How Society and Technology Shape Sexual Violence Today.

When people talk about rape culture, I think it really comes down to how society reacts to sexual assault. A lot of times, it is not taken as seriously as it should be. Instead of focusing on the person who committed the act, people start questioning the victim. Things like what they were wearing, why they were there, or why they did not report it sooner often come up. That kind of response can make someone feel like speaking up is not even worth it. From what I have been working on in my issue brief, this is one of the main reasons sexual assault is underreported. Many victims choose not to report because they are afraid of not being believed or feel like nothing will actually be done (U.S. Department of Justice, 2012).

Culture also plays a role in how sexual violence is viewed. What might be seen as normal behavior in one culture may not be viewed the same way in another because it is shaped by social norms. Because of that, some behaviors are not always questioned, even when harm is present. On top of that, there are a lot of myths, rumors, and even urban-type stories that circulate about sexual assault. A lot of these ideas start or spread through media and can create false expectations about what sexual assault is supposed to look like. When real cases do not match those expectations, people are more likely to doubt the victim. Research shows that the media can influence whether people focus on the offender or blame the victim, especially when the victim knows the offender (Gravelin et al., 2024). This connects back to what Alvarez and Bachman (2023) explain about how social norms shape both violence and how people respond to it.

Technology has made this issue even more complicated. Sexual exploitation is not just something that happens in person anymore. For example, deepfake pornography uses artificial intelligence to create fake explicit content using someone’s image without their consent. Even though it is not physically happening, the impact is still real and can damage someone’s mental health and reputation. There are also anonymous and encrypted platforms, including parts of the dark web, where illegal content like child sexual abuse material can be shared more easily without people being identified.

Social media also plays a role in how this spreads. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter make it easy for content to be shared quickly. Even though these platforms have rules against explicit or harmful content, it is still difficult to fully control what gets posted. Once something is uploaded, it can be shared, saved, and reposted by multiple people before it is even flagged or taken down. Because content spreads so quickly, it becomes harder to remove completely, especially if it has already been reshared across multiple accounts.

Another problem is how quickly everything spreads online. Once something is posted, it can move quickly across different platforms. Even if it is removed in one place, it is usually already circulating elsewhere. Anonymous accounts also make it harder to track who is responsible, which allows people to hide behind screens. Because of this, technology does not just change how exploitation happens; it also increases how quickly and widely it spreads.

Underreporting also creates bigger problems for the criminal justice system. When cases go unreported, law enforcement has fewer opportunities to identify suspects or detect patterns in behavior, making it harder to catch offenders. It also affects how evidence is used. Rape kits collected at hospitals are important, but if cases are not reported or followed through, that evidence may never be tested or used. In some cases, limited experience or inconsistent handling of these cases can also affect the effectiveness of investigations. This shows that underreporting does not just affect victims; it also undermines the system’s overall ability to respond.

There are also challenges with laws and enforcement. Technology is always changing, but laws take time to catch up. That creates a gap in which harmful behavior occurs faster than it can be regulated. Online crimes can involve people in different states or countries, making investigations more difficult. At the same time, law enforcement has to balance privacy with the need to investigate, especially on encrypted platforms. All of this makes it harder to fully address the issue.

Overall, sexual violence today is influenced by both cultural attitudes and technology. The same beliefs that cause victims to stay silent are now being amplified online, while new forms of technology make exploitation easier to carry out and spread. From everything I have worked on so far, it is clear that addressing this issue is not just about laws but also about changing how society views and responds to sexual violence.

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References

Alvarez, A., & Bachman, R. D. (2023). Violence: The enduring problem (5th ed.). SAGE Publications.

Gravelin, C. R., Biernat, M., & Kerl, E. (2024). Assessing the impact of media on blaming the victim of acquaintance rape. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 48(2), 209–231.

U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. (2012). Victimizations not reported to the police, 2006–2010 (NCJ 238536). https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/vnrp0610.pdf