Rape Culture in our Society

     I think that we all go on with our lives ignoring the fact that 1 in 4 female college students are sexually harassed at least once on campus. Or the fact that 30% of children are molested between the ages of 14-17. And now even the most popular, successful hollywood actors are being accused of sexual harassment/molestation. As much as we don’t want to admit it, rape culture has become so prevalent in our society that even the stars that many of us idolize, are apart of it.
    For example, Kevin Spacey who has starred in House of Cards for the past couple years, has recently been accused of sexual harassment. And George Takei, has been slammed with cases of molestation and sexual assault. Not only have multiple victims claimed to be hurt by these men, but their perverted personalities have been publicized many times. The main question is, why aren’t they in jail?
    Out of a thousand rapists, almost 994 perpetrators walk free. This statistic surprisingly doesn’t shock me. These numbers are easily believable in the context of our society. As much as we think that we are safe, living in a first world country compared to a third world country, we really aren’t. Our own president has been videotaped during his so called “locker room” conversation only to reveal that our society has just another “outstanding” and “brilliant” figure that supports sexual harassment. So why aren’t these criminals in jail?
    Well, our society seems to do a great job blaming the victim and releasing the perpetrators unharmed from these situations. And until we force these rapists and molesters to take responsibility for their actions, our society will still be stuck in its primal stages.
   We need to stop blaming the women and children who are being molested and raped. We need to start providing them the proper medical and psychological care that they need. We need to start blaming the real criminals like Kevin Spacey and George Takei who still bask in the rays of wealth and popularity instead of taking responsibility for their horrible actions. And most importantly, we need to put them behind bars. How can we be considered one of the most developed countries if we can’t even properly bring justice to women and children?

Post written by guest writer Medha Dandamudi