Stigmatization of sex supports rape

In many conservative sub-cultures in America people are taught that sex is a bad thing, a gift of Satan, and other things. This is first of all damaging to people, because it makes it difficult to develop the emotions that are needed and knowledge of how to deal with sexual attraction which is completely natural. People need to learn how to use a condom, what other forms of birth control are, how to effectively express emotions, and this is conditioned. If someone always grows up in a situation with strong gender roles, and never gets exposed to ideas outside of their sub-culture on different gender roles it is very difficult to break out of those roles. Thing like appreciating beauty, (like the Rachmaninoff Sonata I am listening to as I write this which is a little piece of heaven) can be hurt in a macho culture, and reinforces damaging gender roles. Teaching women that they will be housewives from the time they are born closes doors to science and engineering that is equally damaging as it is to men who are taught to not appreciate beauty.

I am fairly certain in my hypothesis, and I would like to see more scientific research on this question focusing in on how the people were raised and if they lived in a good home, if they were exposed to high-quality sexual education and the ability to find themselves without necessarily being held in any particular gender role. The ability to see people of all genders as equals and growing up in a loving community might have an effect in the amount of violence perpetrated. Teaching people to treat others with respect is the core of the issue I think because all a victim needs to do is say no and the rapist needs to respect that decision. Indeed, research from my second reference supports this belief.

So, what can we do? First of all, we need to respect all people equally regardless of their gender. This is the first and largest step at fighting rape culture and making a world where all people can be treated equally. Stigmitizing sex makes it less understood and harder for people from those sub-cultures to fully understand what sex is, which is very sad, and makes it so rape is more likely to be considered appropriate at some level. We need people to understand what sex is, how it works, and what people can do to have safe sex.

The best thing about this is that there are communities and cultures that already do this, and it works extremely well.

References:

Population Council, June 2004. Web. 5 May 2014. .

"A Longitudinal Study of Rape Attitude Correlates among College Men."UNT Digital Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2014. .

Inspiration:
http://www.policymic.com/articles/88277/23-ways-feminism-has-made-the-world-a-better-place-for-men which I completely agree with.

http://www.policymic.com/articles/69789/the-truth-behind-what-causes-rape