Until #MeToo, rape mentality was far more widespread than society recognized. The fact that so many celebrities, politicians, successful businessmen and more were recently exposed for abhorrent sexual acts, shows how well-hidden rape mentality has been. Even the President of the United States thinks that forcing his wife into sex is acceptable behavior – a recognition that repulses the majority of humanity.

FDR, JFK, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington are only a few of the Presidents known to have had mistresses. But acts of violent rape are a whole different level of disordered reasoning. Donald Trump stands accused by several credible accounts from a variety of victims. Ivanna’s multi-million dollar divorce settlement seems to be at the heart of her claim that there are rapes that are criminal, and rapes that are not criminal…. an ignorant and totally absurd concept.

What is rape mentality?

Rape mentality is a cognitive distortion regarding sexual conduct in which entitlement and privilege are upside down. In moral thinking, sex is a privilege and consent is an entitlement. In rape mentality, sex is an entitlement and consent is a privilege. Entitlement is the belief that you have an inherent right to something. A privilege is a right that’s bestowed upon you by the choice of another.

A woman’s role in society has shifted

Woman have held an inferior position to men throughout the evolution of society. The laws adopted into our penal codes originated during an era when women were considered chattel, owned by either their father or their husband. The role of the woman was to raise the young, take care of the home, and satisfy the sexual desires of their husbands.

In ancient Rome, sexual violence toward a woman would only be considered “rape” if she was the daughter of a tax paying citizen, and a virgin. Rape was a capital offense against the head of the household who owned her virginity, and sold it at a price. No laws protected a female slave if the head of the household decided to force her to have sex.

Band aids have been applied here and there to rectify some of the misconceptions in law, but their basic premises have gone unchanged. The end result is that a woman’s autonomy over her body continues to be acknowledged in specific, but not all circumstances. And those circumstances differ with no continuity from state to state.

Laws force society to change

The fact that we now recognize slavery as abhorrent behavior resulted from changes in our laws. When it became illegal to own slaves, the collective conscience of society shifted. Today, we recognize how oppressive and wrongful slavery was.

When we standardize the definition of consent in penal code and enforce that consent, freely given, knowledgeable and informed agreement – by both parties – must be present in all sexual conduct, society’s concepts about acceptable sexual behavior will change. Consistent consent provisions in law will undermine rape mentality.

Just as the civil war enabled us to change the laws on slavery, we must heed the drums that are beating to raise sexual assault awareness and change the laws that have created and perpetuated rape mentality through the ages.

Understandable, simple language defining consent will transform society’s thinking about all types of sexual assault:

“Non-consensual sex is sexual assault; Consent is freely given, knowledgeable and informed agreement.” #FGKIA

 

Future generations are counting on us to make the difference that ends rape mentality. Call your legislator. Make it happen today!