WEBVTT

00:00:08.109 --> 00:00:09.449
What is rape culture?

00:00:09.449 --> 00:00:11.306
If you haven't heard the term before,

00:00:11.306 --> 00:00:14.395
rape culture is basically acknowledging
that we live in a society

00:00:14.481 --> 00:00:19.021
that normalizes or diminishes rape
through the bombardment of images,

00:00:19.074 --> 00:00:22.036
language, laws and social attitudes.

00:00:22.096 --> 00:00:25.884
It's a culture in which victim blaming
is just not present but common -

00:00:25.919 --> 00:00:29.516
and caveats like: 
What did she expect going home with him?

00:00:29.556 --> 00:00:31.539
And: "She was drunk, wasn't she?"

00:00:31.559 --> 00:00:34.884
And: "She slept with him before,
look at that skirt she was wearing",

00:00:34.884 --> 00:00:37.195
are routinely invoked
to excuse perpetrators

00:00:37.616 --> 00:00:40.845
as having just done what everyone
would've expected them to do.

00:00:40.845 --> 00:00:42.985
Done what a red-blooded
Aussie man would do.

00:00:42.985 --> 00:00:45.768
I can't say it clearer than that,
she did go home with him

00:00:45.768 --> 00:00:47.242
It's that kind of language.

00:00:47.242 --> 00:00:49.627
it's the language of lawmakers
who use words like:

00:00:49.627 --> 00:00:53.168
honest rape and forcible rape
and legitimate rape.

00:00:53.562 --> 00:00:55.484
To portray the fact

00:00:55.498 --> 00:00:58.224
that they believe there are
actually two kinds of rape:

00:00:58.224 --> 00:01:01.821
there is the very small
incidence of real rape

00:01:02.561 --> 00:01:05.892
and there are all the overwhelming
incidents of rape -

00:01:05.892 --> 00:01:08.202
where women are actually
just lying about it -

00:01:08.202 --> 00:01:09.853
because they are so embarrassed

00:01:09.853 --> 00:01:12.948
by the fact they've allowed something
to enter their shame cave –

00:01:12.957 --> 00:01:14.716
other than the Holy Spirit.

00:01:15.462 --> 00:01:16.834
So that's rape culture.

00:01:16.864 --> 00:01:19.779
I am just going to talk you through
a series of examples now

00:01:19.779 --> 00:01:21.756
of what I think rape culture looks like.

00:01:21.756 --> 00:01:24.742
Some of them are local
and some of them are international –

00:01:24.742 --> 00:01:26.791
because rape culture exists everywhere.


00:01:26.791 --> 00:01:28.531
We can all share it.

00:01:28.591 --> 00:01:31.265
So rape culture is Peter "Spida" Everitt

00:01:31.283 --> 00:01:34.462
after the 2010 AFL Grand Final
responding to allegations.

00:01:34.462 --> 00:01:36.486
It is very important this word
"allegedly".

00:01:36.486 --> 00:01:39.715
you'll speak to people who don't believe
that rape culture exists.

00:01:39.715 --> 00:01:43.478
You'll speak to people who don't believe
that men can ever be charged with rape

00:01:43.478 --> 00:01:45.604
because, of course,
women are always lying.

00:01:45.604 --> 00:01:48.681
Very intend on protecting
the due process of the legal system -

00:01:48.681 --> 00:01:50.189
only in case of sexual assault

00:01:50.189 --> 00:01:53.437
when they remind you consitently
that "this just happened allegedly".

00:01:53.437 --> 00:01:54.927
So, Peter "Spida" Everitt -

00:01:54.927 --> 00:01:58.113
responding to the allegations
after the 2010 AFL Grand Final -

00:01:58.545 --> 00:02:02.685
that, sexual assault had occurred
in the home of one of Collingwood players.

00:02:03.290 --> 00:02:05.107
Now, that has since been resolved -

00:02:05.117 --> 00:02:08.112
and if you do have a chance
do read Anna Krien's "Night games",

00:02:08.112 --> 00:02:11.192
because it's a brilliant exploration
of sex, power, and culture.

00:02:11.192 --> 00:02:13.652
But him responding to that
with the following tweet:

00:02:13.652 --> 00:02:15.126
"GIRLS!!

00:02:15.126 --> 00:02:16.600
When will you learn

00:02:16.600 --> 00:02:19.398
that at 3:00 am when you go home
drunk with a guy

00:02:19.479 --> 00:02:21.466
that is not for a cup of Milo?"

00:02:21.516 --> 00:02:22.534
"Allegedly".

00:02:23.284 --> 00:02:26.693
It's Kerrie-Anne Kennerley
responding to that tweet -

00:02:26.743 --> 00:02:29.322
by inviting Peter "Spida" Everitt
onto her show

00:02:29.413 --> 00:02:32.504
and sympathizing with him
over the poor fate of footballers

00:02:32.519 --> 00:02:35.715
who have "strays" throw themselves
at them all the time

00:02:35.745 --> 00:02:37.676
and get them in trouble.

00:02:38.127 --> 00:02:41.511
It's Channel 9 responding
to the dismay and outrage

00:02:41.511 --> 00:02:43.378
- and I'm grateful that it was given -

00:02:43.378 --> 00:02:46.176
because not everyone wants
to talk out about rape culture -

00:02:46.176 --> 00:02:48.185
But Channel 9 responding to that outrage

00:02:48.185 --> 00:02:49.922
by issuing a statement that said:

00:02:50.102 --> 00:02:53.281
"In regards to the segment
on Kerrie-Anne's show this morning,

00:02:53.281 --> 00:02:55.127
what she was talking about

00:02:55.147 --> 00:02:58.109
when she talked about "strays"
was alcohol-fueled situations

00:02:58.201 --> 00:03:01.126
in which both, girls and guys,
must take the blame."

00:03:01.526 --> 00:03:05.445
Rape culture is reducing rape
to an "alcohol fueled situation."

00:03:07.487 --> 00:03:09.557
Rape Culture is Channel 9,

00:03:09.635 --> 00:03:13.724
responding to these things
with such a dismissive tone -

00:03:14.318 --> 00:03:17.561
that it reinforces to people
that it's an alcohol-fueled situation -

00:03:17.711 --> 00:03:19.823
and not an actual assault on their bodies.

00:03:20.843 --> 00:03:23.683
Looking further abroad,
rape culture is Daniel Tosh.

00:03:23.683 --> 00:03:26.366
He is a comedian,
standing in front of a live audience

00:03:26.366 --> 00:03:27.843
and responding to a woman

00:03:27.843 --> 00:03:30.518
who had taken umbrage
at one of his jokes about rape,

00:03:30.518 --> 00:03:31.473
by saying:

00:03:31.473 --> 00:03:35.431
"Wouldn't it be funny if five guys just
came down and raped this woman right now?

00:03:35.431 --> 00:03:37.637
Wouldn't that be hilarious?"

00:03:38.070 --> 00:03:40.995
Rape culture is also his comedy mates
then defending him.

00:03:41.912 --> 00:03:44.871
Because comedy is sacred,
and women's bodies aren't.

00:03:46.399 --> 00:03:49.705
Rape culture is raising boys
in an environment and a society

00:03:49.705 --> 00:03:52.766
that teaches them they have
an entitlement to women's bodies.

00:03:52.766 --> 00:03:55.530
And that is how things like
Steubenville, Ohio happens.

00:03:55.632 --> 00:03:58.534
That is how things like
the Roast Busters in Auckland happens.

00:03:58.643 --> 00:04:03.729
Boys think that it's so much their right
to treat a woman's body as they please -

00:04:03.739 --> 00:04:06.873
that not only would they do it
in front of all of their friends,

00:04:06.873 --> 00:04:09.848
rape an unconscious woman repeatedly
but they'll film it.

00:04:09.878 --> 00:04:11.703
They'll actually document the evidence

00:04:11.703 --> 00:04:15.089
and put it on the Internet for everyone
to see what a big man they are.

00:04:15.235 --> 00:04:16.118
In Auckland,

00:04:16.128 --> 00:04:19.021
it's the police not doing anything
about it for years,

00:04:19.021 --> 00:04:21.436
even though they knew about it
because they said:

00:04:21.436 --> 00:04:23.844
"We couldn't do anything about it".

00:04:23.864 --> 00:04:26.691
Rape culture is reinforcing to young girls

00:04:26.741 --> 00:04:29.038
that they don't have the right
to feel safe.

00:04:30.988 --> 00:04:33.066
Rape culture is people telling women

00:04:33.066 --> 00:04:37.152
that protecting themselves from rape
is like property theft.

00:04:37.652 --> 00:04:39.389
That, well, you know

00:04:39.479 --> 00:04:41.808
It's not that I believe that rape is ok,

00:04:41.808 --> 00:04:44.628
but if you're going to leave your car
parked on the street

00:04:44.628 --> 00:04:46.770
with the keys in the ignition
and walk away,

00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:50.402
can you really expect that someone
is not going to come along and steal it?

00:04:50.583 --> 00:04:54.731
And I say to that, the two things
that I think when I think, you know -

00:04:54.731 --> 00:04:58.927
people calling "property theft"
into account for this, is that:

00:04:58.988 --> 00:05:01.236
One, my vagina isn't a car.

00:05:01.407 --> 00:05:05.111
And if it was, I would have saved
a lot more money in taxis over the years,

00:05:05.111 --> 00:05:07.562
and then I'd be able
to fix its break pads.

00:05:08.642 --> 00:05:11.255
But secondly, we are not disembodied
from our bodies.

00:05:11.255 --> 00:05:14.271
Our vaginas aren't cars
that we can walk away from and leave.

00:05:14.313 --> 00:05:16.618
The only way that analogy works

00:05:16.618 --> 00:05:19.850
is if I am sitting in the car 
and you come and you open the car

00:05:19.943 --> 00:05:22.648
you drag me out of it 
and you steal my fucking car!

00:05:24.283 --> 00:05:26.331
Your vagina is not a vehicle.

00:05:26.331 --> 00:05:28.600
But this is what rape culture looks like.

00:05:28.600 --> 00:05:31.259
Rape culture is pretending
rape culture doesn't exists.

00:05:31.259 --> 00:05:33.052
It's people preferring to believe

00:05:33.052 --> 00:05:35.583
that the women in their lives
are potential victims

00:05:35.584 --> 00:05:39.315
rather than accepting that the men
in their lives are potential predators.

00:05:39.320 --> 00:05:42.439
Because people like to talk
about rapists as these evil monsters

00:05:42.507 --> 00:05:44.646
who lurk in the streets and shadows.

00:05:44.646 --> 00:05:47.415
We, the women, have to protect ourselves
against them.

00:05:47.415 --> 00:05:49.380
"I am not saying that rape is good, girls

00:05:49.380 --> 00:05:52.436
I'm just saying, can't you just learn
to take care of yourselves?

00:05:52.436 --> 00:05:56.128
Girls, when will you learn
that the world is full of evil monsters

00:05:56.267 --> 00:05:58.530
and you have to protect yourselves?"

00:05:58.875 --> 00:06:00.284
Rape culture is assuming

00:06:00.284 --> 00:06:02.856
that we haven't been raised
protecting ourselves,

00:06:03.146 --> 00:06:06.611
believing in the state of our own
vulnerability since the very days

00:06:06.667 --> 00:06:09.855
that we were first walking out
away from our parents.

00:06:11.196 --> 00:06:14.300
And on that note, actually -
and the evil monsters -

00:06:14.352 --> 00:06:17.375
rape culture denies the reality of rape

00:06:17.385 --> 00:06:21.217
that most of it doesn't happen on streets,
most of it happens in the home.

00:06:21.303 --> 00:06:23.863
It's done to us by men we know,
men we love,

00:06:24.553 --> 00:06:26.719
men we may even be related to.

00:06:26.719 --> 00:06:28.699
That's what rape culture looks like.

00:06:28.969 --> 00:06:33.061
So, that's a very sort of somber
view of the world that we live in.

00:06:33.082 --> 00:06:36.871
But the world that people don't want
to talk about because rape is not nice.

00:06:36.871 --> 00:06:39.192
We don't really talk about it,
it's not nice.

00:06:39.192 --> 00:06:41.198
It's a hemorrhoid removal
operation on the television.

00:06:41.204 --> 00:06:42.218
(Sigh)

00:06:43.358 --> 00:06:45.892
I was pretty scared coming here
to do this talk today

00:06:45.892 --> 00:06:48.797
because it's quite daunting
standing in a room full of people

00:06:48.797 --> 00:06:50.592
and sharing your ideas on things.

00:06:50.602 --> 00:06:52.547
Had a couple of nervous poos.

00:06:52.547 --> 00:06:54.015
(Laughter)

00:06:54.445 --> 00:06:57.510
Sorry, I forgot that women
aren't supposed to shit!

00:06:57.920 --> 00:06:59.316
(Laughter)

00:07:00.280 --> 00:07:01.710
See, I'm shaking!

00:07:01.760 --> 00:07:02.838
We all get nervous.

00:07:02.838 --> 00:07:04.162
(Applause)

00:07:04.982 --> 00:07:06.196
But this is the thing.

00:07:06.196 --> 00:07:08.266
It's that standing here
in front of people,

00:07:08.266 --> 00:07:09.505
in front of an audience,

00:07:09.505 --> 00:07:12.403
anyone doing that, it's scary
and it's a good kind of fear.

00:07:12.490 --> 00:07:14.754
And I want to be liberated by my fear.

00:07:14.784 --> 00:07:18.008
I don't want to be imprisoned by it
and this is what I think.

00:07:18.008 --> 00:07:21.188
You know, Paul mentioned a comment
before talking about terrorism,

00:07:21.188 --> 00:07:23.001
I do think it's an act of terrorism

00:07:23.001 --> 00:07:25.996
to raise girls to believe
that the world is not safe for them.

00:07:25.996 --> 00:07:29.149
Because what it does, is that it forces us
to diminish ourselves.

00:07:29.149 --> 00:07:32.091
It means that we take up less space
than we're entitled to.

00:07:32.091 --> 00:07:34.219
We live in a world where women are taught

00:07:34.219 --> 00:07:36.988
they do not have the right to walk
down the street at night

00:07:36.988 --> 00:07:40.055
because they don't have the access
to the same space as men.

00:07:40.055 --> 00:07:42.029
And I think that's an act of terrorism

00:07:42.029 --> 00:07:44.695
and I will not negotiate with terrorists
on those terms.

00:07:44.695 --> 00:07:47.210
So, I do not engage people
in conversations about

00:07:47.580 --> 00:07:52.321
why women need to protect themselves
or why our vaginas are like cars.

00:07:52.321 --> 00:07:55.779
I just don't tolerate it and this is what
we all have to start doing.

00:07:57.137 --> 00:08:00.298
I have a boyfriend,
which I know is kind of crazy,

00:08:00.392 --> 00:08:03.886
because as an obviously
radical, separatist, lesbian feminist -

00:08:03.940 --> 00:08:05.771
(Laughter)

00:08:05.771 --> 00:08:08.159
as a lot of my fans in daily life call me,

00:08:08.372 --> 00:08:10.298
I am not supposed to have a boyfriend.

00:08:10.488 --> 00:08:14.046
But I did fashioned him out of
gingerbread and bring him to life

00:08:14.091 --> 00:08:18.074
with a black voodoo magic swirling
around in my devil's datsun.

00:08:19.277 --> 00:08:21.872
But he exists, now,

00:08:21.872 --> 00:08:23.491
and it still counts.

00:08:24.050 --> 00:08:25.444
And he often says to me:

00:08:25.444 --> 00:08:27.588
"Can we just make it through one dinner

00:08:27.588 --> 00:08:29.529
where you don't talk about rape?"

00:08:30.198 --> 00:08:31.483
To which I reply:

00:08:31.483 --> 00:08:33.065
"Can we just make it through

00:08:33.065 --> 00:08:34.918
one of Earth's rotations around the Sun

00:08:34.918 --> 00:08:38.194
where I can walk on the street
with as much right to safety as you

00:08:38.194 --> 00:08:40.199
just because you have a penis?"

00:08:41.699 --> 00:08:43.743
And actually, statistically speaking,

00:08:43.743 --> 00:08:45.980
based on what we know on male
on male violence,

00:08:46.042 --> 00:08:49.239
he is less likely to be safe
on the streets than me.

00:08:49.722 --> 00:08:52.758
But that is not the way
that we talk about violence and safety.

00:08:52.758 --> 00:08:55.080
It is convenient for people
to make women afraid,

00:08:55.080 --> 00:08:56.865
because it keeps us controlled.

00:08:58.452 --> 00:09:00.864
I understand that rape makes
people uncomfortable.

00:09:00.881 --> 00:09:02.831
A lot of things make me uncomfortable,

00:09:02.831 --> 00:09:04.002
For example,

00:09:04.002 --> 00:09:05.530
I am uncomfortable with the fact

00:09:05.530 --> 00:09:08.841
that millions of girls and women
are raped around the world each year.

00:09:08.841 --> 00:09:11.676
And only a handful of them
will ever see justice prevail.

00:09:11.676 --> 00:09:15.022
I am uncomfortable with the fact
that because of the work that I do,

00:09:15.022 --> 00:09:18.245
I stand in front of an audience like this
and I automatically think:

00:09:18.245 --> 00:09:19.768
"Which third of this audience

00:09:19.768 --> 00:09:22.578
has experienced sexual assault
or violence or rape?"

00:09:22.578 --> 00:09:24.403
And I'm uncomfortable with the fact

00:09:24.403 --> 00:09:26.464
that of that proportion of the audience

00:09:26.464 --> 00:09:28.969
all of them will have been socialized
at some point

00:09:28.969 --> 00:09:31.933
that you don't talk about these things
in polite society.

00:09:31.933 --> 00:09:33.709
And I'm uncomfortable with the fact

00:09:33.709 --> 00:09:37.149
that as a white, middle-class woman
is hard for me to talk about rape,

00:09:37.149 --> 00:09:39.500
but it's even more difficult
for a woman of color,

00:09:39.500 --> 00:09:40.650
a disabled woman,

00:09:40.650 --> 00:09:42.284
a woman who is a sex worker,

00:09:42.284 --> 00:09:44.009
a woman who is living in poverty,

00:09:44.009 --> 00:09:46.061
a woman who doesn't live here.

00:09:46.061 --> 00:09:48.572
It's harder for those women
to talk about something

00:09:48.572 --> 00:09:50.562
which is already hard for me to discuss.

00:09:50.562 --> 00:09:52.719
I'm uncomfortable with those facts.

00:09:52.719 --> 00:09:53.830
I get it.

00:09:53.830 --> 00:09:55.411
Rape is uncomfortable.

00:09:55.831 --> 00:09:57.129
But this is why

00:09:57.129 --> 00:09:58.668
we need to keep talking about it

00:09:58.668 --> 00:10:00.299
and we need to keep disrupting

00:10:00.299 --> 00:10:02.211
people's comfortable lives with it.

00:10:02.211 --> 00:10:05.566
Because the result of that
is that they actually do start to change.

00:10:05.749 --> 00:10:09.707
In all of the time that I've been writing
and writing about rape,

00:10:09.998 --> 00:10:12.352
in all the emails that I've gotten from,

00:10:12.352 --> 00:10:14.749
you know, peeling through
the ones that say to me

00:10:14.749 --> 00:10:17.420
that I am just jealous because
no one wants to rape me

00:10:17.420 --> 00:10:18.720
because I'm too ugly.

00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:21.564
Because, of course, the only thing worse
than being raped,

00:10:21.564 --> 00:10:24.443
is being considered not pretty enough
to be raped.

00:10:24.443 --> 00:10:26.258
Right, Tracy?

00:10:26.648 --> 00:10:30.319
In all of that, I also get emails
from young girls that inspire me,

00:10:30.379 --> 00:10:31.512
who tell me

00:10:31.512 --> 00:10:33.246
that the things that I've written,

00:10:33.246 --> 00:10:36.125
and things that other women
like me have written about rape

00:10:36.125 --> 00:10:38.764
bringing this conversation
into the national dialog -

00:10:38.764 --> 00:10:40.085
have let them realize

00:10:40.085 --> 00:10:42.671
that they're not responsible
for what happened to them.

00:10:42.671 --> 00:10:45.334
It's made them realize,
it's not their fault.

00:10:45.334 --> 00:10:46.805
But even better than that,

00:10:46.805 --> 00:10:48.697
it's the emails that I get from men,

00:10:48.697 --> 00:10:51.965
who tell me that something about
this conversation we're having now,

00:10:51.965 --> 00:10:54.038
has changed they way
they view the world.

00:10:54.038 --> 00:10:56.335
It's made them realize
how privileged they are.

00:10:56.335 --> 00:10:58.582
It's made them realize
how much entitlement

00:10:58.582 --> 00:11:00.744
men generally have to space and safety

00:11:01.197 --> 00:11:03.942
and it's made them want
to change things for the better.

00:11:03.942 --> 00:11:06.640
I received an email from a friend of mine
the other day,

00:11:06.640 --> 00:11:09.105
or I say friend, but we went
to school together,

00:11:09.105 --> 00:11:11.509
so, you know, we haven't talked really
in 20 years

00:11:11.509 --> 00:11:14.730
but we're Facebook friends,
that's how people catch up these days.

00:11:14.730 --> 00:11:16.569
And he sent me an email out of nowhere

00:11:16.569 --> 00:11:18.199
with a link to a meme,

00:11:18.199 --> 00:11:21.770
and it was just a venn diagram
of "this is what causes rape"

00:11:22.125 --> 00:11:27.265
and it's things like: alcohol,
clothing, attitudes, rapists.

00:11:27.915 --> 00:11:31.082
And the rapists was in red
and the whole venn diagram was in red,

00:11:31.420 --> 00:11:35.112
because the only thing common
to all experiences of rape, is a rapist.

00:11:35.112 --> 00:11:37.892
That's the only thing we can say
causes rape.

00:11:38.144 --> 00:11:39.353
It's the rapist.

00:11:39.484 --> 00:11:41.472
And the way we talk about rape,

00:11:41.472 --> 00:11:44.714
as if it's some kind of arbitrary
thing that just happens to women.

00:11:44.714 --> 00:11:46.617
That we just walk out
of the door one day

00:11:46.617 --> 00:11:48.774
and just accidentally step
in a puddle of it,

00:11:48.774 --> 00:11:50.755
because we weren't paying attention.

00:11:50.755 --> 00:11:53.454
that's how we remove responsibility
from the problem.

00:11:53.966 --> 00:11:57.361
And I believe that to fix the problem,
you have to name the problem.

00:11:57.573 --> 00:12:00.275
And I was really inspired
by that email that he sent me.

00:12:00.275 --> 00:12:02.392
Because it showed me that this guy,

00:12:02.392 --> 00:12:04.034
who, I would say, is kind of

00:12:04.034 --> 00:12:06.334
pretty much your average Australian bloke,

00:12:06.334 --> 00:12:07.685
you know, he likes sports,

00:12:07.685 --> 00:12:09.505
and he is a pretty good guy,

00:12:09.505 --> 00:12:12.069
he is kind of on the middle
of the fence politically.

00:12:12.084 --> 00:12:15.422
He doesn't have to be
engaged in these topics

00:12:15.422 --> 00:12:17.949
because society enables him
to not be engaged in them.

00:12:18.192 --> 00:12:20.567
But he has chosen to become engaged

00:12:20.567 --> 00:12:22.672
because of the things
that he's been reading

00:12:22.672 --> 00:12:25.049
and because of the things
that he's been hearing.

00:12:25.049 --> 00:12:28.535
And it means that he wants to change
the world around him for the better.

00:12:28.535 --> 00:12:30.200
And I'm really inspired by that.

00:12:30.200 --> 00:12:33.317
And I think that's why we need to keep
talking about these things.

00:12:33.317 --> 00:12:35.335
Even though it makes
people uncomfortable,

00:12:35.335 --> 00:12:37.594
Even though people
don't like to think about it.

00:12:37.594 --> 00:12:40.251
Even though they like to pretend
that it doesn't exists.

00:12:40.251 --> 00:12:42.854
Because I'd rather people
be uncomfortable about rape,

00:12:42.854 --> 00:12:44.455
than be complacent about it.

00:12:44.455 --> 00:12:46.102
Thank you.

00:12:46.102 --> 00:12:47.438
(Applause)