It seems like each year there is a story about a huge rape scandal.

More often than not, it involves a jock or a person who is directly related to some form of competitive team atmosphere.

Whether it is sports or the military, rape culture is prevalent in today’s society.
The crazy thing is that macho persona accompanies rape culture, and is prevalent in all age groups.

Furthermore, sometimes even the accused avoid a firm enough punishment.
Take the Steubenville case, where a 16-year-old girl was raped by two eastern Ohio high-school football players, for example.

During the trial, a text message was sent by one of the now-convicted rapists, team quarterback Trent Mays.

Mays had texted a friend that he wasn’t worried about the possibility of rape charges because his football coach, local legend Reno Saccoccia, “took care of it.”
In another text, Mays said of coach Reno, “Like, he was joking about it so I’m not worried.”

Athletes in some cases receive a sense of worship rather than being viewed as a student or a man first.

Today, most people are familiar with the Sandusky case at Pennyslvania State where a coach raped young boys while being blanketed by the silence of his prestigious football program.

But the very same people were also aware that the then-unbeaten Notre Dame prepared to partake in the national championship game against Alabama.
The sports media had no desire to discuss the fact that this football team had two players who were suspected of sexual assault and rape.

Two players whose crimes have been ignored; two players whose accusers felt harassed and intimidated by.

In this situation, the corporate media has dodged the story with propaganda and information on who had died this week, rather than investigating as to why these types of actions are on the rise this day in age.

Another example is the increasing amount of sexual assault cases in the military.
This has to be one of the craziest situations because most women don’t report a rape incident and if they do, how sure are we that the case made gets past the higher officer, who sometimes is the one doing the raping.

Rick Maze wrote in the Marine Times about an Army rape victim who told Congress how a military chaplain told her the alleged rape “was God’s will” and was intended to “get my attention so I would go back to church.” Former Sgt. Rebekah Havrilla was a key witness at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing focusing on sexual assault in the military.

This type of behavior is clearly unacceptable, but how can we stop it?
Just like athletes, higher ranked officials in the military are regarded as men in charge and carry a sense of doing no wrong.

In order to stop the rise of rape cases by member of the macho culture, we must first start to re-evaluate how we view these higher ranked individuals.

The sooner we see them as equal, the sooner the cases will decrease – and that’s the real deal.

“I think that if rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it,” said Bob Knight, Hall of Fame basketball coach.

“The Real Deal” is a bi-weekly column written by Sports editor Aaron Hudson. He provides an honest, personal take on current events.