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Book Review: Luke Gittos. Why Rape Culture is a Dangerous Myth: From Steubenville to Ched Evans. Exeter, UK: Imprint Academic, 2015. ISBN: 978-1845408374 (Paperback). 140 Pages. $28.96.
[Article copies available for a fee from The Transformative Studies Institute. E-mail address: journal@transformativestudies.org Website: http://www.transformativestudies.org ©2016 by The Transformative Studies Institute. All rights reserved.]
When he told friends and colleagues that he was writing a book about rape culture, Luke Gittos was frequently asked 'Why?' After all, what would a man in his late twenties working as a criminal lawyer in London write about such a tricky subject, one where it is often considered verboten for men to offer any sort of view at all?
When it comes to questions of women's oppression, and particularly an issue like rape, the views of women, particularly feminists and rape 'survivors', are today to be accepted unquestioningly. When it comes to the experience of rape, that makes sense. But when we look at how society approaches the issue of rape as a political and legal issue, it is legitimate for anyone to ask questions about official policies and the nature of public discussion today. And for Gittos, the implications of the rape culture discussion for important legal principles, freedom of speech, and even our ability to use our own judgement in our intimate lives are extremely troubling.
That discussion is dominated by the idea that we live in a 'rape culture.' Essentially, it is argued that society is accepting of rape as normal, something reinforced by a variety of means. Gittos quotes one definition by a campaign group calling itself Force:
Rape culture includes jokes, TV music, advertising, legal jargon, laws, words and imagery that make violence against women and sexual coercion seem so normal that people believe that rape is inevitable. Rather than viewing the culture of rape as a problem to change, people in a rape culture think about the persistence of rape as 'just the way things are.'2
While this may make perfect sense to many feminists, it jars with most people's view of rape as a heinous crime. It was certainly true in the past that rape was often dealt with very badly by the police and prosecuting authorities. In many jurisdictions, the notion that a...