What Is Anti-Rapism and Who Is Haleyville Anti-Rapist Action?

Rapism is the belief that rape is morally acceptable and/or justifiable and that consent does not matter. It views the targets of rape, its victims, that is, usually cisgender women, as being not bodily autonomous and as being not a fully human agent. Rapism gives rise to rape culture. One of the characteristics of rapism is the transphobic exclusion of transgender people from their gender identity, for example, the prominent narrative heard in far-right spaces that says a trans woman is nothing more than a “man in a dress.” This is transphobia, and the argument is often supplemented by the conflation that trans people are themselves pedophiles, rapists, and sexual abusers. But what takes this further into rapism is the view that, in this trans exclusion, trans people deserve to be used, abused, and raped, and that they likewise are not fully human and have no bodily autonomy. This transphobic exclusion is prominent in trans-exclusionary radical feminists or what we call “TERFs.” Therefore, rapism is a violent and predatory ideology that negates and violates its targets’ personhood and it normalizes this behavior, which in turn, fosters a culture of rape.

Salient examples of people perpetrating this culture of rape include male supremacists Roosh V. and Mike Cernovich. (As a brief aside, watch this video on Pick Up Artistry which deals with Roosh and rape culture.)

As such, anti-rapism is against rapism and the culture of rape that it cultivates. Anti-rapism is guided by a fundamental principle that says “We believe survivors.” and it supports a culture of consent, bodily autonomy, and self-defense against physical abuse and toxic metaphysical views that view people as non-fully human agents who are deserving of rape. Anti-rapism is supportive of both cisgender and transgender victims of rape (who identify as male or female) as well as non-binary victims of rape (who don’t identify as either male or female or who identify as something else or in any combination).

Therefore, anti-rapist action consists of direct actions that aid victims and defend against abusers. Some such actions are tracking, keeping tabs on, and exposing rapists and sexual assaulters in local communities so the public can be aware of the abuser and take actions that ensure public safety. Anti-rapist action is squarely self-defense. Haleyville Anti-Rapist Action is a collective of anonymous and autonomous individuals that monitor and expose rapists and sexual abusers in their community.