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Joseph Davis
Dr. Trogan
ENC 1101
18 February 2015
A Culture of Enabling1
Written by Nicholas Kristof, the article Bill Cosby, UVA and Rape is about rape and
Americas culture that enables rape. The author describes the problem of how there are numerous
cases of unpunished rape in this country and the purpose of his article is to encourage the reader
to take a stand against this enabling culture and to fight for the rights of women and men. I agree
with the author wholeheartedly, because there are many cases of women being raped and then the
perpetrator is not rightly punished, as well the fact that the attitudes of todays public towards
rape is astonishingly passive. I agree with the author that accusations of rape require a serious
response, and should not be taken lightly or in a passive manner.
In Nicholas Kristofs article Bill Cosby, UVA and Rape, Kristof takes on the topic of
rape and rape culture. Kristof talks about the recent events with Bill Cosby and the allegations of
rape and then states that this is a cop-out for all of us and that the larger problem is a culture
that enables rape. He goes on to discuss the rape of a girl at the University of Virginia and
brings up the fact that according to a students interview with administration, students at the
university who admit to sexual assault invariably avoid expulsion, and that no student had been
expelled for rape in years and that the University of Virginia treats cheating more seriously
than rape. Kristof goes on to give reports and his opinion on certain aspects rape culture such as
the fact that only 14 percent of sexual assault cases referred to the special victims unit there
were even investigated and that in juvenile detention centers, almost 1 youth in 10 had been

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sexually abused in the course of a single year. At two juvenile centers, the rate of abuse was 30
percent or more. This show of research and reports is important and helps the reader to
understand just how prominent rape is, yet how passive our countrys opinion towards it is.
Kristof also does a good job of citing these reports and giving his own opinions on them.
Kristof also does well at not putting the blame on any one gender. On the one hand, he
brings up the topic of how boys are socialized to see women and girls as baubles, as
playthings and that rapists can be stunningly clueless, somehow unaware that they have
committed a crime or even a faux pas. He then provides a good counterpoint of how the
dominant problem is not an epidemic of men falsely accused of rape, but of women who endure
sexual violence. These statements give the reader the chance to consider the arguments of both
genders, not just one specific group; however, while Kristof focuses on raising awareness and
pushing the reader to stand up against rape culture, he doesnt really delve into the details on
how that should be done.
While Kristof does a decent job of raising awareness of, he tends to avoid giving active
advice on how to fight rape culture. He tends more to approach the reader through statistics and
examples of rape culture and a few instances of protests.

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Works Cited
Kristof, Nicholas. "Bill Cosby, UVA and Rape." The New York Times. The New York Times, 26
Nov. 2014. Web. 09 Mar. 2015.