Last Sunday, Kate Harding joined us for a dinner discussion over a topic many people dare to speak about—rape and sexual assault. She talked about rape culture, which is basically a society that supports and protects the rapist more than the victim. Hearing this definition I’m sure a lot of people think that surely American culture does not support rapists—aren’t rapists prosecuted and usually sent to jail? But rape culture takes on a subtle form. It is asking if the person was drunk when they were raped. It’s asking, “Are you sure?” It’s saying that you don’t believe the person because the rapist would never doing something like that. When hearing that someone has been raped, do you approach them and ask them if they need help or support?

A lot of what Kate Harding spoke about was very eye-opening and I was so glad to attend this event. I learned that there are naps nowadays that have contracts for women/men to sign before having sex. While this may seem like a good idea, it implies that consent can’t be taken back. Actually as soon as a person says to stop, the other person must stop.

As discussed during the dinner conversation, I think that children should be taught about consent and sex early on. Television shows and media provide a false perception of what sex is like. Teaching children early on would help to combat rape culture and hopefully lead more people to start supporting the victim, not the rapist.