I believe that I speak for almost every woman who has ever been catcalled, slut-shamed, victim blamed, or assaulted when I say you have no idea what you're talking about, Thomas Briggs. In case you haven’t done your reading, Briggs wrote an opinion piece on what he has deemed “hookup culture.” Basically, he has single-handedly trivialized one of the most prevalent social problems in American society-- rape culture. For those of you unaware of what rape culture entails, let me give you a brief synopsis: rape culture, by definition, is “an environment in which rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence against women is normalized and excused in the media and popular culture” (Marshall University Women’s Center). It is an insidious layer of society that we generally accept and often enable, not some fictional term we use for what Briggs has essentially described as remorse after having sex.
In his ill-informed essay, Briggs asserts that we, the college students, have confused the normativity of sexual encounters in a blur of alcohol and indeterminate ‘consent’ and misnamed this norm rape culture. But I implore Briggs to delve deeper into the issue and ignore his preconceived notions about alcohol fueled hookups. You see, Briggs, I think you're confused about the concept of rape culture since it is not as simple as how one person feels the day after (or even an hour after) a sexual encounter.
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I invite Briggs to revisit the Isla Vista Massacre of 2014. One day, six innocent civilians were brutally slaughtered; the next, their deaths were justified. The basis of this vindication made the tragedy that much more disturbing and brought our attention to the all too prevalent underlying factor which fueled the massacre as well as the proceeding justification, Briggs’s so called ‘hookup culture.’
To refresh everyone’s memory on this horrible tragedy, a 22-year-old resident of Santa Barbara, California, opened fire near the USCB campus after posting a crazed rant to YouTube. In this rant, he described his plans to kill all of the girls in the prettiest sorority because he was a virgin, and he attributed this to them. Needless to say, he got a massive reaction from social media with many of the comments veering toward heinously inappropriate jokes made by males. These comments ranged from rape jokes to slut shaming landing ultimately at one ridiculous conclusion: this atrocity wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for women choosing not to sleep with the shooter.
Okay, so what’s the big deal with a couple of harmless comments? We all know that random commenter doglover365 doesn’t actually think rape is okay, they were only making a dark joke. But what if one of the yearly 293,066 (reported cases only!) rape victims sees this joke? Is it still meaningless? Or what if a part of the 15% of men (that’s one out of seven!) who are rapists sees it? Is it still harmless? This all feeds into the foundation of your ‘hookup culture,’ Briggs, and my questions are not rhetorical. I want an answer. How do our ‘temporary hormones’ excuse the physical, mental, and emotional trauma that a victim experiences after an assault?
Feel free to respond . . . or just continue to use your platform as a writer to market the idea of rape culture under your own special brand.
