Summary
This article provides insight regarding the comparison between associations that are highly likely to expose women to the risk of being raped and surroundings where the probability of rape is lower. From the start, the authors observe that people do not understand the rape culture. The article begins the article by presenting information that defines what rape culture is. It presents rape culture as the beliefs and values that change surroundings into areas that are conducive for rapes to occur. The authors imply that a proper understanding of the rape culture plays an important role in changing the attitude of women regarding rape.
In order to provide a better understanding of rape culture, the authors focus their attention examining two parties identified as high-risk and low-risk respectively. They also examine different fraternities that frequent two local bars. By examining high-risk and low-risk surroundings, the article seeks to determine the character of environments that are highly likely to contribute to rape. While discussing these surroundings, the authors cite various aspects of campus life that promote rape culture. Eventually, the authors opine that the discussions about the rape culture in campuses should start to consider the social settings in order to understand the role that campus surroundings play in perpetuating sexual violence.
Analysis/Critique
What are the strengths of the article?
Believable
It is believable because it use of research, interviewing, and observation through interaction makes the content reliable. The evidence of how interaction is evident when the authors narrate firsthand encounters with the fraternities. An example of a phrase that reveals firsthand interaction include when the author includes specific pick up lines that the men used to woo women. An example is the phrase, “want to see my fish tank?” (137) which shows that the narrator collected the data through observing and interacting with the students, an aspect that makes that information reliable, hence believable.
Frequent Use of Direct Quotes
The technique of using direct quotes while reporting some of the occurrences captures one’s attention thereby enhancing the understanding of the reader. For instance, when the authors quote a student stating, “The whole game of hooking up became really meaningless and tiresome” (140), it becomes clear that senior students are not interested in casual sex.
What Are The Weaknesses Of The Article?
Inaccuracy
Even the authors acknowledge the likelihood that the information that they collected is flawed by stating thus, “other than the observer, no one knew the identity of the high- or low-risk fraternities” (136). Accordingly, the students were also quick to register their disapproval of the information provided in the article, yet the authors fail to address those concerns within the article to justify their decision to publish the same.
Self-righteousness
It appears that the authors of the article consider themselves as belonging to a kind of righteous fraternity. This is apparent when they appear to judge every interaction between women and men as being motivated by sex and nothing else. For instance, at the high-risk parties, the authors seem to conclude that “lots of eye contact, touching, and very close talking” (137) contributes to rape culture while the same behavior in low-risk parties is perfectly all right. This makes the article very subjective in the sense that it insinuates that what people enjoy in the privacy of their rooms contributes to the development of rape culture.
What Makes The Article Sociological?
The thing that makes the article sociological is the fact that besides presenting a study of the human society it also presents a study of social problems. The social problem that the article presents a study of is sexual assault within a campus and is evidenced by the frequent reference to students. For instance, the author states, “some students claim paternities even control the dating relationship of senior members.” The authors also include sociological aspects such as avoidance, which is apparent when a first-year says, “70 percent of hook-ups never talk again and try to avoid one another” (139). Avoidance is a sociological term that introduces the aspect of people avoiding each other within the same society.
How Does The Issue/Topic Impact Society? Are There Specific Groups Impacted By This Topic More Than Others?
The issue of sexual assault affects the society in the sense that one gender, usually the male gender, uses it to dominate the other gender (female). An instance where sexual assault is presented as a control and dominance tool is when the authors observe that under a system that permits alcohol in parties, “men control the parties and dominate the men as well as the women who attend” (144). Accordingly, the dominance of males over females is reinforced by a junior woman who says, “it I their environment that they allow us to enter; therefore, we have to abide by their rules” (140).
The specific group that is impacted by the topic more than others is women. This is because the article portrays young women as the primary victims of rape within colleges. One instance where the article depicts women as victims of rape is when the authors observe thus, “these women are faceless victims, nameless acquaintances – not friends” (143).
Which sociological perspective(s) would you use to analyze this article?
Symbolic interactionism is the social perspective that is best in analyzing the paper. This is because the perspective is based on the belief that one can best understand human beings by evaluating their practical and interactive relation to their environment. The article evaluates the practical and interactive aspect of human relation to their environment because the study looks at how the students interact with the high-risk and low-risk environments, first at the fraternity parties and secondly at the bar scene. This is apparent when the authors say, “we observed several differences in the quality of the interaction of men and women at parties at high-risk fraternities.” (136).
Conclusion
The conclusion of the article is that rape culture is in existence in some fraternities. Based on the information provided in the article, I do not agree with the authors. This is because the authors do not provide compelling evidence to show that indeed the rape culture is present in some fraternities. The article only presents flirtation phrases between students such as “want to see my fish tank?” and “Let’s go upstairs so that we can talk; I can’t hear what you’re saying in here” (137) but does not provide any tangible evidence of rape actually happening during the study.
What did you learn from the article that you did not know before you read the article?
I did not know that there fraternities where members have high affinity for rape and that being strictly flirtatious such as “lots of eye contact, touching, and very close talking” (137) are factors that lead to rape. I also did not know that there were people who did not consider rape to be a serious crime such as the first-year man who states, “I have a problem with the word rape. It sounds so criminal, and we are not criminals” (143).
If you were writing this article, what would you have included to expand and/or improve
If I were writing the article, I would have expanded it by extending the study to the classrooms and away from the campus setting. That is whether both types of fraternities existed even in a classroom setting and away from college. The title “Fraternities and collegiate rape culture: why are some Fraternities more dangerous places for women” (133), is too narrow to warrant generalization of solutions.
Solutions
One of the solutions that the article presents towards eradicating the rape culture is making sure that alcohol is not available during social functions. This solution emerges when the article provides that one of the solutions “is to offer nonalcoholic social activities” (144). From the article, it is apparent that alcohol triggers flirtatious behavior that can lead to rape.
Another solution entails making the students aware of the environments where they interact with other students, especially the female students, and the choices that are available to them when facing the prospect of rape. The article suggests that creating awareness among the male and female students is equally important. This is evidenced by the fact that “not all men and women accepted the demeaning treatment of women” (145).
References
Boswell A., and Spade J. (1996). Fraternities and Collegiate Rape Culture: Why Are Some
Fraternities More Dangerous Places for Women? Gender and Society 10(2), pp. 133-147. Retrieved From https://www.geneseo.edu/webfm_send/3420
