The word “rape,” which my dictionary defines as “The unlawful compelling of a woman through physical force or duress to have sexual intercourse,” is experiencing a dangerous shift in meaning.*
Increasingly, rape is used to describe experiences such as a sports loss, a poor score on a video game, or being on the losing end of a business deal.
Again, these are all unpleasant experiences, but none rise to the level of what rape truly means. Not since Alanis Morisette’s Isn’t It Ironic ruled the airwaves has a word been so drained of its original value and power.
People use the word ‘rape’ to hype an experience, such as Jon Stewart’s political critique of Jim Cramer’s financial predictions. The hype may grab attention, but it belittles rape. This demoralizes victims, whose traumatic experience is now ranked along with a poor performance review or a hefty cell phone bill.
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