RAPE CULTURE: POWER, PROFIT, PUNISHMENT

Leigh Gaskin

This dissertation project aims to shift ideas about rape and sexual assault from an individualized, narrative account of the issue to map out the methods and purpose of rape culture in America. The result of this project illuminates the various ways American society participates in rape culture and how it is entrenched in our existence, so that we can dismantle the culture of rape and live free from sexual violence. The justice system does not adequately address concerns about rape and sexual assault. Rape culture is a structure and an institution rooted in power, profit, and punishment and works to oppress the lives of certain groups. The conclusion is that rape culture is exposed as a foundational aspect of the United States and provides evidence that government, society, non-profits, and individuals condone and provoke its continuation. Rape culture’s purpose is to control populations through social codes and enforcement, using forms of identity as markers for punishment. Sustaining a culture of rape comes from reaping profits derived from sexual assault related products and services, while promoting different forms of sexual assault and rape related enterprises and businesses. Enabled by the creation and implementation of prevention, procedure, and advocacy under a capitalist system of economy and government, rape culture is merely stalled, creating a lasting space for profit. Lastly, the threat of rape and sexual assault within the context of American rape culture has double meaning, to create a façade of protection and order, while at the same time, allowing positions of terror and terrorism to justify the forms of violence inflicted upon specific marginalized groups and individuals. This work uses an intersectional methodology to interrogate the resiliency and versatility of these individual and institutional systems that comprise rape culture, such as white supremacy, patriarchy, and capitalism. Power is a key aspect of rape culture, just as it is in acts of rape and sexual assault. The biggest difference between the act and a culture of rape is the overarching presence of permissiveness and acceptance in American society and the ability to overlook predominate structures that enable and celebrate sexual violence.

RAPE CULTURE: POWER, PROFIT, PUNISHMENT

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