The Role of Social Media and the Criminal Justice System in the Perpetuation of Rape Culture in Asking for It (2015) and Unbelievable (2019)

Abstract

[eng] Rape culture has become normalised at all levels and in all aspects of society, and its discourses, fallacies and myths have been institutionalised and entrenched on the basis of its patriarchal values, causing many state apparatuses to hold them as main reference. This dissertation attempts to examine the role of the Criminal Justice System and social media in the perpetuation of rape culture and all its mythology. By means of a critical analysis centred on Gender and Cultural Studies, Unbelievable (2019) and Asking for It (2015) are to be explored in order to prove that the two state apparatuses aforementioned are used as instruments to propagate all those hegemonic and patriarchal discourses belonging to the rape culture and to exercise monumental violence on its victims. Likewise, through their protagonists it will be demonstrated the impact these discourses have on victims and how these cultural products challenge them through their work and from a feminist perspective used to raise awareness about the harsh reality of the situation.