Origins and Uses of the Rape Culture Pyramid
The Rape Culture Pyramid doesn’t have a single, clearly attributed creator. Rather, it is the product of a collective evolution - built on decades of feminist activism, anti-violence education, and critical scholarship on sexual violence, patriarchy, and gender-based harm.
The model draws heavily from:
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Susan Brownmiller’s foundational 1975 book Against Our Will, which framed rape as a tool of male dominance and control.
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The Duluth Power and Control Wheel (1984), which similarly visualised abuse as a pattern rooted in gendered power imbalances and societal norms.
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Concepts from radical and intersectional feminist theory, particularly the understanding that cultural attitudes - such as objectification, victim-blaming, and male sexual entitlement - create the conditions in which abuse flourishes.
The pyramid gained popularity in the late 2000s and 2010s, especially as a visual teaching aid in university classrooms, activist trainings, and social media advocacy. It has since been adapted widely across prevention education and anti-violence campaigns.
Most recently, it has been referenced in Dr Jackson Katz’s book Every Man: Why Men’s Violence Against Women Is a Men’s Issue, where Katz describes the rape culture pyramid as a “visualisation exercise” he uses in his education work. The goal: to help men understand how everyday attitudes and behaviours uphold a culture of violence - and to call them to interrupt sexist behaviour in their spheres of influence.
While the pyramid is not attributed to one author, its power lies in its resonance: it connects personal experiences of harm to broader systems of male dominance, helping us visualise how “harmless” cultural norms enable the most extreme forms of violence.
🔻 Base (Foundations) – Cultural Norms That Support Rape Culture
These are everyday attitudes and behaviours that may seem “harmless” or even socially acceptable - but they lay the groundwork for a culture where men’s violence against women and girls is normalised, excused, or minimised.
Sexist jokes. “Boys will be boys”. Catcalling. Objectification. Blaming victims for what they wore or drank. These messages reinforce male entitlement to women’s bodies and dismiss the seriousness of abuse - especially when it’s committed by men.
🔺 Middle – Explicit Misogyny and Coercive Behaviours
This tier includes behaviours that are more visibly harmful, yet still too often dismissed, especially when the perpetrator is powerful, popular, or protected.
These acts don’t always involve physical force, but rely on coercion, manipulation, and a culture of male dominance. Survivors - most often women and girls - are frequently disbelieved, blamed, or shamed into silence.
🔺 Top – Men's Violence Against Women
This is the visible, criminal end of the spectrum: rape, sexual assault, child sexual abuse, trafficking, and femicide. Women and girls are overwhelmingly the victims. Men are overwhelmingly the perpetrators.
When we ignore the foundations - the so-called "harmless" behaviours - we cultivate a world where this violence becomes inevitable.
These crimes do not occur in isolation. They grow from a culture that teaches men they are entitled to women, and teaches women to tolerate or fear violence as part of everyday life.
See also:
The cultural sanctioning of violence against women
https://youtu.be/1WHc0EIJCXI?si=Q485NtNh9VDYosWQ
How sexualisation and objectification harms women and girls: What the research says
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