About the Sexual Assault Interagency Council

One in four college-age women report having experienced rape or attempted rape in their lifetime. (http://www.ojp.gov/nij/pubs-sum/182369.htm)
One in eight women of all ages report having experienced rape in their lifetime. (http://www.fcasv.org/statistics.htm)
One in seven men report having experienced rape or attempted rape in their lifetime. (Hoper, Sexual Abuse of Males: Prevalence and Lasting Effects and Resources, 1997)
11-20% of all teen pregnancies are the direct result of rape. (http://www.fcasv.org/statistics.htm)
Rape continues to be the most under-reported crime. At best, only 30% of rape victims report the crime. (http://www.fcasv.org/statistics.htm)

Do we live in a rape culture? Are there at least elements of our society that condone rape? Think about this:

Grand Theft Auto is one of the top selling video games of all time. Points are earned by beating prostitutes to death with baseball bats after having sex with them. In the video game Duke Nukem, a player hones his skills by using pornographic posters of women for target practice, and earns bonus points for shooting naked and bound prostitutes and strippers who beg, "Kill me."
Music videos commonly depict women as bound, gagged, on their knees, held by their hair, grabbed by the wrist, yanked around or spread out in vulnerable positions on their backs - in other words pervasive scenes of coercion, aggression, intimidation and fear. Rap artist Eminem's song Kim graphically depicts him murdering his wife: and Kill You describes how he plans to rape and murder his mother.
Last Halloween, costume companies sold "pimp" and "ho" costumes for preschoolers, including "tear-away tops" for four year old girls.
The media is saturated with sex. It might be noted that in the Super Bowl incident Janet Jackson was widely assailed for "baring her breast." It has already been forgotten that the staged event featured Justin Timberlake simulating rape by tearing off her clothing... moments before, he sang the lyric "I'll have you naked by the end of this song." This publicity stunt reveals how pervasive cultural misogyny and widespread acceptance of aggressive behavior toward women is. Music, videos, movies and TV programs urge men to take whatever they can get.
CBS's new show, "The Sexiest Night on Television", is advertised with pictures of women wearing only fishnet hose and seductive lingerie.
Ask any high school boy to define masculinity. Chances are his first answer will be "tough", "hard", "in charge." Caring, sensitive and empathetic are not even in the top 100.

We live in a culture that romanticizes violence against women. From Scarlett O'hara fighting off Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind to General Hospital's Laura marrying Luke, her rapist, all the way to contemporary music video and advertising, the romanticizing of sex involves women being seduced by men's force.