Ah ok. Well I don't think any anthropologist would ever argue there is a coherent US culture. It is just too big, complex, and multi-cultural a country to say there is a homogenous culture. I think most of us would agree that New York City and Topeka, Kansas are quite different culturally. But even within NYC there are multiple sub-cultures.

So the question isn't whether the entire US is a rape culture because claims one way or the other ignore how we think about culture. Instead, the question is whether this particular sub-culture in Alaska has a rape culture i.e. rape is an accepted, common, and justified practice.

Now the complexity here is that when we do think of societies that include rape as a normalized practice it isn't always as simple as everyone agreeing that it is good. For example, among the Maasai there is a tradition of sexual play prior to adulthood. Young men and young girls meet up in huts where they are supervised by one of the boy's mothers. They have to engage in sex because it is believed that women cannot have children until they are "opened up" through this practice. Sometimes girls refuse and in those cases the supervising mother and some of the older boys hold her down and other boys rape her. Not only is this seen as appropriate by the community but necessary so that the girl can become a woman, get married, and have kids. When anthropologists interview those women later in life they have mixed feelings. Some laugh and say they were being silly to get so upset or just excuse it as a necessary thing women have to go through. Others are still quite upset about it and say they still hate the men who raped them and avoid them at all cost. They understand the necessity of the ritual sex play but are bitter and angry about the rape. And they don't see it as something they could or should change.

In a similar example, Philippe Bourgois records in his ethnography In Search of Respect how young Puerto Ricans in Harlem have to engage in gang rape as part of their initiation into manhood and street life. This usually happens in high school and there are huge social pressures to rape. One of the guys he interviews talks about how uncomfortable it made him and how he always found a reason to sneak away which caused a lot of shame when the guys made fun of him as not being a "real man." Most of the guys were deeply worried about this happening to their own sisters, but saw it as normal and appropriate to gang rape other women. Women did a lot to avoid getting raped - having a child was one powerful way to convert your status from potential rape victim to untouchable mother - but they never turned the guys in. They saw it as awful but part of life.

And of course in any sub-culture you have dissenting opinions, disagreements, and people who deviate from the norm. Outliers don't disprove the idea that there is a cultural norm. In fact, they often prove there is one because most other members of that group will point out that they are outliers and the outliers themselves usually recognize they are going against the grain. In other words, if we're going to adequately evaluate this sub-culture in Alaska we need to keep in mind that 1) there will be outliers and 2) those who are raped will have a variety of responses to that experience but what we should pay attention to is whether it is accepted as just part of life

The article isn't a lengthy ethnographic piece and we don't know how long the journalist researched. But for the sake of argument let's take it at face value and evaluate what is said. You have two cultural groups at play here - the larger Alaskan group which includes the police and the local sub-culture of the tribes and villages. The tribal women numerous times say things like "It has happened to all of us. Just leave it alone." Men who are sent to jail by that outside police group return to places of prominence within the internal sub-culture when they get out. Some of the older women are upset with the younger girls speaking out about the abuse because it is private and something that should be kept internal. And relatives of abusers verbally attack women who turn them in, suggesting there are strong cultural pressures to maintain this silence. The article also points to the abuse many older generation people got in Catholic boarding schools which perhaps created a cycle of sexual violence and normalized it. And an older woman said it was explicitly taboo to discuss rape. This all does fit into an idea that rape and sexual abuse is very common, normalized, and that there are huge social pressures to just accept it. The one thing missing though is the perspective of men, which would allow us to analyze how they perceive their actions and the actions of other men. I think that would be important for making a firmer case because that's where you'd find the justification narratives. But reading through the article I fail to see evidence that it isn't widespread, normalized, and accepted.