Dear Future President,

Do you think rape is caused by the victim dressing too provocatively? Victim blaming is a problem in all parts of the world, even here in America. Especially in the justice system. Some questions they may ask when men and women who report their assault are quite disgusting:

How much were you drinking?

What were you wearing?

Rape Culture and Victim blaming are tied to together in many ways. Rape culture is a set of beliefs that support acting out sexually on men and women because they can’t control their sexual urges. Victim blaming is exactly what it sounds like, blaming the victim for the horrendous actions of other people.

I feel the cause of this might be from the old belief that women are to be totally submissive to men and do as they say, when they say. Another old belief is that men can not be raped because they’re men and they’re supposed to be the bigger person and defend themselves. Some effects might be that MANY people may not speak up about the rape in fear of being blamed or punished because of the terrible things people say and do to rape victims.

For example, in the article, “What You Need to Know About Rape Culture” it says, “in 2012, two students from an Ohio high school football players were accused of sexually assaulting their 16-year-old classmate. In response to the victim's allegations, a volunteer football coach for the young men's team, told The New York Times, "The rape was just an excuse, I think. What else are you going to tell your parents when you come home drunk like that and after a night like that? She had to make up something. Now people are trying to blow up our football program because of it."” In my opinion, I think that it is pathetic women and men are being treated this way. An example of men being treated this way is, men in prison getting unwillingly sodomised and getting very little sympathy.

Rape culture and victim blaming matter to me because too many people are hiding in the dark about their struggles and when they actually speak up, they’re somehow blame for it. If you make the policemen ask less blaming questions to the victims, maybe, just maybe, we can help this issue a little bit here in America.

Sincerely,

Lilly H.