Myths – History Gal

Rape Myths and their Pervasiveness in the 19^th and 20^th Centuries: Rape Myths and their Impact on the Victims

Rape myths permeated throughout the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Suggestions that, on some level, the victim “wanted it” and that “it is impossible to sheath a sword into a vibrating scabbard”, had consequences. Not only did these myths affect the attitudes and perceptions of the authorities involved in the prosecution and conviction of these crimes, it also impacted the victims’ experiences as well. This post will be focusing on this point and on the difficulties they faced when they attempted to report the assaults. Continue reading Rape Myths and their Pervasiveness in the 19th and 20th Centuries: Rape Myths and their Impact on the Victims

“It is impossible to sheath a sword into a vibrating scabbard.”[1]

“Women lie… false accusations are endemic.”[2]

“No does not always mean no.”[3]

“She was asking for it.”[4]

The examples above are some of the more pervasive rape myths around during the 19^th Century and well into the 20^th Century. The implication of these myths being that a woman cannot be raped if she does not want it to happen, thus, making it extremely difficult to prove it had happened. A few years ago, I wrote an essay on this topic and it is one that has certainly impacted the areas of research that I later went into and I wanted to share my findings here. Continue reading Rape Myths and their Pervasiveness in the 19th and 20th Centuries: Rape myths and the Law