Alex Corwin reports on the insensitive and potentially triggering use of the word “rape” on Facebook and explains how to report it. I think many people in our class would agree that we should not allow rape jokes to be commonplace, so I think many people would be horrified at the use of “rape” on Facebook. I suggest reading over Corwin’s short article and even doing your own search for “rape” groups. I quickly did a search myself and found the following group. The description of the group Facebook Rape!:
To all who spy a computer terminal with a facebook proflie still logged on, and use the opportunity to deface said profile. And of course, all who have suffered.
The noble art of facebook rape (known in the trade as fraping) is almost second nature to users, and people who leave their computers unattended should expect the consequences to be dire.
This seamingly popular use of the word rape diminishes the horror of rape and impact on its victims. I was not aware that there is such a craze on the term “Facebook rape”. There was also a group related to Facebook Rape! called Facebook Rape Support Group, which seemed like a good thing at a first glance, but then I realized it just reinforces the use of the term “Facebook rape.”
I urge people, like Corwin does in his article, to find these groups–that diminish the horror of actual rape by using the word for less serious matters–and report the groups on racist/hate speech.