It's not uncommon these days to hear someone say, "Well, if she wasn't dressed like that," or "she was drunk and asking for it,” when you hear the unfortunate story of another girl being sexually assaulted or raped. It is just as common for these crimes to go unreported because victims feel they will not be believed or will be subject to further shame and humiliation. This is due to the idea of ​​“rape culture,” a term coined in the 1970s during second wave feminism. This suggests that the reason these actions and concepts are so common is because they are ingrained in our collective psyche from a young age. As a victim and survivor myself, I believe this needs to change. However, the only way to achieve this is for us, as a country, to take a stand now and put an end to what further perpetuates it. According to an article available on upworthy.com (Rape culture is alive and well in America because Of These 6 Things by Rollie Williams) lists some of the reasons why this atrocious crime has been allowed to continue, despite considerable progress in women's rights and human rights over the past 100 years. Williams suggests that the main source of the problem is that women, or men, who are raped often do not feel comfortable reporting the incident to the police. This may be due to fear of public shame, accusations of fabrication, or any other reason, but the fact remains that on average, only 3% of rapists are sentenced to prison each year . Another terrifying point Williams brings up is that rape rates on college campuses have barely changed over the past 20 years, which also comes down to people not reporting it when it happens. He suggests that it might be due to the middle of a paper... that it's their fault when it happens, that they should expect it to happen if they want to work on a decent footing. equality with men, and that we are victims and we just have to get used to it. It's obvious why this is a problem, but solving it is much easier said than done. In order to solve this problem, we need to start teaching our children differently than we were taught. We must teach our sons that women are not toys or possessions, that they are not the property of men. We must teach our daughters that they have the right to say “no” when unwanted advances are made to them and that they have the right to defend themselves. We need to show them both that it doesn't make them weak or worthless when tragedies like this happen. Change will only happen when we implement it at a young age, children will grow as they are taught. Teach them well and America's rape culture will finally cease to exist..