There has been an amazing thing going on in the media lately. Rapists and Harassers are being exposed for the terrible things that they have done to people. People such as Kevin Spacey, Melanie Martinez, Russell Simmons, Harvey Weinstein and many others have been facing the consequences of their actions lately; as well as Woody Allen being reprimanded online (will his victims ever get justice?). Many rapist apologizers and defenders in Hollywood have recently been saying that there is a “witch hunt” looking for people to accuse of sexual assault.
Now, unless you are a sexual assault perpetrator, you shouldn’t feel worried. You should feel glad that the victims are getting justice. That is the morally correct way to react. If your first reaction to a sexual assault allegation is to bully the victim or restate your support for a rapist, you are contributing to rape culture.
Now, maybe you are asking, “What is rape culture?” Or maybe you are just denying it. Rape culture is everywhere. Every time someone that was raped is asked what they were wearing, that is rape culture. Every time a victim is harassed until they drop charges, that is rape culture. Rape culture is when people tell someone it was their fault, because they had given someone consent before or because they are in a relationship or married. Rape culture is seen when someone says a sex worker can’t be raped.
Rape culture is when rape is blamed on the victim and normalized in a society. A lot of countries that claim to have advanced human rights are blaming the victims for having one of the most basic human rights violated. The right to your own body is crucial, but so many people ignore this.
Most of the sexual assault accusations that have been made have been proven true, admitted to or have corroboration that make it likely. That is why they can not be compared to a witch hunt. People, specifically women, have been killed for being accused of being witches. People used to say that if they lived, then they were a witch, but none of these people were witches. Thousands of people were murdered because of these false accusations. Their murder was justified too! If you did not like your neighbor or someone wasn’t selling you their land, you could just accuse them of being a witch, and they would be murdered.
People have been murdered for things that they didn’t do, but now rapists don’t even receive punishment for what they do. Some of the nicest people I have ever met are witches. The accusations are not a Hollywood “witch hunt,” they are a Hollywood bitch hunt, and no abuser should be safe.
