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Asking for It: The Alarming Rise of Rape Culture--And What We Can Do about It by Kate Harding
larryerick's review against another edition
4.0
Much like Katha Pollitt's book, Pro, is nominally about abortion but is really about women's rights in America, this book is about rape, but is also really about women's rights here in the United States (despite the fact some rapes are not upon females.) While Pollitt takes a bit more formal debate club approach to presenting her case, this author is more of the center of attention at the social party, demanding your attention with great verve and style. Much of what is presented in this book reminded me of many years ago during my last semester of college, I presented a research paper intending to connect a particular communications theory to battered spouse syndrome. The concept of a battered wife was just taking hold in America and had just started to be introduced to law enforcement and in the courts as a viable defense. As I started to itemize the concept of battered spouses to the class, a female student sitting directly in front of me had her jaw drop and her eyes became the size of cannonball targets. At the time, I thought I must have been describing her relationship with her boyfriend. Later, it occurred to me that she may have just been extremely naive about such matters. (Would she have been equally naive about date rape?) I mention this only because many of the stories presented in this book about rape reminded me a great deal of the state of battered spouses back then. And yet, I would argue that both wife battering and rape culture in America are similar means of degrading women and are similarly not going away with any rapidity. You notice I said not going away while the author's book subtitle mentions the "rise" in rape culture. Rise? Anyone familiar with black civil rights figure, Fannie Lou Hamer? Hamer's grandmother had 23 children, 20 of which were the result of rape. Such was the lot of black southern women in her time. Is it possible to have a "rise" in rape culture from that point? And is spouse battering really so much better handled now than earlier? A woman was arrested, charged, and sentenced in such a case. What had she done? She had fired a gun into the ceiling to warn off her belligerent male partner. Nobody was killed or even injured. Just firing a gun to scare off her partner from hurting her. But she was sentenced to 20 years in prison. And yet, the author ends her book on a rather optimistic note about how colleges are finally getting more serious about adjudicating rape complaints. Good, good. But what about the military? How much better is that rape culture in light of the "new improved" but watered down Department of Defense policy changes recently adopted. And lordy, how will non-college, non-military women get relief without a major institution managing their rape complaints appropriately? I found the author extremely engaging in what she had to say and her information valuable, especially to anyone faced directly with our rape culture, but I felt totally caught off guard by her book's excessively positive ending.
ohcorrica's review
5.0
This book was incredible. It was very difficult to read at times because the content isn't happy or easily digestible. However, I think everyone needs to read this book. Rape culture is a complex issue that a lot of people do not fully understand. I definitely learned useful information and hope others will take the time to read this book as well. It was frustrating, upsetting, but full of important information.
evelikesbooks's review
4.0
This is a tough read, because the subject matter is so grim, but Kate Harding is an engaging writer. She ends the book on a note of hope. I learned things about MRAs that I didn't really need to know, but I can't blame Harding for that. Of course, I am the choir that she is preaching to. I wonder how people who don't believe in rape culture would see this book.
deecreatenola's review
2.0
Missoula by Jon Krakauer does a better job of painting the picture of rape culture today. I appreciate that the author had a very personal reason for writing this book, but I almost felt that got in the way of describing Rape Culture and what can be done about it.
amibunk's review
4.0
“Rape culture manifests in a myriad ways…but its most devilish trick is to make the average, noncriminal person identify with the person accused, instead of the person reporting the crime. Rape culture encourages us to scrutinize victims’ stories for any evidence that they brought the violence onto themselves – and always to imagine ourselves in the terrifying role of Good Man, Falsely Accused, before we ‘rush to judgment’. "
For me, this was an eye-opening and impactful book about rape culture in the United States. Well written, with solidly constructed arguments and timely cultural references, I learned so much about rape myths that permeate our society, our politics, and our lives. Additionally, while the stories are horrific and depressing, the author offers rays of hope and evidence that America's rape culture is beginning to shift.
This is a book I want my daughter AND son to read. Because as the author argues, rape isn't only a woman's issue, it's a people issue.
For me, this was an eye-opening and impactful book about rape culture in the United States. Well written, with solidly constructed arguments and timely cultural references, I learned so much about rape myths that permeate our society, our politics, and our lives. Additionally, while the stories are horrific and depressing, the author offers rays of hope and evidence that America's rape culture is beginning to shift.
This is a book I want my daughter AND son to read. Because as the author argues, rape isn't only a woman's issue, it's a people issue.
eviereads124's review against another edition
4.0
This book taught me SO much. The author clearly did her research and the statistics are staggering. The thing I remember so sharply from this book is her research and voice given to stamping out the stigma of women falsely accusing men of rape: the statistics completely say otherwise. This book tackles rape culture from A to Z, as well as gives you the tools and empowerment to do things about it and to never, ever, undervalue or brush aside your sexual assault experiences.
ashleyholstrom's review
4.0
Be prepared to yell at the universe while listening to this one. Kate Harding analyzes rape culture and muses on the ways in which college women going out at night is similar to men going to battle—everyone stay together. No one gets left behind. I spent a lot of time sitting in parking lots, trying not to puke as I listened. But it’s a necessary book for every human right now. It’s one of the first feminist audiobooks that got me hooked on taking in my feminism through my ears.
From 13 Fabulous Feminist Audiobooks and My Not-So-Accidental Month of Feminist Reading at Book Riot.
From 13 Fabulous Feminist Audiobooks and My Not-So-Accidental Month of Feminist Reading at Book Riot.
dsuttles's review
4.0
I've been a longtime follower of Kate Harding's work, since she was blogging at Shapely Prose. She always writes thoughtfully about tough topics. She covered a lot of ground in a tight 200+ pages: our social narratives about rapists and victims, the justice system, college campuses, media portrayals, Internet culture, and more. I highly recommend.
kcdarmody's review
4.0
Tough to read but more important than ever. I appreciate how she ends on a note of hope that we can and will end rape culture.
robin_birb's review
4.0
In Asking for It, Harding argues--I think quite successfully--that we live in a culture which, while professing to abhor rape, actually does precious little to prevent, investigate, prosecute, and punish rape. What's worse, we live in a culture which does more to encourage and protect rapists than rape victims (thus the term "rape culture").
This book is very thoroughly researched--the amount of data and scholarly research cited is truly eye-opening--and provides ample evidence to support its central claim: that our culture does not take rape as seriously as it purports to, and that we need to do better. This point is relentlessly driven home as Harding covers media, cultural myths, the criminal justice system, politicians, and much more.
Though it's well worth reading simply for Harding's detailed handling of the topic, the book ups the ante: after making the claim that we need to do better, Harding then provides concrete suggestions as to how we can do better. She does not simply identify a pervasive, ugly problem (though goodness knows that's important enough); she outlines ways in which we, as a society, can better address that problem. And that, to me, is one of the most valuable things about the book.
Harding's incisive critique paired with her forward-looking approach makes Asking for It a must-read.
This book is very thoroughly researched--the amount of data and scholarly research cited is truly eye-opening--and provides ample evidence to support its central claim: that our culture does not take rape as seriously as it purports to, and that we need to do better. This point is relentlessly driven home as Harding covers media, cultural myths, the criminal justice system, politicians, and much more.
Though it's well worth reading simply for Harding's detailed handling of the topic, the book ups the ante: after making the claim that we need to do better, Harding then provides concrete suggestions as to how we can do better. She does not simply identify a pervasive, ugly problem (though goodness knows that's important enough); she outlines ways in which we, as a society, can better address that problem. And that, to me, is one of the most valuable things about the book.
Harding's incisive critique paired with her forward-looking approach makes Asking for It a must-read.