College student speaks out about 'rape culture,' 'hookup culture'

By Ashe Schow, Ashe Schow

Published December 20, 2015

!--StartFragment-->

A student at the College of William and Mary took to the opinion pages of the student newspaper to express his views about so-called rape culture.

The student, sophomore Thomas Briggs, insisted that America doesn't have a "rape culture," but it does have a "hookup culture" where students get drunk and engage in sexual activity. Briggs described what he sees as rape culture in the Middle East, and provided an example of a Saudi gang-rape victim who was sentenced to 200 lashes for being in a car with a man. She was punished for her suffering on the false pretext that she had caused her own rape.

"What aspects of our society lie within the realm of a rape culture?" Briggs wrote. "There is simply no systemic tolerance for rape, no prosecution of victims and the general disgust for rape and rapists may only be trumped by the general disgust for pedophilia or murder; indicating that it is not, contrary to what many say, an institutionalized part of our 'culture.'"