Women Studies

9 Pages 2186 Words

09). Society brings out a different definition for date rape. No one knows the aspect of what the victim goes through unless they have been there themselves. Yet many myths still seem to overtake society.
“Rape myths are part of the general culture, people learn them in the same way they acquire other attitudes and beliefs – from their families, friends, newspaper, movies and books” (Bechhoter, Parrot 28). There is no reason as to why myths occur in the first place, but this is one of the main reasons as to why victims stay silent and try to deal with the situation on their own. There are four main types of myths that deal with date rape that discourage the victims and sometimes encourage the rapist. The first myth is labeled Nothing Happened. “The first group of myths remove an incident from the category of a ‘real’ rape by denying that any incident, either sex or rape, occurred at all” (Bechhoter, Parrot 28). Even though this silence is very common, this makes it seem like it is easy for the victim to just forget everything that had happened to them. No matter the age that the individual was raped, this can make a significant change in every aspect of their life. This myth also had people thinking “that women lie, ‘crying rape’ to cover up an out-of wedlock pregnancy or to get back at men who have jilted them or refused their advances” (Bechhoter, Parrot 28). This is unethical to think because no one would ever want to put that much on themselves. Nothing Happened myth can be related to the culture of silence because they do want to try and believe that this did not happen to them, yet it tears them ...