Rape Culture in the Media

https://www.thedailybeast.com/sarah-huckabee-sanders-all-trump-accusers-are-lying
http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/10/politics/nikki-haley-donald-trump-accusers/index.html

       Recently, many men and women have come forward and told the public of their experiences of sexual assault, accusing powerful and important men of horrible crimes.  Many people and news outlets believe them and take their tales as reasons to progress as a society and challenge the rule of such powerful men.  However, on the opposite end of the spectrum, some people accuse the alleged victims of lying, defending the men and thus perpetuating rape culture.
       Rape culture is the subtle normalization and dismissal of sexual assault towards women, from saying "boys will be boys" as an excuse for offensive jokes or actions to blaming a victim for their own assault.  Though it's vulgar and inexcusable, many people deny its existence; because they themselves have not raped anyone or been assaulted, they feel that such a culture cannot possibly exist to any extent in society.  However, every single woman is affected negatively by its existence; though many of us have had no first-hand experience with sexual assault, why do we fear walking home alone at night?  Why do we go to bathrooms in groups?  Why are we expected to be docile and submissive, while men should be aggressive and ambitious?  It's because even from the start, from the day we were defined as "girls," rape culture has controlled our lives.  It is what makes a woman's skirt length and alcohol intake more punishable than a man's crimes.  Contrary to popular belief, rape culture negatively affects men as well; it puts pressure on them to be romantically and sexually involved early on in their lives; it dismisses their accusations of sexual assault because they are supposed to "want it" and be "strong" enough to fight back, even if they are intoxicated; and forces them to stay silent about their own physical and emotional abuse, because only "weak" men get abused.  However, it allows men to evade punishments for their sexual crimes only as a result of their gender, diminishing their assaults to lies or mistakes.  Rape culture is real and it is ruining the lives of billions.
       In the first article above, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House Press Secretary, denies all claims against Donald Trump, arguing that all sixteen of his accusers are lying.  The fact that she, a woman, so blindly follows a man accused of such horrible crimes against other women, shows the prevalence of rape culture in media; she so easily dismisses sixteen people who claim to have been assaulted by Donald Trump, who has bragged about such things in the past, in order to protect his image.  This level of ignorance harms those who were brave enough to share their stories; rather than support, they face negativity and humiliation.
       In the second article, US ambassador Nikki Haley applauds women for having the strength and courage to share their stories to the world, knowing that they would face backlash from Trump's unconditional supporters.  In order to dismantle the rape culture that has been woven into our society, people must be comfortable coming forth with their stories of assault to society, knowing that they will be believed and supported.  It is also the duty of everyone else in society to listen to them and support them whether we know the alleged assaulter personally or not.  The media, which has perpetuated rape culture by allowing its unrealistic and harmful stereotypes into every aspect of the technologically-connected world, needs to dismantle its reliance on such stereotypes in order for the world's societies to progress.