The Careless Language

Caminero-Santangelo, Marta. 2007. On Latinidad: U.S. Latino Literature and the Construction of Ethnicity. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida.

“Rape is unique. No other violent crime is so fraught with controversy, so enmeshed in dispute and in the politics of gender and sexuality… And within the domain of rape, the most highly charged area of debate concerns the issue of false allegations. For centuries, it has been asserted and assumed that women “cry rape,” that a large proportion of rape allegations are maliciously concocted for purposes of revenge or other motives.”

Another think she left out was the use of pathos. The only use of pathos in this article would be the reader if they got offended. In this she writes about people and just criticized them. Other people could get offended. The opinion and then she writes “I don’t know why anyone needs to have anal sex at a bathhouse. I won’t stop them, but I don’t know why anyone needs to do that.” This makes no sense. After this line she has already lost any credibility because she gives all these examples that are ludicrous. She could lose the interest of people who she had previously offended. In this article because one cannot see anything but her emotional opinion about a topic she is not

The American Minority Authors opens the reader eyes of the struggles of acceptance within the society, and how their heritage and their American culture can coexist. Minority writers, Cisneros, Eastman, and McKay, through their stories, give us insight of their cultural heritage and the struggles they have with society embracing diversity. In Sandra Cisneros, story “Geraldo No Last Name”, speaks of a Latino immigrant who does not speaks English living in America. The narrator of the story even put a label on him calling him a ”brazer”(Cisneros,1989, para 4), is a slang word for a migrant worker(Garling, 2007).

Loraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in The Sun” and Milcha Sanchez-Scott’s “The Cuban Swimmer” both capture the authors’ past experiences of oppression, and convey their struggles with identity. Both authors are from minority cultures, and both describe the same harsh pressures from the dominant culture. Both author’s share situations of being outcasts, coming from different racial backgrounds and trying to triumph over these obstacles.

The sarcastic tone of the line suggests that women are perceived in a condescending and degrading fashion. Incapable to evaluate their own feelings in reference to rape and that they do not possess the intuitiveness to recognize the magazines offensive manner in portraying such a serious topic. Estelle is offended at the magazines depiction of rape and finds it incomprehensible, "you think it was just invented...I mean what's so new about it" (356) she is further offended at the questionnaire, she is fully aware that rape has been around for sometime. She recognizes, unlike her co-workers, the magazines ploy, at exploiting women's insecurities of self-consciousness, powerlessness, fear and loss of control over their own will and condemns the magazine for minimizing the seriousness of such a sensitive issue.

Last week, the White House released a short, celebrity packed, 60-second public service announcement (PSA) on the topic of sexual assault. 1 is 2 Many addressed those who are in control of preventing sexual assault as its intended audience was those who can put a stop to sexual violence: the perpetrators or would-be offenders. Although this one minute announcement completed the task of bringing sexual assault to the forefront of discussion, it failed to encompass the central issues concerning the culture of sexual assault: societal misperceptions, the victims, and the justice system. Sexual assault is a phenomenon that has been around for centuries; the culture of sexual assault is rooted in both legal practices and societal perceptions.

Jean Kilbourne’s Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt divulges the multifaceted social watering hole we call the media. Topics in this short essay include the cultural abuse, sexual objectification of women, and the role men play in this stacked deck. There are multiple instances in which the media shames women for being sexual beings or for simply standing up against injustice. A large portion of our society believes it is solely up to the woman to protect herself from the poor choices of men, but it is important to note that a woman cannot rape herself.

Patricia Lockwood’s The Rape Joke is a risky composition- not because it discloses information about Lockwood’s personal rape experience, but because it does so from a comedic stance, ridiculing the unfortunate event and the events leading up to and after it. While the creation of the poem was prompted due to the sexual assault she experienced, the content and subject are not centered around the incident or the assaulter but around rape culture and the sociological concept of victim blaming, from both society and oneself. There is no such thing as a rape joke-the joke is the incredulous ways society has guided people to respond to it.

Many individuals might wonder, what is rape culture? “Rape Culture is an environment in which rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence against women is normalized and excused in the media and popular culture. Rape culture is perpetuated through the use of misogynistic language, the objectification of women’s bodies, and the glamorization of sexual violence, thereby creating a society that disregards women’s rights and safety.” Most women limit their behavior because of the existence of rape. (Marshall University)

“Rape Culture is an environment in which rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence against women is normalized and excused in the media and popular culture” (1a) Today you can't turn the television on without hearing references to rape culture. Jokes about sexual abuse plague every sitcom and news channels question rape victim’s every move. Even entire shows are dedicated to the topic such as Law and Order SVU. The media trivializes rape leading to a rape culture in America.

Feminist scholarship has argued that rape ideology encourages and justifies sexual coercion, trivializes sexual violence and demeans and devalues women who have experienced sexual assault. The foundation of this argument is based on women's experiences in patriarchal societies. Due to the fact that

Even though the first amendment states freedom of expression, statistics show rape and sexual assault numbers have risen due to the presence of rape culture in modern society. Rape culture promotes more assaults and violent acts, not only towards women but also towards men. Some evidence rape culture is present in today’s society are rising statistics showing that only three out of a hundred rapists see jail time and that over 17 million American women are victims of sexual assault every year. Rape culture is seen in every aspect of daily American life, even if people do not realize it.

Rape and rape culture is a serious issue within the world we all live in today. What’s worse is men and women’s responses to rape, consequently promote ‘rape culture’ in society. The teachers statement was reflective of this problem and how societies perception and judgement of rape cases is far too tolerant. She is a woman, a wife and a stepmother to young girls, yet her comments only contribute to the “sweep it under the rug” attitude society holds for rape and rape culture. In her statement she indirectly validated the act

Rape culture is an environment in which social attitudes have the effect of normalizing sexual violence against women and excusing it in the media and other popular cultures. Rape culture attempts to rationalize a continuum of sexual violence that range from sexist remarks to unwanted sexual touching, and rape itself. Rape culture has become so desensitized by society that perpetrators may not be aware of their wrongdoings and victims may not realize they are being victimized. It is a culture in which victims are suppressed when they decide to speak up about their traumatic attack, because they are seen as being dramatic or untruthful while the perpetrator's actions are left unpunished. While the majority of victims are women, rape culture is not solemnly an issue of female oppression, it is a general disconnect between human beings. It is a culture that many of us refuse to accept exist, however there are numerous examples that normalize rape and sexual assault on a daily basis. Rape culture is not a new topic. The term was first used back in the 1970’s by a group of feminist to raise the awareness of the normalization of sexual violence in society. In recent years the topic has become a popular, controversial issue and has come to permeate virtually every aspect of our lives through media, song lyrics, and everyday jargon.