Sociology: violence against women;
Gender, inequality; patriarchy and sexual division of labour
NEWS IN SHORT
- Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan defended his recent statement in which the Oxford-educated former cricketer had blamed “obscenity” for the rise in rape cases in the country.
- During an interview with ‘Axios on HBO’, Khan defended his recent statement in which the Oxford-educated former cricketer had blamed “fahashi” (vulgarity) for the rise in rape cases in the country, advising women to cover up to prevent “temptation”.
- “It is a completely different society, way of life here. So if you raise temptation in the society to the point, and all these young guys have nowhere to go, it has consequences in the society,” Khan told the interviewer. “If a woman is wearing very few clothes, it will have an impact on the men, unless they are robots. I mean it’s common sense.
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
- Rape cultureis a sociological theory of a setting in which rape is pervasive and normalized due to societal attitudes about gender and sexuality.
- Behaviors commonly associated with rape culture include victim blaming, slut-shaming, sexual objectification, trivializing rape, denial of widespread rape, refusing 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.
Sexualization
- Sexualization and sexual objectification are practices that contribute to the normalization of hyper-sexualized perceptions of women, which is a theme in rape culture.
- Hyper-sexualized or pornographic media is often attributed with perpetuating aggressive behaviors and attitudes supporting violence against women. Media depictions of violent sexual activity are also noted to increase behavioral aggression.
- Sexualizing imagery surfaces and reinforces misogynistic beliefs in some instances. This media can come in forms of movies, music, advertising, video games and more