Rape Culture Warriors

The title is more of an adjective than an imperative statement. I have to wonder wonder, sometimes: are the people who push the boundaries on what constitutes "rape" or "rape culture" sane, or are they serious? Either way, there is a point at which they can no longer be really taken seriously, and they are rapidly approaching that point, so much the worse for actual rape survivors. Because the latest, greatest boundary-push in the question of "was it rape?" seems to fit the pattern of "it was rape because at some point one person involved decided it was." To wit, the concept of being "raped by rape culture."

Explicitly given consent is no longer enough, because now even "yes" can mean "no" after the fact.

First, let me reiterate that there is, of course, a simple solution to all of this: that is the very solution that these people oppose. A return to the so-called "Judeo-Christian" sexual ethic does largely get rid of these problems, and it does entirely get rid of them if understood via theology of the body, etc. A culture which adopts a sexual ethic which places the greatest emphasis on purity of heart or even simple chastity is a culture in which rape ceases to be a problem. Avoid fornication, adultery, etc, because in the context of marriage you can build the kind of relationship and trust to understand your spouse's desires, to say nothing of consent*. Barring this, another simple lesson from the Bible comes to mind: " Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one" (Matthew 5:37).

Second, stupid ideas like the one presented by Miss Bosiljevac--that one cane be "raped by rape culture"--are of concern to everyone, in that when people begin to take them seriously, a whole host of real and imagined victims are created. The imagined victims are those who claim to have been "raped" when no rape has taken place; the real victims are largely men, but also women who suffer from actual rapes and are not believed. Indeed, there are cases now of lives being ruined over an alleged rape in which no sexual encounter of any sort has occurred, and some reasonably widely read organs of propaganda which have helped to create these victims. To the extent that one need only be accused of being a rapist--without evidence, without, in some cases, even necessarily knowing the victim--to be treated like a rapist, well, this whole movement is a threat not so much to rapists, but to ordinary and ordinarily innocent men (and perhaps even women) everywhere.



*Yes, there is such a thing as marital rape, and it too is a horrible thing. It has no place in an authentically Christian marriage, or, really, any authentically loving marriage. Neither do false accusations have any place in any authentically loving relationship.