TO THE EDITOR:
As a former staff member in a rape crisis center and a sociologist who studies interpersonal violence, I’m dismayed by Michele Martin’s (“Overuse of word ‘rape’ undermines importance,” Dec. 2) misunderstanding of the concept of “rape culture.”
She criticizes Andrew Tamayo’s characterization of comments in the quote file as indicative of “rape culture,” specifically “equating a girlfriend’s value with her willingness to perform frequent oral sex.” Martin writes: “the comparison between two willing partners and forced sexual assault (is) erroneous.”
Martin mistakenly equates the act of rape (forced sexual assault) with the concept of a rape culture. Rape culture includes acts of rape, but it is much more than that. A rape culture is a set of beliefs that encourages men’s sexual aggression and supports violence against women. As Emilie Buchwald, Pamela Fletcher and Martha Roth wrote in their (1993) book, “Transforming a Rape Culture,” “it is a society in which violence is seen as sexy and sexuality as violent.” Mainstream heterosexual pornography is but one example.
Reducing women’s value to their willingness to perform “frequent oral sex” — rather than the consensual act of oral sex itself — is part of the rape culture because it objectifies women and equates their worth with their sexual service to men. Such beliefs do not cause rape, but they are supportive of men’s systematic targeting of women for acts of violence.
Matthew Ezzell, PhD
Class of ’99
