#6: Visual

This pyramid shows the various levels of rape culture that we see in our society. The first level is the normalization of it, which may not seem like serious problems but they are as they lead to worse things. In this level, we see rape jokes, the phrase "boys will be boys", "girls should stay home", victim blaming, "locker room banter", unequal pay, and sexist attitudes. The one we see often is victim blaming where rape victims are blamed for the rape when we should be blaming the rapists. The next level is degradation where people, usually women, are humiliated by various acts such as cat-calling/whistling, non-consensual photos, stalking/following, and "revenge porn". The next level is the removal of autonomy where the victim's freedom is taken from them through sexual coercion, threats, groping, covert condom removal, etc. The top level is explicit violence which includes rape, gang rape, murder, molestation, and just any form of violence.  Rape culture is the acceptance of all the lower levels where it then leads to rape. This is significant to my paper because I will be talking about the ways rape culture is accepted and normalized on college campuses. The subtopics in each of these levels occur often on college campuses so it is important to look at how the three lowest levels contribute to the highest level which is rape and other forms of sexual violence.