National Rape Day: Another dumb TikTok trend, or a display of dangerous misogynist tendencies?
- Prisha
- Apr 27, 2021
- 2 min read
What: A group of six men on TikTok supposedly declared April 24th "National Rape Day," a day on which they would commit acts of sexual harassment and assault. This was targeted at women specifically. Many people responded to this with outrage as well as posts telling women to stay inside on that day or go out with many people/ carry protection.
Fact or fiction? TikTok has said that they cannot find this video. Many sources also claim that the accounts which contributed to this have since deleted the video. According to USA Today's fact check, this particular story should be considered false, since there is no evidence corroborating that it actually exists. However, one thing that wasn't explained was that how so many people claimed to actually have seen the video, and how it spread like wildfire, if it isn't true.
Additional Notes: Regardless of whether this is a real video or not, this is a very real concern. It is outrageous that some men can just declare what they plan to do and instill fear in such a large population. Rape is never ever okay. Moreover, it seems that they got exactly the reaction that they would've been searching for. Rape is more of a power strategy than a sexual motivation. They want to make it so that they can hold us down, mute us, and prevent us from being able to protect anything, even ourselves. The fact that everyone is outraged and afraid at the same proves that these random people still have power over us, just because they're men is exactly the problem, and we have to work to fix it.
Remember, use your voice and educate yourself.
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