and therefore seldom reports the crime to police (RAINN, 2009). Rape is defined as a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent (Webster’s Dictionary, 2012). Rape is a misunderstood crime.
I will explore the contradictions in the way that David behaves towards and views women and his inability to reconcile himself to his daughter’s passive acceptance of her rape. Disgrace is set in the post apartheid period in South Africa, which as well as giving equal rights in respect of race, also introduced equal rights in respect of gender and sexual orientation in law. Violence increased in South Africa during this period and sexual violence was prevalent with young South African women likely to be raped twice in her lifetime. (Classic Notes on Disgrace - 2006). Disgrace illustrates, through David Lurie’s attitudes and actions and the rape of his daughter, that the reality for sex and gender relations was a long way from equality for women in South Africa.
Atwood presents the female characters as being both oppressed and dehumanised through how their freedom being stripped from them. An example of this is how they are no longer allowed to smoke cigarettes due to the potential harm it can cause their pregnancy. Woman are protected in Gilead however this also means that they must submit to the state-sanctioned rape by their specific commanders. In chapter five Aunt Lydia states that “There is more than one kind of freedom… Freedom to and freedom from.” The freedom to that she is referring to is the ability to make a decision, an example of this is evident through how Offred is given a chance to escape by the doctor, however she immediately questions herself by thinking “why am I frightened?” This implies that she is so accustomed to being oppressed she is almost scared to take the chance of freedom that is being handed to her. This portrays a sense of dehumanisation in terms of female characters as freedom is regarded as a basic human right.
Synthesis essay I’m defending the claim that women’s rights are suppressed in the Middle East and that they should strive to give women freedom such as western women have. Source c states that a new law was introduced that allowed marital rape. This law that was approved also makes it illegal for a woman to resist her husband’s sexual advances. She must also have her husband’s permission to work outside the home or go to school. This is evidence that the women in this part of the world are oppressed and abused.
In this region of the world women are unjustly punished in comparison to men. If a woman becomes pregnant after being raped, she could be stoned or caned to death. All that is needed for this stoning or caning to happen is a testimony of one male witness. While if a man commits adultery, there needs to be four male witnesses to the incident before the man can be punished. Also if a woman is considered to dishonor her family, they may beat or even kill her, and not be in any fear of being punished.
Many prostitutes are taking advantage of, they are beaten by these men and many have even lost their lives. A pro legalizing prostitution Heidi Fleiss states that "nothing would happen to the client because he knows he won't be prosecuted for refusing to pay for sex". By legalizing prostitution "it would clean up a lot of crime and help protect women." "It would also reduce gender violence, allow women to escape prostitution" (Liberator). This would prevent guys from beating up prostitute and getting away with it.
Lots of women have been describing these injunctions as prejudiced as they are not able to apply for them. The law court say that it is usually only men that need to hide themselves, and that they are more likely to be able to pay for them. If word gets out that someone has been granted an injunction, the editor of the newspaper will be prosecuted. Is it right that celebrities, editors and politicians are granted super injunctions as acts of secrecy? Well, yes it is.
He then went on to say that women’s domestic roles gave them the opportunity to hide crimes such as poisoning relatives and sexually abusing their children. An important factor for why there is an under-recording of female crime, according to Pollack, is that women are particularly adept at hiding their crimes; he attributed this to female biology. Women have become accustomed to deceiving men because traditional taboos prevent women from revealing pain and discomfort resulting from menstruation. Furthermore, women also learn to mislead men during sex; men can’t disguise sexual arousal when they get an erection, whereas women cab take part in sexual intercourse while faking interest and pleasure. However, Stephen Jones points out that Pollack gave no real evidence that female domestic servants commit many crimes against their employers or that women are better at concealing crimes than men.
“Examples of rape culture include, victim blaming, sexual objectification, trivializing rape, or refusing to acknowledge the harm of certain forms of sexual violence that do not conform to certain stereotypes of stranger or violent rape” (Wikipedia.com). Body I. Victim blaming is the phenomenon in which a victim of a crime or an accident is partially or entirely responsible for the transgressions committed against them. Victim blaming involved in sexual assault/rape implies that the victim was doing something wrong, acting a certain way, or wearing clothes that may have provoked the perpetrator, therefore making it the victims own fault (Wikipedia.com). a.