Rape culture is a blame shift.
A woman walks to work one day while wearing a short skirt and a singlet. As she passes a group of men at a corner they holler and call her lewd names. She tells her co-workers and they say that those men are pigs.
The next day the woman walks to work while wearing jeans and a hoodie, and to her surprise she passes the men unnoticed. Her co-workers tell her that they probably ignored her because of her clothing.
On the third day the woman wears the short skirt and singlet to work, and as she passes the men they holler loudly as they had done the first day. When she tells her co-workers, they are confused. They tell her that if she didn’t want the men to holler, then she shouldn’t have dressed that way.
The blame shifts from the rude men to the woman and her clothing. Her co-workers think that she was inviting the calls by not dressing differently.
That’s rape culture.
In reality, every time those men holler at her, it is their fault. If she dresses differently purely to avoid their attention, then that is just as bad as if they had hollered at her anyway, as their hollering has forced her to behave differently simply so that she may be left alone. And that is their fault. The blame does not shift. In any circumstance where she is not wearing what she wants and feeling safe and being left alone; It is their fault.
Reality: There are men and it is their responsibility to not rape.
Rape culture: There is rape and it is a woman’s responsibility to avoid it.
