rape culture
Sign in to savesociological concept used to describe a setting in which rape is pervasive and normalized due to societal attitudes about gender and sexuality
~40 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Reported rape statistics according to UNODC, 2025 Composite index about rape of women in 2018 according to WomanStats Project
Rape culture is a setting, as described by some sociological theories, in which rape is pervasive and normalized due to that setting's attitudes about gender and sexuality. Behaviors commonly associated with rape culture include victim blaming, slut-shaming, sexual objectification, trivialization of rape, denial of widespread rape, refusal to acknowledge the harm caused by sexual violence, or some combination of these. It has been used to describe and explain behavior within social groups, including prison rape and in conflict areas where war rape is used as psychological warfare. Entire societies have been alleged to be rape cultures.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “rape culture” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.