When trying to find a seemingly non-existent song, I noticed this comment on the page I was searching:
This person uses the term rape to mean "to exceed"/"to be superior to"/"to conquer". And while the common definition of rape is a. any act of sexual intercourse that is forced upon a person or b. an act of plunder, violent seizure, or abuse; despoliation; violation, which goes along the same lines of conquering a persons personal space/privacy through force, the main difference between the use in the example (comment above) and the dictionary definition is connotation.
Whereas the dictionary definition is a very negative view of rape (or our social view- as far as I understand), the "new" usage seems to view "rape" as an achievement of power over someone or something else/something to be celebrated or praised.
I personally think that our language is just a reflection of how we think, and as new ideas and inventions/technology arise, we create new words for them. But we are still more reluctant to change the language that is already set, even when our society does change.
How much do you think language plays into how people think? Or how much do you think how people think shapes our language? Does giving a word like rape a definition as something to be admired create a social consciousness of acceptance of the word and perhaps make the action seem less bad?
I really liked this post because I believe that we do take so many words out of context and it is kind of scary when we use a word like "rape" to show power. I think that it is disrespectful to use the word in those terms. What about the poor victims that have been raped? I think that people are very ignorant to the meaning of things and inconsiderate regarding how others may feel about it.
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