Asking for it the alarming rise of rape culture--and what we can do about it

"If American women couldn't laugh about the way we discuss rape in this culture, half of us would be sobbing constantly, while the other half, one can only assume, would be arming themselves for the revolution. In the last few years, a series of Republican politicians have introduced memor...

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Main Author: Harding, Kate, 1975- (Author)
Format: Books Print Book
Language: English
Published: Boston, MA : Da Capo Lifelong, A Member of the Perseus Books Group, 2015.
Edition: First Da Capo Press edition.
Subjects:
Summary: "If American women couldn't laugh about the way we discuss rape in this culture, half of us would be sobbing constantly, while the other half, one can only assume, would be arming themselves for the revolution. In the last few years, a series of Republican politicians have introduced memorable phrases into the American lexicon that reveal their automatic suspicion of women who report rape: "forcible rape," "honest rape," "legitimate rape," and "emergency rape" are some choice favorites. These qualified terms reveal what a lot of Americans--too many of them in public office--believe down deep: There's rape, and then there's rape-rape. Disturbingly, most of us do support rape, whether in subtle ways ("All women should take self-defense classes!") or blatantly misogynistic ones ("Hot sex with a crazy bitch"). That's how culture works. You're soaking in it. This is the first book since 2008's Yes Means Yes! to tackle the subject of rape culture, and I'm pretty sure it's the first non-academic, single-author book since the 1990s to examine sexual assault as a social phenomenon. Harding explores how rape culture manifests itself via media narratives about sexual assault victims and perpetrators--and how those change, depending on the age, race, sexual orientation, gender identity and fame of both victim and offender. Through that lens, she will take a close look at the three pillars of rape culture--excusing the accused, blaming the victim, and insisting that individual women can and must protect themselves from rape"--Provided by publisher.
Physical Description: vii, 261 pages ; 23 cm
Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references (pages 241-243) and index.
ISBN: 9780738217024
0738217026
0738217034
9780738217031
Author Notes: Kate Harding is the coauthor of Lessons from the Fat-o-Sphere and a contributor to The Book of Jezebel. A columnist for DAME Magazine, she lives in Minnesota.