I've been researching books on rape for an anti rape & intimate partner violence event that we're putting on this fall. Which means that I've been typing "rape" in to a lot of search engines, among other things. Searching through Google, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Microsoft and Apple's various book and general searches was rather depressing. I know that rape fantasies, erotica, and porn exist, and that they aren't exactly rare. I think that says a lot of disturbing things about the culture that we live in, but that's not going to be something that's easy to fix.
I know that there's a snowball's chance in hell of these completely companies de-listing rape erotica, etc. I also know that the suggestions and results are determined by algorithm. Something that would be valuable though, is for search engines to prioritize things like "rape recovery" in search results and suggestions. That is certainly possible - Google has, for example, made it so that searching for lgbt, gay, or lesbian prioritizes non-pornographic results.
Rape is a real crime that is also extremely prevalent. While it is obviously impossible to police the sexual habits of the entire population, I think it's incredibly important that we make access to resources easy to find, right down to the simplest of search words. Sure, you can argue that somebody looking for rape crisis or rape recovery resources should use the more exact searches. But I think that it should be the other way around - search engines should, by default, prioritize crisis and recovery resources for search terms like rape, while making things like erotica require more specific searches.
With that said, here are some screen shots:
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| Amazon general search suggestions. Note: "Rapelay" is the name of a notorious rape simulation video game. Rapeseed is the name for the seeds used for Canola oil. |
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| Amazon book search suggestions. You might think that "rapee" might lead to search results related to rape recovery, but it actually mainly leads to a bunch of books about child anxiety by Ronald Rapee, PhD. |
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| Amazon kindle book search suggestions. Disturbing. |
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| Amazon general search results. Books about rape recovery are nowhere to be seen, unfortunately. |
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| Amazon book search results. Oh hey! A book about rape recovery! Maybe there's some hope after all. |
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| Amazon kindle book search results.Well, so much for that fleeting hope. |
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| Barnes & Noble general search suggestions. The first suggestion is literally "rape erotica." "Rape Game" is a series of erotica novels. "Raped by Teachers & Stepfathers" is the name of a rape erotica anthology. |
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| Barnes & Noble book search suggestions. Same scary ass shit. |
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| Barnes & Noble nook book search suggestions. And again. |
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| Barnes & Noble general search results. Is that Arevalos fan fiction? But hey, this one... isn't so bad. |
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| Barnes & Noble book search results. Same, really. |
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| Barnes & Noble nook book search results. Again, same. |
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| Google general search suggestions. The rape sloth meme features a sloth whispering rape threats in to a woman's ear. But hey, if you go down to rape culture you might see something useful. Maybe. |
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| Google Play search suggestions. *sigh* |
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| Google general search results. Glad to see RAINN in the top 4. |
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| Google Play search results. "Rape and Rough Sex: From Fantasy to Personal Experience" is not an examination of rape fetishes, but, rather, yet another rape erotica collection. The rest is okay, I guess. |
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| Google Images search results. And this one is really fucking vile. First result is a hogtied and gagged woman with the text, "IT'S NOT RAPE / If she really didn't want to, she'd have said something." Number four: "PREVENT RAPE / Just say yes." Later, "RAPE / Because guys like this take it too far." One has a woman passed out on the floor of a bathroom with the text, "DEAR DIARY / Jackpot." And then, "RAPE / or is it, when done by another woman?" And then a photo of a white woman surrounded by black men with the text "EXTREME RAPE / The woman in this picture is going to get it. Very hard." And so on, and so forth. |
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| Apple iBooks suggestions. After everything else, surprisingly decent. |
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| Apple iBooks results. Eh. |
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| Bing search suggestions. Bla. |
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| Bing search results. First match is "Rape Videos" on funnyordie. They have a subcategory of their website dedicated to rape. RAINN is 7 results down. |
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| Well, take out the paintings and we have a bunch more ~HILARIOUS~ rape jokes. One shows a woman passed out while holding alcohol with the text "DATE RAPE / in 4... 3... 2..." One shows two women with the text "STATUTORY RAPE / Your [sic] about to catch 2 charges." Another says "Win her over with Chloroform. / DATE RAPE / So much easier than actually talking to her." |
Okay I hate everything good bye.
