1. Rape Culture – Issues,
methods, and counselling
implications
By Gia Lam

2. Rape Culture…?
“A complex of beliefs that encourages sexual aggression and
supports violence… It is a society where violence is seen as sexy and
sexuality as violent… It is a continuum of threatened violence that
ranges from sexual remarks to sexual touching to rape itself. A rape
culture condones physical and emotional terrorism… as the norm”
(as cited in Buchwald, 1993, viii)

3. The Controversy

4. Why it matters
 1/4 of women will be raped in their lifetime
 92% of sexual assault victims are female
 472,000 females reported having been sexually assaulted in 2009
 204,000 males reported having been sexually assaulted in 2009
 Sexual attacks account for 1 in 5 incidents
 9% of sexual assaults are reported to police
 5 % of reported sexual assaults result in criminal prosecution
(Brennan & Taylor-Butts, 2008; Fisher, et al., 2000; Statistics Canada, 2004, 2009)

5. Sexual Violence – forced
sexual acts
• Forcefully touching or
kissing someone
• Threatening someone to
engage in intercourse
• Physically forced vaginal,
oral, and anal penetration
(Abbey, 2002, p. 119; Yeater & O’Donahue, 1999)
 25% of female college students have been victims of sexual violence
 Adolescents are more likely to be victims of sexual violence

6. Rape Myths
“You were asking for it”
“You wanted the attention”
“But you said yes before”
“Shouldn’t have drank so much”
“Is it really rape though?”
“Prejudicial, stereotyped or
false beliefs about rape, rape
victims and rapists”
(as cited in Payne, Lonsway, & Fitzgerald, 1999, p. 28)
Victim Blaming
• Victim Blaming often occurs in the
Criminal Justice System
• Victims are interrogated and
often face blame, judgement
and disbelief
(Banyard, et al., 2004; Greeson, et al. 2015)

7. Stanford Rape Case

8. Stanford Rape
Case - Trial
Judge Aaron Persky sentenced Brock Allen Turner to
3 counts of felony:
1. Assault with intent to commit rape
2. Sexual penetration of an intoxicated
person
3. Sexual penetration of an unconscious
person
(Time, 2016; The Guardian, 2015, 2016; The Stanford Daily, 2016)
The maximum penalty was 14 years in prison.
Brock Allen Turner was sentenced to 6 months in prison.

9. “A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him. I
think he will not be a danger to others” – Aaron Persky
(CNN, 2016; New York times, 2016)
Rape Culture?
“That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action” –
Dan A. Turner
“The night after it happened, he said he thought I liked it
because I rubbed his back. A back rub. Never mentioned me
voicing consent” – Victim Statement
“… find details about my personal life to use
against me ” – Victim Statement
“I was told because I couldn’t remember, I
technically could not prove it was
unwanted.” – Victim Statement

10. “I am no longer a swimmer, a student, a resident of California, or the
product of the work that I put into accomplish the goals that I set out
in the first nineteen years of my life.” – Brock Allen Turner in his
statement
Rape Culture?
“I am the sole proprietor of what happened on the night” –
Brock Allen Turner in his statement
(New York Times , 2016)
“They say: tell your judge he can go to hell, and
I hope his kids get raped and he rots in hell” –
Gary Goodman, Supervising attorney

11. The Purpose
To explore the socio-cultural phenomenon
of rape culture
• How can Rape Culture be brought to the foreground for
analysis?
• How can this foregrounding make the assumptions and
forces that perpetrate this culture available to the
counsellor who works with both perpetrators and victims of
this culture?

12. Methodology
Rape Myth Acceptance Scale
Date Rape Attitude Survey
Attitude Towards Rape Survey
(Payne, Lonsway, & Fitzgerald, 1999; McMahon & Farmer, 2011)

13. Methodological Issues
Rape Culture is persistent and normalized
Biases
Media
Public Opinion
Conflict between men’s rights groups verses feminists
Credibility, Transferability, Dependability, Confirmability

14. Counselling Implication &
Conclusion…?
Therapy is being “threatened with becoming the
servant of the surrounding culture rather than its
participant/observer and critic”
So where do we start?
(McWilliams, 2015)

15. Questions?