Hi, I'm here to interview someone named Jeremy for a short film that I'm doing about the
existence of rape culture.
Yes I'm Jeremy.
You're in the right place.
We're just waiting on one more.
Sorry I'm late.
Traffic was hell.
This is the devil.
I'm his advocate and regarding the controversial subject of rape culture we just have a few
questions.
Ooooh.
Ooh.
I get it.
Okay so you're the devil's advocate and you're here to question the existence of rape culture.
Go on.
Well, first of all, the devil would like to make it very clear that he is anti-rape.
Even the devil knows that rape is bad.
Okay.
But the term rape culture just feels like a trendy phrase to mean that all men are super
pro-rape.
Rape culture is a term designed to show the ways that sexual violence is normalized and
trivialized in our society.
This can be anything from the jokes we tell to the movies we watch to certain choice T-shirts
sold in Times Square to even some laws.
But what do you mean rape is normalized?
It's not normal, it doesn't happen a lot.
And when it does we label rapists as monsters.
First of all it does happen a lot.
On average an American is sexually assaulted every 98 seconds.
Well, I did not know that.
Sorry.
And second of all, rape and sexual assault are not just committed by monsters.
For years we did think that. We thought that rape and sex crimes were only committed by
men literally driven insane by sex.
They were put in mental institutions instead of prisons.
But now we know that's not true.
It's not just insane men who commit sex crimes.
It's all sorts of people.
It's friends, it's co-workers, it's otherwise upstanding citizens, like everyone you could
think of.
And also we now know that sex crimes aren't just motivated by sex, they're also motivated
by power.
Uh-huh.
Good points.
Are you hungry?
No, no thank you.
But what do you mean "rape culture?"
Our culture labels rape as bad.
I don't see a lot of people going around saying, "Yay rape!"
No, but I mean there are so many examples of ways that rape and sexual assault are normalized
and trivialized in our society.
Like off the top of my head, songs like Blurred Lines that say a woman wants it even though
she says she doesn't.
Trite jokes in stand up clubs about how funny it is to put a roofie in a woman's drink.
The fact that we elected a president who bragged about grabbing womens' genitals without their
consent.
And police who ask rape victims what they were wearing when they were raped.
But what about the times there are false accusations?
Rape culture might encourage a witch hunt.
Right D?
Mhmm.
So false accusations do happen, but really rarely.
So despite the recent support for victims of sexual violence to come forward, it still
sucks to do so.
I mean accusers are often stigmatized more than the people that are accusing.
People try to discredit them, they say they're lying to get attention or to get money, and
they have to relive their trauma by telling their story over and over and over again.
It's the reason a lot of people have chosen to remain anonymous when coming forward with
the recent wave of sexual harassment allegations.
But if you blame a culture for rape then you implicate all men.
Doesn't that take away the blame from actual rapists.
No, no it doesn't.
Rape culture can exist and people can also be held responsible for their actions.
Jeremy, look at me.
Don't.
Just look at me.
The devil would have you believe that things are black and white.
That if one side is right, other side must be wrong.
But that's not true.
I have something to say.
Hey, devil you don't have to talk.
That's what you pay me for.
The thing that bothers me is that I never hear about empathy towards men who survived
sexual assault.
I mean people make prison rape jokes all the time and we laugh at movies where a much older
woman takes a lucky teenager's virginity.
I mean it's just assumed that men want it all the time without exception.
And if a man is assaulted by someone, then he's seen as a wimp.
This is weird to say but devil you make a great point.
Rape culture affects people of all genders and everyone no matter the gender should be
held responsible for their actions regarding sexual violence.
La-di-da I guess you have all the answers.
No I do not.
This is a really, really complicated issue especially when you take into account things
like patriarchy and power and privilege and how all those systems work together.
No one has all the answers.
Wow.
I really learned a lot today.
So did I.
I mean I learned that the devil is real.
Which I'm just, I'm just now taking in.
Ahhhhhh!