Rape CultureThere are many instances where stereotypes play a big role in our society today. These stereotypes include many myths about sexual assault. All over the world, stereotypes and myths are still present, and there are many effects of "rape culture" that Patricia Lockwood's poem, "Rape Joke," debunks. Lockwood's poem includes sexual violence, rape myths, stereotypes, and the consequences of all of these effects. In the way “Rape Joke” is written, it is able to give a deeper meaning to the poem as a whole. Patricia Lockwood is able to show these in her poem because of the writing style she uses. She is able to use a different writing style than the typical poem, which makes this poem even more interesting. Even with all the stereotypes, myths, and rape culture around the world, there are different denotations and connotations of how each individual can define these things. Patricia Lockwood's poem discredits many myths and stereotypes through her use of language and word choice. The first stereotype in Patricia Lockwood's poem, "Rape Joke," was that "he wore a goatee." A goatee. (line 3) There is a stereotype that most rapists have goatees. Although this is not true for all rapists, because people in society consider most people with goatees to be rapists, there is a stereotype. The way Lockwood phrases this line is different from most because she repeats the key word, goatee. She chose the wording specifically to imply to readers how a goatee symbolizes that the rapist really was a rapist. However, there are also myths that take place at the beginning of the poem. According to the article “Strength: Disrupting Rape Culture,” the number one rape myth is the rape of a stranger. “The stranger rape myth is the idea that most rapes are self-inflicted as the only option to get rid of what happened. The only way for a victim to get over what happened is to talk about what happened and admit that nothing they could have done would have fixed the problem. (Strength: Disrupting Rape Culture)With the stereotypes and myths circulating in every region, we can see how much of a difference things make in how things are portrayed. Rape victims should not blame themselves or view the situation as a joke, as evidenced in Patricia Lockwood's poem, "Rape Joke." She uses a very unique style of story-like poem to tell the story of an event that could happen and how to view the situation afterwards. There are consequences of how victims feel and act after going through the traumatic experience of rape. Lockwood is able to describe this experience in detail in his poem "Rape Joke »..”