As stated in the previous section the idea of society having a rape culture i.e., a bias towards promoting violence against women, was introduced in the 1970’s by feminist academics/scholars and criminologists.
One of these was Susan Brownmiller whose 1975 book, “Against our Will: Men, Women and Rape”, looked at the history of rape, from the perspective of rape being used as a tool of male dominance.
Although she didn’t explicitly use the term “Rape Culture” her central argument was that such a culture/environment has always existed, and without societal change always will. She was one of the first people to introduce the idea into the mainstream that rape had a sociological component to it, and wasn’t purely down to psychological reasons, at the level of the individual rapist.
Brownmiller also highlighted how those who had been sexually victimized were treated by law enforcement, and that historically male officers were often suspicious of survivors, believing their accounts to be false; something that changed in New York, when policewomen rather than men, interviewed those who had been assaulted (“false” accusations dropped to around 2% - a figure that is largely true of other violent crimes) .
The term itself became more widespread after the release of the 1975 film, “Rape Culture” (directed by Lazarus and Wunderlich), which attempted to raise awareness, about how society’s beliefs and attitudes towards women, created a culture which normalized rape and sexual assault. The film featured interviews with survivors, along with experts in criminology and forensic psychology.
However, throughout the 1970’s, the media, including TV, film and advertising struggled with how to promote healthy ideas of masculinity, femininity, and sex.
The 1974 film, Straw Dogs, featured a rape scene, where the individual being victimized, initially resists, but then willingly submits, and takes pleasure from the incident – this is not an uncommon portrayal of rape at this time, with those “victimized” showing little trauma or negative effects after the incident .
When rape in the movies portrays the perpetrators as being sadistic, lower-class individuals who target children as well as vulnerable women , this doesn’t reflect the reality of rape, where those targeted are more likely to be assaulted by someone they know rather than a stranger.
A 1976 advertising campaign for the Rolling Stones, “Black and Blue” album involved a billboard on Sunset Boulevard, that featured an image of a women in a torn bodice, who had her hands tied behind her back, which was captioned with the title, “I’m black and blue from the Rolling Stones – and I love it.”
After protests by several groups, the advert was taken down. The 1978 film/musical “Grease”, also contained and referenced some ideas concerning “Rape Culture”. In the song “Tell me more”, as the lead character (Danny Zuko) played by John Travolta, sings about his relationship with Sandy Olson (played by Olivia Newton-John), the character Kenickie Murdoch (Jeff Conaway), asks “Did she put up a fight?” This line/idea is extremely problematic in that it suggests “persistence” is rewarded, and that women who say “No”, don’t actually mean “No”.
Around the same time, however, journalists were starting to look at certain aspects such as the ways in which law enforcement handled incidents of rape and sexual assault and interacted with survivors of such assaults. This led to several documentaries examining the police’s handling of such cases. In the next section we will look at some of the ways in which “rape culture” ideas were dealt with in the 1980’s.