• Question: What are your thoughts on Rape Culture, Victim Blaming and 'Slut Shaming'?

    Asked by thor to Adam, Chris, Eleanor, Jessamyn, Sinead on 15 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Eleanor Holmes

      Eleanor Holmes answered on 15 Nov 2013:

      Hi Thor,

      This is an interesting and controversial question and I’m not quite sure what context you want me to answer it in. But here are some of my thoughts:

      Firstly, I had to look up the definition of “Rape Culture”. Apparently it’s “A culture in which prevalent attitudes and practices normalize, excuse, tolerate, and even condone rape.” Obviously that is a terrible thing. The question of whether Our culture is a “Rape Culture”…well that’s a debate that needs to be had and I haven’t participated enough in the conversation to comment further.

      Next you mention “victim blaming”. Well this is clear cut. You have a victim of a crime, or behaviour, and you blame them for what has been done to them. This is wrong and it makes no sense to me.

      The third thing you talk about is “slut-shaming”. I think the problem here might be that we don’t have a very good definition for this. I see people in forums arguing about what is and isn’t “slut-shaming” and no-one can seem to agree. The bottom line is, I don’t think anybody should be made to feel ashamed of being the way that makes them happy. That is, so long as they are not harming anyone else. I don’t really care if Stalin was happy.

      I hope this answers you question.

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