An 11 year old girl being blamed for being gang raped by 20 males in a court room by a lawyer in the US.
[link]http://feministing.com/2012/11/29/this-week-in-victim-blaming-11-year-old-gang-rape-survivor-as-seductive-spider/[/link]
Judges, police and community victim blaming/ ignoring evidence:
[link]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/18/montana-judge-rape-victim_n_4811890.html[/link]
[link]https://www.buzzfeed.com/katiejmbaker/the-police-told-her-to-report-her-rape-then-arrested-her-for?utm_term=.gx56zPXLw#.xybQZAEjR[/link]
[link]https://www.theodysseyonline.com/high-school-teacher-sexually-assaults-students-community-blames-victims[/link]
[link]http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2015/11/04/after-church-leader-is-convicted-for-decade-of-rape-his-community-blames-the-victim/[/link]
[link]https://thinkprogress.org/friend-of-stanford-rapist-blamed-victim-urged-judge-not-to-be-politically-correct-a2b114fafc07#.wivthxy5q[/link]
The reality is still sadly in the west that it is better for the victim to not report rape than it is for them to do so. If you report a rape, your life as you knew it is essentially over. People do not want to be a hero, they just want to be normal. They just want everything to be the same as it was before this happened to them. They did not ask for this to happen to them and honestly it is easier to forget about it happening than to tell someone because the moment people find out you will be " rape girl" for then on and everything you have ever done, accomplished, and plan to is no longer what it was. The second people find out you were raped, you are no longer you just " rape girl". Guys don't want to date " rape girl" because " rape girl will tell people you raped her. " rape girl" is not allowed to enjoy sex because you know
you can't enjoy sex and be raped, if she enjoyed it obviously she wasn't raped right? Anything else that you have ever done or will do really doesn't matter because you will just be known as that girl who was raped from then on, and the people who raped you, their friends and family will never ever let you forget so it is better off you just move and hope no one saw your name or photo in the news or social media to find out what happened. When guys are still getting together in groups to gang rape girls in the US, it is still very much a problem. There are issues within the culture itself that must be addressed to change this long term. In both very wealthy and poor communities, there are multiple social issues that must change to make a difference with this. The ideas that wealthy men are above the law and can do as they please or that women are beneath them and "deserve" to be treated poorly must change. Yes, this IS an issue in the west, and even a worse issue for Native Americans, who are raped at a much higher rate, and usually by non Native American white males who think they are entitled to do so.
[link]http://www.vice.com/read/native-american-women-are-rape-targets-because-of-a-legislative-loophole-511[/link]
In the United States, Native American women are more than twice as likely as White women, Asian women, and Black women to experience sexual violence. 78% of the perpetrators of sexual assault and rape committed against Native American women are White ("American Indians and Crime")
[link]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_victimization_of_native_American_women[/link]
Sadly rape culture is still very much a problem in the west, and yes it still needs to be addressed. It is sad when people in the west shout how appalled they are at when a woman or child is gang raped in India, but ignore it when a woman or child is gang raped in the US and instead turn a blind eye and act like it isn't still a problem here. Honestly when I hear people say something as ignorant as " rape culture isn't an issue in the west" it is like nails on a chalkboard. If it were not an issue, I would not have been raped as a child. My sister would not have been raped, my cousin would not have been raped my grandmother would not have been raped. Women and girls should not be growing up learning this is just part of being a woman in the US. They should not be having to learn that this is just something that happens to us all, or that it just comes with the territory as we currently ARE learning. The goal here should be that most women do not even know anyone that this happened to and this is just something we learn about how it used to happen in history. When we get to that point, Rape culture will no longer be an issue plaguing our society, instead it will finally be over. That has not happened yet. I really really really wish it would become true at some point.