Gallegos 1

Rodrigo Gallegos
Professor Kaz
English 114B T-Th
19 March 2015
Diminishing a Subconscious Fear
Rape is a general social issue that deals with sexual activity without consent, by force, by
threat, or when the victim is incapacitated or impaired. This issue brings about a fear in society.
It creates a subculture, in which, its members all share that same phobia. Fear of rape is a
struggle amongst the people in that subculture, they may not have been raped or they have been
raped, but its a constant sense of consciousness that affects the daily lives of many people. The
endeavor this community has to face in order to bring about peace in mind while on the streets
comes with many obstacles and hardships such as: having others understand and comprehend the
phobia, to have new lessons taught about rape prevention, and to establish mental security and
diminish the fear.
People have phobias, whether they are common or uncommon. It can affect the daily
lives of the people that have the fear. The usual case in overcoming these phobias is by having
the person face them and learn to adjust and get comfortable with it. But, not all phobias can be
conquered this way. For example, virginitiphobia can be difficult to get rid of and overcome.
Virginitiphobia is the fear of rape. Many people and especially women have this phobia. If
people with virginitiphobia tried to overcome their fear the same way as getting over any other
fear, then every person would be raped and be comfortable with it after. That does not sound
right. There should be a way that subculture can get over the fear of rape.

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People have to understand and comprehend the fear. Virginitiphobia is mainly towards
stranger rape. Stranger rape is the least common type of rape. But in order to overcome it,
strangers should stop triggering the fear. In the article Fear of Rape: Rape Phobia by Samantha
Gluck, she Some factors that trigger a conscious fear of rape in women include: Men who
honk, whistle, or leer at them as they walk on public streets; poor lighting in parking areas or
along streets and in the workplace; sexual harassment by an acquaintance or co-worker; sexually
overt commentary by males about their body and appearance; obscene phone calls; several men
with only one or two women in a group of strangers or near strangers; witnessing a man
exposing himself or masturbating; men known to them or strangers that fondle and grope their
body parts; and stigma of rape exacerbates fear of rape because women fear societal scorn and
blame if they are is raped. (2014). Gluck describes and states situations in where a woman
would consciously get the fear. Once men stop doing these things around women, its two steps
forward in the right direction in getting over the fear.
Rape prevention should help bring about more ways to be safe from an attacker. The
usual form of rape prevention that is taught is self-defense. That way the victim can protect
themselves. Since their childhood, most women were taught to always be cautious around
strangers which expanded as they aged. Gluck states, The early parental instructions about
stranger avoidance contained no explicit reference to sexual assault. But as the girls grew in age
and maturity, parents added increasingly explicit warnings that they probably deemed as ageappropriate for their individual child. These warnings eventually became a subconscious
thought whenever a situation triggered it.
But why continue the habit of teaching people to fear strangers and protect themselves?
There should be another lesson in rape prevention. An article on Buzzfeed.om, What is Rape

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Culture?, states, Rape culture is a culture in which sexual violence is considered the norm
in which people arent taught not to rape, but are taught not to be raped. (Broderick, Nigatu, &
Testa, 2014). This refers to the idea that people really are not taught not to rape. The focus
remains to prevent the situation, when it should not be that way. Broderick, Nigatu, and Testa
wrote, Many conversations around rape are focused on preventative behavior, like telling
women what not to do, what not to wear, or when not to go out. But this logic doesnt place any
responsibility on the perpetrators. The old metaphor is that women who dress provocatively are
the same as homeowners who dont lock their doors at night. But this argument only further
reduces women to objects and asks them to be responsible for preventing their own rape.
(2014). The concept should not focus on the victims behavior because they never ask for it.
The way they dress, the time they go out, or what they do are not signs saying they are asking for
rape; those actions are to express themselves instead. There is nothing wrong with selfexpression, so the victim shouldnt be blamed. On the other hand, people have to be taught to not
rape. Perhaps with both self-defense against rape and not to rape taught amongst the world, we
may see a decrease in rape statistics.
Establishing mental security and diminishing the fear is the goal in this subculture. They
want to be able to walk the streets and dress the way they want without having to worry about
being raped. Kearl cites Susan Brownmillers Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape, A
world without rapists would be a world in which women moved freely without fear of men. That
some men rape provides a sufficient threat to keep all women in a constant state of intimidation,
forever conscious of the knowledge that the biological tool must be held in awe, for it may turn
to weapon with sudden swiftness born of harmful intent. (2009). Women yearn for the day with

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less rapists to happen. Kearl describes that even having some rape occurring in the world is
enough to continue the fear amongst women.
Without being able to reach peace in mind, people, mainly women, remain with their
subconscious fear haunting them. Fisher writes, yet we remain just as afraid and insecure.
We are bound by a rape schedule which restricts our freedom, yet does nothing to alleviate our
fear. We live in the shadow of the stranger in the dark, yet we are most likely to be victimized by
partners and acquaintances. We learn how to defend ourselves but we never feel in control. Its a
harrowing conclusion, but until we dismantle rape culture brick by brick and rebuild society to
value equality and autonomy above power and abuse, that fear continues to oppress us all.
(2013). Fisher describes how she feels about the fear of rape. Its an in-depth portrayal of what
it can feel for the subculture. She understands that the only way to diminish rape and rape culture
is by having society value equality more. Perhaps then, the subculture will be mentally free from
their phobia.
In order for the minds of many people in the world to be free from the fear, the
subculture would have to take action. Before that action, they would need to have a vision in
what they want to accomplish. Del Gandio writes, Our rhetoric is driven by visions of a better
world.No one thinks we can right all the wrongs and live happily after. However we do believe
that we can do better; that we can become more ethical and humane social beings; and that we
can do a better job of respecting ourselves, each other and our social and natural worlds. (p.
185) Del Gandio describes the rhetoric strategy of vision and the importance of it. This can help
the people picture the idea of mental security and freedom from the fear of rape within them. It
can gear the members to become activists to achieve their goal.

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After acknowledging the vision, the subculture activists would have to strategically
organize meetings, events, actions and campaigns that help bring about your desired reality. (Del
Gandio, p. 207). This can to lead to those actions in pursuit of providing awareness and change
over the rape culture. Providing awareness can explain why this fear is important to diminish and
discussing what can be done to destroy this fear will bring about action to change that reality.
Changing that reality will relieve many people of the fear of rape that haunts them. The
subculture will be mentally free and have peace in mind. The phobia will be diminished.
Having others understand and comprehend the phobia, to have new lessons taught about
rape prevention, and to establish mental security and diminish the fear are the main focuses for
the rape of fear community. Whether they may not have been raped or they have been raped, its
a growing subconscious fear that effect the daily lives of many. The comprehension of the fear
can help others understand the phobia and why it is important. New lessons should be taught to
the youth like telling them rape is not okay and not to rape. Reaching mental freedom provides
the peace in my mind the subculture yearns for and will grant the daily lives of people to proceed
without the thought of getting raped. To reach that mental freedom, people in the subculture
should take action and raise awareness and change. Then one day, there will no longer be a
phobia. Fear of rape will be diminished.

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Works Cited
Broderick, Ryan; Nigatu, Heben; Testa, Jessica. What is Rape Culture?. BuzzFeed. Web. N.P.
16 March 2015.
Fisher, Emmy. Living Life by a Rape Schedule. Feminspire. Web. N.P. 16 March 2015.
Gluck, Samantha. Fear of Rape: Rape Phobia. HealthyPlace. Web. N.P. 16 March 2015.
Kearl, H. An Underlying Fear of Rape. StopStreetHarrassment. Web. N.P. 16 March 2015.
Del Gandio, Jason. Twenty-First Century Radical Rhetoric. Rhetoric for Radicals. Canada:
New Society Publishers, 2008. Print. (179-212).

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Annotated Bibliographies
Broderick, Ryan; Nigatu, Heben; Testa, Jessica. What is Rape Culture?. BuzzFeed. Web. N.P.
16 March 2015.
In this article, the authors provide an in-depth list of what is in rape culture. Each aspect
has an elaborate description that provides the information to know what rape culture is.
What is Rape Culture? ties into my research by providing the guide of what elements
the rape culture contains and what are the different aspects that should be known by the
people.
Fisher, Emmy. Living Life by a Rape Schedule. Feminspire. Web. N.P. 16 March 2015.
Fisher describes situations in where women may think of fearing rape. She then informs
the reader about the statistics surrounding the social issue of rape. Living Life by a Rape
Schedule supports my subculture by providing statistics and facts of rape and why it is
feared.
Gluck, Samantha. Fear of Rape: Rape Phobia. HealthyPlace. Web. N.P. 16 March 2015.
In this article, Gluck informs the reader that the fear of rape begins at a young age and is
always subconsciously in a womans mind. This article also describes many triggers to
cause this fear to rise and that women focus on the wrong type of rape. Fear of Rape:
Rape Phobia is found on a mental health online channel. This article supports and ties in
with my subculture because it focus on the reasons why certain things cause this
subculture to from.
Kearl, H. An Underlying Fear of Rape. StopStreetHarrassment. Web. N.P. 16 March 2015.

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Kearl discusses the harassment women receive while they are out passing through the
streets. She also goes into a description of how fear affects the people. This article
supports my research because it provides information about how the fear is a threat and
without it, there would be mental freedom.
Del Gandio, Jason. Twenty-First Century Radical Rhetoric. Rhetoric for Radicals. Canada:
New Society Publishers, 2008. Print. (179-212).
Rhetoric for Radicals is a book over rhetoric strategies and becoming an activist. This
book written by Del Gandio provides necessary information on how to be an activist. The
certain chapter I used, Twenty-First Century Radical Rhetoric, mainly focused on
rhetoric strategies for the twenty-first strategy. This article ties into my research by
explaining certain tactics to accomplish a vision.