Rape Culture 101

Not infrequently, male Shakers say in comments of threads about sexual violence that they cannot imagine what it's like to live as a woman in the rape culture.

Speaking for myself only, as other women may certainly disagree, I would say that this video [trigger warning for sexual violence] conveys that experience in a way as chilling as it is precise.

You want to know what it's like to live as a woman in the rape culture? Watch that video, and imagine being a woman in the room, listening to a man tell a humorous anecdote about raping a woman to a room full of cheering men, while male comedians onstage make jokes that reveal they know it's rape but won't say the word, won't stop him, do not express compassion for his victim, do not react in any way at all to the admitted rapist in their midst, except to observe that the women in the room are shaking their heads with disgust.

Imagine how unsafe you'd feel. Imagine how angry you'd feel. And then imagine that it's not a room you can leave.

That's what living as a woman in the rape culture is like.

[H/T to @ArielArcher.]