Rape Culture...YES that's real,
Rape CULTURE
Have you ever had a conversation with someone, where they point something out to you? They say, “Have you ever noticed (something you never noticed)?” and of course the honest response from you would be “no”. Then you start to see that detail everywhere. You see it all around you; something that you always overlooked becomes so real and vibrant, you can no longer ignore it.
I think something like that happed during our last presidential election. All of the sudden, we start seeing and hearing codes displaying old prejudices from the past. We as a country start talking about race, and bigotry, “The South” threatens to secede, again, confirming the suspicion that painful grudges are still being held, even if they are buried behind myths about “safety”, fears about “socialism” and “freedom”. And unmistakably, we as a country were having heated debates about the rights women have over their own bodies. And lets be clear, the debate was not just about abortion, or consent, it was about agency. I mean really, what the hell is legitimate rape anyway? And lets talk about the fact that there are grown, adult men who feel totally comfortable getting on national TV having philosophical conversations about the rights women should or shouldn’t have over their bodies, and how that can or can not be rationalized. Men who have never felt fear walking past a group of men on the street, or worried that if the didn’t go home soon enough they would be in danger. I believe the conversation about abortion, rape, consent, and modesty are all tied, all linked to the position women hold in our society. For many, the debate is clear, you don’t blame the victim, you must ask for permission, if permission can not be given, it does not presuppose consent, and women have the right to make choices about the well being of their bodies, without justifying those choices. Women have the right to a private dialogue about what is best for them. Others feel if a women isn’t “modest” and “well behaved”, she deserves to live in fear, she has given consent to violence because of how she is dressed, she is irresponsible, selfish, and less than human. She has no rights, and does not deserve to be treated with respect. Because being treated like a human being is something some people clearly feel needs to be earned.
I could write a dissertation about all of the new stories surrounding these issues, and how they are related. I could go on and on about my views. I could talk about how disappointing it is, that young women are being terrorized, bullied, and humiliated by our media. How terrifying it is that women, especially women of color, cannot go on TV with out being threated. That despite all the evidence we live in a culture desperate to hold on to archaic ideologies that support violent power structures, there is a systematic denial of that evidence.
So what does this have to do with a fashion blog? As I have spent that past couple of months working on my collages, I noticed some of the imagry was extreamly violent, and this worried me. As I presented them to trusted peers and mentors, I noticed they inspired a conversation about how, despite my hand in the collage, each of the images suggested a type of violence to begin with; that we are surrounded by these codes that transcribe a systematic denial of ideas of equality of women, that the “gaze” is a means to not only derogate, but to control.
I think this is tricky. As all of you know I love fashion, I love fashion magazines, I love the fantasy, the fun, the escape getting dressed can provide. I will argue that in many ways, it’s liberating; that the experiences can be empowering, motivating, and energizing. But I agree we need to be careful, and that yes, these images are powerful.
Below, I uploaded an image of one of the most violent collages. I hope it encourages reflection. I hope you all take the time to brows the links I have provided to all the compelling articles discuss the issues addressed above. I hope we can get to a point in our culture, where we stop blaming the victim, and put the responsibility on the proper shoulders. That prevention is treated seriously, and that positive change can be engaged.
My collage can be found under "Collage Darling"...
Teaching men not to rape: Zerlina Maxwell, Fox News and Democracy Now
The WIDE coverage from Jezebel:
http://jezebel.com/5991148/fox-news-manages-to-out+awful-everyone-by-naming-steubenville-victim-on-tv
and there is more....
Here is a link to the wiki page on Gender based violence:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Gender-based_violence
again, in case you are interested
I love this post and the conversation that it starts. You made some really valid points that I feel like some people easily look past, like men discussing what women can and cannot do with their bodies or that because a woman isnt "modest" its ok to disrespect her and how our society has made this behavior acceptable.
ReplyDeleteIt is such a weird conversation isn't it. I think I noticed something too, that I am guilty of in this post, WE genderize rape, as if this only happens to women, because of what women do. We don't really discuss male rape. Maybe if we opened the conversation, it would open perspectives too.
DeleteI completely agree with all that you said, Kate. I'm very intrigued by the images that you provide here. I think it would be fascinating to analyze formally, and also discursively, some of these fashion-related ads, how they convey a type of violence that is so ingrained in our culture that we barely notice it anymore. It just strikes me that images--especially images that have a commercial purpose--continue to guide our perceptions of how things should or shouldn't be in society. It's interesting that, in order to have people buy stuff, you need to resort to images of basic violence that have become so pervasive, they're not shocking anymore. We just don't don't question what we see anymore. At some level, it's almost as if the violent content were making the image attractive to viewers, and that's rather troublesome to me.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for commenting. I think that is a really good point Pauline, I wonder what that imagery says about us. What are we responding to when we see these images everyday, how does it affect us? I think these advertisements are good examples of how formal qualities are used to convey information visually. The angles and the lines are aggressive, right? Not passive. I'll have to get you to guest write!
DeleteI agree with Zerlina. You can't tell people how to live in a burning building, you have to put the fire out at it's base. Teach young people about consent, respect, and what a sexual assault actually is. The only way to detour this type of crime is spread awareness and to educate. Thanks for posting this, it's not something I think about often. That's because as a male I am taught that rape couldn't or wouldn't happen to me... which is so far beyond true. It's similar to saying that african americans don't get sunburn.
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