I saw the word “frape” this morning on the boards and thought it was a typo for “frappe,” but I was wrong. Very, very wrong.

Frape is apparently “Facebook rape,” which is when someone messes with your profile if you forgot to log out or got hacked.

Um. NO.

I can’t even begin to explain how not okay this is. This word trivializes rape, which is something that should never, ever be trivialized.

In high school, I heard “That test raped me” all the time. No, no it didn’t. That test did not take advantage of and sexually assault you. That test did not keep going after you said “No.” That test did not roofie your drink. That test did not hold you down. That test did not scar you for life.

Rape is a very serious crime, and we should be taking the word just as seriously as the crime. Rape means rape.

It took years for the government to change the definition of rape to be more inclusive so that more crimes could be reported. The official FBI definition of rape today is “The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.”

If we keep giving rape other meanings, it doesn’t seem like a crime anymore. It seems like nothing. It perpetuates rape culture and the idea that rape is a joke, and it isn’t.

And how offensive to rape survivors to use it in such a meaningless way! The only time anyone should be using the word rape is when talking about rape as the crime that it is.

Please kindly do yourself and everyone else a favor and remove “frape” and other words that trivialize rape from your vocabulary immediately.

Have you heard “frape” before? Is it common at your school? What about people saying “That test raped me” or other variations? Does it upset you? Tell me in the comments!
 

These “Keep Calm And Rape On” shirts were taken off Amazon

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