Does 'rape culture' accurately describe (many) societies?

[ThatGuy11200]

In the UK most child sex abuse is carried out by children - up from a third in 10 years ago.

What are the actual numbers? "Up from a third" could mean anything from 'the overall incidence of child-on-child abuse increasing from a third,' to 'the overall amount of abuse decreasing but c-on-c staying steady'.

 

[Poem]

What are the actual numbers? "Up from a third" could mean anything from 'the overall incidence of child-on-child abuse increasing from a third,' to 'the overall amount of abuse decreasing but c-on-c staying steady'.

The Guardian:

In 2022 a total of 107,000 reports were made to police in England and Wales alleging sexual offences against children, ranging from rapes and, in a quarter of cases, to the making and sharing of indecent images.

The NPCC said 52% of alleged offenders were children, compared with around one third a decade ago.

 

[ThatGuy11200]

The Guardian:

Ian Critchley, the NPCC lead for child protection, said:

...

“Clearly the accessibility to smartphones has just rocketed, not just in relation to 11- to 16-year-olds, but in relation to under-10s as well. That accessibility has really exacerbated that and I think this is a debate that does need to be had in our society.”

Is there just more evidence of it happeneing now because of smartphones?

Are people taking it more seriously now than they did in the past and reporting it more?

 

[Poem]

Is there just more evidence of it happeneing now because of smartphones?

Are people taking it more seriously now than they did in the past and reporting it more?

It's possible though there isn't a suggestion of such in that article. Rather, Ian Critchley (National Police Chiefs' Council lead) says:

“I think that is being exacerbated by the accessibility of violent pornography and the ease with which violent pornography is accessible to boys and, therefore, a perception that is [normal] behaviour, and that person can carry out that behaviour that they are seeing online in the most violent way against other peers as well.

“Clearly the accessibility to smartphones has just rocketed, not just in relation to 11- to 16-year-olds, but in relation to under-10s as well. That accessibility has really exacerbated that and I think this is a debate that does need to be had in our society.”

The police also estimate that only 1 in 6 such crimes are reported.

 

[sackett]

Civilized countries don't tolerate criminals and the means by which they make their money.

Kinda thought you'd reply with a "Harrumph! Indeed!" instead of specifics.

What European countries do, and France is right in there doing it, is define a thought crime and then pass (and enforce) laws against it. They've always done this. I think it's because they're afraid of themselves.

"Civilized" is a word we can discuss later. Like "culture," it gets used in odd ways.

 

[Poem]

Kinda thought you'd reply with a "Harrumph! Indeed!" instead of specifics.

?

What European countries do, and France is right in there doing it, is define a thought crime and then pass (and enforce) laws against it. They've always done this. I think it's because they're afraid of themselves.

?

"Civilized" is a word we can discuss later. Like "culture," it gets used in odd ways.

?

 

[Poem]

Evidence of rape culture? - more from the HCE's (High Council for Equality between women and men) report:

The HCE carried out an unprecedented test of Pharos, a government platform for reporting illegal content on the internet. Out of 35 videos reported by the HCE between June 2 and 7, 2023, none of the blatantly illegal content has disappeared. Zero results.

Why was no action taken:

Thanks to misleading semantics (“freedom of expression”, “sexual liberation”, “artistic freedom”) and intense lobbying, the pornography industry organizes its impunity and the societal denial which today paralyzes the authorities supposed to act. The failures are serious and violate the principles of French and international law.

 

[Poem]

The business model of popular sites like Pornhub, XVIdeos, Xnxx, Xhamster is the monetization of traffic. As the report states (it's in French so may require translating):

...videos compete for the most violent, most degrading practices possible in an infernal “race for clicks”.

There can be no doubt that the report isn't just a de facto indictment of the porn producers:

This reality is that the women are very real: actions, as unbearable as they may be, are not simulated. The violence is real. It's not cinema. Their suffering is often perfectly visible and at the same time eroticized. The comments from men are enthusiastic and testify of the excitement caused by the suffering - the tears of the women. In an endless bidding war, producers follow consumer demands.

(My emphasis)

 

[Oystein]

"producers follow consumer demands"

Problem seems to lie primarily with customers.
Let's outlaw customers.

 

[Oystein]

A report by France’s high council for equality between women and men (the government-nominated equality watchdog) ...

Your post mentions the two most relevant problems:

• "Arcom, the audiovisual regulator in France, say that just over half of 12-year-old boys in France view pornography every month."
• "It is often impossible to tell whether someone has consented to be in a video, or how ‘real’ portrayals of sexual violence are."

I suggest that neither problem can be eliminated nor minimized by making pornagraphy (production, upload, consumption) flat-out illegal. This will only drive it (even more) underground and to a market that is less policeable. For example, it would create a formidable barrier to consumers to report crimes - as they would self-incriminate in the process.

I think a solution,or at least improvement, to the latter lies in open, unprejudiced regulation. Have producers and actors register, grant them sweeping copyright and help them enforce it. Make full credits mandatory. Visit actors with some frequency (like doping tests during training in sports).

As for the former, well, how do you protect minors from R-rated content in non-sex movies? Do the same.

 

[Poem]

"producers follow consumer demands"

Problem seems to lie primarily with customers.
Let's outlaw customers.

???

 

[Poem]

Your post mentions the two most relevant problems:

• "Arcom, the audiovisual regulator in France, say that just over half of 12-year-old boys in France view pornography every month."
• "It is often impossible to tell whether someone has consented to be in a video, or how ‘real’ portrayals of sexual violence are."

I suggest that neither problem can be eliminated nor minimized by making pornagraphy (production, upload, consumption) flat-out illegal. This will only drive it (even more) underground and to a market that is less policeable.

This is where we are with slavery; why would we balk at porn? We know porn producers are profiting right now from the brutalization of women, so why are we hesitating? Arrest them and take down their content and then there could be a discussion about whether porn could be made safe.

For example, it would create a formidable barrier to consumers to report crimes - as they would self-incriminate in the process.

I'm not sure it's all that difficult to ban criminal sites - governments can and do block them.

I think a solution, or at least improvement, to the latter lies in open, unprejudiced regulation. Have producers and actors register, grant them sweeping copyright and help them enforce it. Make full credits mandatory. Visit actors with some frequency (like doping tests during training in sports).

As for the former, well, how do you protect minors from R-rated content in non-sex movies? Do the same.

I guess this is theoretically possible - though I wonder if the consumers of today would find vanilla content all that stimulating - there has been a general migration to the more risqué material. Let's not forget that the report deems 90% of porn verbally, physically or sexually violent. It's violent for a reason.

 

[Poem]

it is perhaps no surprise when the extent of the violence inherent in much of mainstream pornography is revealed, that it's met with such a stony silence. After all we do live in a patriarchy, so most of those with the power to do something about it are normalized to the very porn that the French public prosecutor declared as 'criminally reprehensible'.

 

[Poem]

Most men are funding violence against women - indirectly, innocently or otherwise. That is the import of the equality watchdog's report.

The most egregious societal-wide scandal in modern times.

 

[zooterkin]

it is perhaps no surprise when the extent of the violence inherent in much of mainstream pornography is revealed, that it's met with such a stony silence. After all we do live in a patriarchy, so most of those with the power to do something about it are normalized to the very porn that the French public prosecutor declared as 'criminally reprehensible'.

Or perhaps people have given up trying to have a serious discussion with you, because you have adopted a slightly bizarre and entrenched position.

 

[Poem]

Or perhaps people have given up trying to have a serious discussion with you, because you have adopted a slightly bizarre and entrenched position.

You're shooting the messenger zooterkin - I've merely brought to light a report that has barely made the newspapers. But please do go ahead and tell us what is bizarre about it.

 

[Ziggurat]

You're shooting the messenger zooterkin - I've merely brought to light a report that has barely made the newspapers. But please do go ahead and tell us what is bizarre about it.

You say that as if post 895 was your first post, but it isn't.

And frankly, I don't trust you or your source. The guardian story has a link to the report but it's broken so I can't access it. And my highschool French is bad enough that I couldn't understand it if it isn't translated. So I can't double check any of this. But what I see in the story makes me suspicious. The guardian story has the quote, "As much as 90% of pornographic content online features verbal, physical and sexual violence towards women". What the hell is "verbal violence"? I have no idea what they're counting as verbal violence, nor do they give a breakdown of how much of this alleged 90% is not verbal, but it's not hard to imagine fairly innocuous dirty talk being categorized as such. And I have no idea how they're getting their sample in order to make these measurements either.

All of which makes me wonder how far away this really is from the claim that "all PIV is rape" (the acronym standing for penis-in-vagina). Do you think that position, at least, is a step too far?

 

[theprestige]

I want to know whose job it was to audit as much as 90% of porn for violent content.

 

[Ziggurat]

I want to know whose job it was to audit as much as 90% of porn for violent content.

I don't think they audited 90% of porn (ouch). I think the claim is that they sampled a bunch of porn, and 90% of what they found is violent. But yeah, whose job was that? How did they pick their sample? And what makes them think their sample is representative? These are not trivial questions.

 

[sackett]

I'm very glad that a French prosecutor thinks porn is criminally reprehensible. Now let's hear his opinion on California white wines. Then he can tell us about Finnish cheeses. After that, this year's display of titties at the Folies.

I'm also glad that I can express indifference in idiomatic French. You turn your palms up, shrug up to your ears, and go "Hein?" followed by a disgusting mouth noise, similar to American "pbfkk."

I always put on my beret first, for added authenticity.