We live in a world where sexual assault can be dismissed with jokes or excuses, even used in a chatup line or plastered across a T-shirt. The UK rape statistics are shocking, and so are these harrowing reports to the Everyday Sexism Project

This is rape culture – and look at the damage it does

What do we mean when we say “rape culture”? You may have heard the term used recently. It describes a culture in which rape and sexual assault are common (in the UK over 85,000 women are raped and 400,000 sexually assaulted every single year). It describes a culture in which dominant social norms belittle, dismiss, joke about or even seem to condone rape and sexual assault. It describes a culture in which the normalisation of rape and sexual assault are so great that often victims are blamed, either implicitly or explicitly, when these crimes are committed against them. A culture in which other factors such as media objectification make it easier to see women as dehumanised objects for male sexual purposes alone.

It’s part of rape culture when “I’m feeling rapey” T-shirts are put up for sale on eBay. Or when a member of a University sports team goes out in a “casual rape” shirt, or another team plays a game called: “It’s not rape if …”

It’s part of rape culture when a child victim of sexual abuse is accused of being complicit and somehow “egging” on her abuser in the court case against him. It’s rape culture that makes it so hard for male victims to speak out too, because hand-in-hand with the dismissal of rape as a hilarious joke goes the stigmatisation of male rape victims as effeminate, impotent or non-existent.

Sometimes it’s hard to recognise or understand rape culture without hearing real-life examples of how it impacts on everyday lives, starting from an incredibly young age:



Jill Nicholls (@NichollsJill) @EverydaySexism #followed home from primary school by gang of boys saying they'd rape me - didn't know what it meant but was scared - ran

Tasha Berg (@TashaHugs) @EverydaySexism Overheard young boy on bus saying - "I'll rape your mum so bad she can't walk". Sickening!

It means that the discussion and threat of rape becomes an acceptable part of public discourse:



Shruti Sardesai (@ShrutiSardesai) @EverydaySexism Can't go out for walks around my house bc routinely harassed, called names, and told that I need to be raped. Lovely stuff.

Anna Porretta (@Little_Terrors) @EverydaySexism My coworker was walking me to my car after my closing shift, I thanked him and he laughed & said he could rape me right now.

And the idea of rape becomes fair game for public jokes:

Angela Barnes (@Angela_Barnesy) Genuine chat up scene unfolding on this train: Boy: do you have a rape alarm? Girl: yes Boy: shame I despair for humanity. @EverydaySexism

Rape culture suggests that men have a ‘right’ to women’s bodies, thus undermining the concept of consent:

Storm Emily (@TheUrbanDryad) @EverydaySexism Guy I used to go out with decides he wants to restart stuff between us. When I decline he threatens to rape me #ShoutingBack

This leads to common misconceptions about women “asking for it” or “wanting it”, even if they explicitly say otherwise:

Chocoholic Girl (@chazzyb31) @EverydaySexism At a party with bf, met his friend & pregnant gf. Friend follows me into toilets & says he's going to rape me bcs I want it.

♀☭Tw¡nk Sl¡thersby☭♀ (@Twinklecrepe) @EverydaySexism I was raped by a coworker. I told my boss about it; she said it wasn't rape and implied I actually wanted it

This leads to public speculation about whether victims’ dress or behaviour could be to blame for their own assaults:

elin who (@therosetylah) @EverydaySexism two girls in my class were talking about how you'd only have yourself to blame for getting raped if you wore a short skirt

Catherine (@Scathach_81) @EverydaySexism A former magistrate blames short skirts for rape on #bbctbq Welcome to 21st century Britain. #VictimBlaming

Wolf Mommy (@Wolf_Mommy) When a man told me breastfeeding my baby in public is going to get me raped. @EverydaySexism

This shifts all the focus onto victims, while perpetrators are not addressed at all:

The Family Buisness (@Sarah_Watsons) @EverydaySexism ever since I was little my mum told me how to not get raped but I have never heard her once tell my 2 brothers not to rape.

Rape culture can permeate every area of a woman’s life, from the pavement:

Katie McArthur (@grrumblecakes) And FURIOUS that there are people alive who think threatening to rape me on my way to work is a funny joke #everydaysexism

To the workplace:

AM (@adorrissey) @EverydaySexism upon hearing I was 19 and a virgin, my coworker suggested I "needed to get raped."

From the classroom:

Ellen Steenkamp (@EllenSteenkamp) @EverydaySexism At age 11 classmate on schooltrip stated that 'no-one would rape me anyway cuz I'm too ugly'. Others only laughed at that

To our own homes and families:

honey-senpai (@kawaiifriend) @EverydaySexism bought an open back t shirt for a concert a month ago; my father told me the shirt screamed "rape me"

As the word starts to lose its meaning, it becomes harder and harder to object to rape culture:

Charlie Price (@charliecat82) @EverydaySexism #LadCulture being told by an ex-boyfriend that he'd like to rape me and then he didn't get why I was angry.

Worst of all, the widespread and normalised nature of rape culture makes it increasingly hard for victims to speak out, as they learn to believe they won’t be taken seriously, or are dismissed when they do:

Amanda Tall (@AmandaLDTall) On a nearly empty metro 4 men shouted they wanted to rape me. Scary but we're not meant to make a fuss so didn't tell anyone @EverydaySexism

Lorg Mo Chearta (@BriMonroeCarter) @EverydaySexism I was 15 & my rape happened at a party. Never reported it because I knew I would get blamed&no would believe me. #RapeIsRape

Chitra Nagarajan (@chitranagarajan) #ididnotreport because I thought I was overreacting - when being followed by groups of men and threatened with rape

Vidyut (@Vidyut) the usual. RT @THELOUDERMOUTH: @EverydaySexism When I told friends I was raped, they said I 'should have been more careful.' #shoutingback

The cycle is perpetuated as victims are silenced and blamed, the crime normalised, and perpetrators completely ignored.

This is rape culture.