In this gendered, patriarchal world, we seem to not notice the subtleties in gender differences. How male-oriented jobs (engineering, science/math related industries and even athletes) are paid more than "feminine" jobs (teaching, secretary work, and mostly housework which isn't paid at all). Even without looking into the gendered division of labor we can see in our day to day lives that there's something inferior about the female gender. We have to work harder on the image we portray than men, there's always the whore/virgin dichotomy of viewing women, female oriented movies are called "chick-flicks", and women are always being objectified by men behind closed doors. All of these things are minor when it comes down to the main source of sexual objectification of women: Rape.
The odd thing about Rape is that it has a clear definition in one's mind but when it's actually happening, it's difficult to determine if you are in a "rape" situation. You read rape and think of an innocent girl walking down a dark alleyway on a Wednesday night when suddenly some psychopath jumps out from behind a trashcan, removes all of her clothing, does the deed and leaves her stranded, wounded and "raped". If this was the case, most if not all rape cases would be reported but did you know that rape is the least reported crime? And when reported, the people being prosecuted for rape are a less than 15%?
Let's place ourselves in a typical frat house during a party: tons of alcohol, loud music, Frat guys looking for "action" and Sorority girls looking for a hot boyfriend or at least somebody that "understands" her. Before the event, these guys are already talking about girls that they want to "hook-up" with and some guys go as far as to buy sedatives to put in girl's drinks (but this is a more direct form of rape that is more easily identifiable). As the party gets bigger and more girls arrive, men speak in derogatory terms to these women, objectifying them and calling them names such as beer-wenches, pieces of "meat" and well you can think of some other words. As the night continues and the girls get more and more intoxicated, men will push on the idea of sex into these girls. Not just by suggesting the idea but by emotionally threatening them: "You don't really love me if you don't have sex with me." or guilt tripping them "I have been there for you/I gave you alcohol and this is how you repay me?". Sex occurs because the girl doesn't know how to deal with the situation and just gives in because it is in her nature to follow her submissive gender role.
I believe that Guilt tripping is probably the strongest tool men use for rape. Men will justify their rape behavior by saying that a girl provoked such a situation by getting drunk or by wearing a certain outfit. Also, some people will say that because a girl returns to the same party that she was "raped" at that it is her fault. In my opinion, a girl will give the person the benefit of the doubt, believe she was wrong, be submissive and return again because she was guilt-tripped/emotionally threatened into doing what she did. She has no idea what really happened because she herself can't determine if its rape or not because not all of the pieces of the puzzle are there for her to make her accusation against this man.
This Rape Culture that lurks in today's society threatens the emotional safety of many girls from a variety of ages. These girls can never really know whether they are being used or not because they don't see rape as one of these situations. I think that if we can find a way to explain rape in a way that is more consistent with "real life" situations, not only will incidences of rape decrease because young women will be informed, but it will help us to get a better understanding of today's society and help to diminish the gap in the dichotomous nature of gender and finally make man and woman equal on some levels.
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