Universities Under Investigation Re: Handling Sexual Assault

[honorgal]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

This seems like a false dichotomy to me. Without a doubt rape is caused by conscious decisions, but those conscious decisions, like all conscious decisions, are often shaped, at least in part, by cultural factors.

An oversimplification and overgeneralization, it seems to me. Yes, the culture at large says rape is wrong, but the culture at large isn't the only culture at play. Coaches, for example, may say one thing, but what does the athletic peer culture say? And which culture wins?

The Duke lacrosse case comes to mind. False accusations, but false accusations dropped down in a context where they were all too easy to believe, at least until the accusations started to unravel, because of the culture of the lacrosse team. I have no doubt that those guys had 18+ years of being taught right from wrong, and yet some of them thought it was okay to call in strippers for a party and to make sexually suggestive statements to them.

And the message of "rape culture" isn't an oversimplification and over generalization?