Response to Class Discussion, 2/17

During today’s class discussion I found that the topic of choice was actually very beneficial in relating rhetoric to the culture of rape. Although the topic may have been initially thought of as awkward, it was helpful in almost summing up what we discussed in the first part of the semester. Kairos, meaning the opportune time and place, is actually a crucial thing in a case of rape due to the many occurrences of rape. There are so many different times that offenders take advantage of the victim due to time and place. Like in many cases that we have talked about this semester, the time can include consumption of alcohol, the occasion and the power dynamic. Places can include hypermasculinity, such as frat houses and athletic dorms. With this factors that play into Kairos, there are many, many stories of rape that have all of these contributing factors.

It was interesting to talk about Kairos against rape. Honestly, I found this part a little more difficult because what we were trying to achieve was change the entire culture of rape. I believe that a huge factor that plays into this is the idea of rape is that fear of openly talking about sex, rape and violence. When sexual violence occurs on a college campus, or in general, many attempt to pull the “hush hush” act and convince the general public that this a topic that is not appropriate to talk about. But what if it was talked about more frequently? Would this help decrease rates of sexual assault and violence? Also, our American culture see’s sex as a private thing. Obviously, there is some common rule to this which is true, and no one should be out in public doing the deed, but it is such a common perspective that when young adults go buy condoms it may be looked down upon. But why aren’t why praising that? At least they are being responsible and doing the right thing!

The American culture has many ideals besides sex that need to change. It is understandable that it may be embarrassing for the victim that she/he let this happen to them, however, that is another cultural value, alcohol. It is believed that in college, the consumption of alcohol, getting “blacked out” and not remembering your night is a cool thing. However, when most normal adults look back on these experiences, most will say, “God, I was stupid.” I am not even out of college yet and I am thinking about times two years ago that are making me think of how stupid I was. The culture that universities practice is in desperate need of change. If the continued ideals stay in colleges, we will begin to see many problems in later generations.

The change of culture and language is at a large demand for change and without doing so, rape will be a continuous trend in our society. It is time to change the idea behind cultural values and pinpointing what is wrong and what needs to be changed. There are so many common places within each victim’s story so we need to start identifying the commonplaces before it is too late for another victim.