rape card
- noun
- /reɪp kɑrd/
- Offensive
:
jugar la carta de la violación (ofensivo)
- Some accused her of playing the rape card to influence public opinion.
Examples
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The use of the rape card is widely condemned for minimizing real trauma.
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Journalists cautioned against deploying the rape card in political debates.
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He played the rape card during the discussion.
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Some people believe using the rape card is manipulative.
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Critics argue that invoking the rape card in debates undermines the seriousness of sexual assault.
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Many believe that mentioning the rape card can detract from important discussions on policy.
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Using the rape card in arguments is often seen as an attempt to gain sympathy rather than engage in a factual discussion.
Surface Forms
Morphology
rape + card
The individual words give partial clues: 'rape' identifies the subject matter and 'card' can metaphorically suggest a tactic or advantage (as in 'play the X card'), so a learner might guess it involves invoking rape in an argumentative context. However, the specific pragmatic meaning—using an allegation or experience of sexual assault to seek sympathy or deflect criticism—depends on the idiomatic 'play the X card' pattern and is not fully derivable from the constituents alone, so it is only partially transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
The term rape card comes from the idea of 'playing a card' in a game: a person uses the serious fact of rape like a card to change an argument or gain an advantage. So, it means 'using a claim of sexual assault to get sympathy, avoid criticism, or gain an advantage'.
