Rape Culture
This film effectively explores those elements in our society that contribute to an ideology that supports rape.
Mary Daly and others who have studied rape provide background information that ties the film together; Daly characterises rape as a disease of a phallocentric society that puts all women under siege. When women are not being physically assaulted or confined they are psychologically bound by the knowledge that society victimises them in the normal course of social interaction.
The film includes sections with convicted rapists who examine their own socialisation and behaviour – behaviour and beliefs that have recently been characterised as “bogus manhood” – and critical attention is given to media images: advertising, news reports, films, and clips from popular mainstream movies.
'Rape Culture’ is excellently made, a real consciousness-raiser because it puts rape in a social context. Highly recommended not only for courses in psychology of women but also in social psychology, social problems and criminology.
– Leigh Marlowe, Psychology of Women Quarterly
Description Source: Cinenova Catalogue (1994). Edited by Kate Norrish. Editorial committee: Elaine Burrows, Liane Harris, Helen de Witt