Rape culture persists online after Asheville owners discovered publishing sexual exploits

Coffee talk has taken a turn for the graphic, as two owners of a local Asheville shop were found broadcasting their sexual encounters online.

Jacob Owens and Jared Rutledge, co-owners of Waking Life Espresso, documented their sexual exploits on social media — via a blog called Holistic Game, a podcast and Twitter.

The two have issued public apologies, but the future of the business is unclear.

“There is nothing to balm the wound for now, and we recognize that," they said in an apology on their website. "We validate and affirm your frustration and disappointment. We've issued separate, individual apologies, and those stand more than ever."

In a private apology, Rutledge said he has struggled with dating insecurities in the past and aimed for the content to remain anonymous.

"It was in particular a breach of trust to post intimate details about lovers," he said in the apology. "I was naive enough to think it'd stay anonymous, and I was wrong."

Monika Johnson Hostler, executive director of the N.C. Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said she sees serious consequences in this type of internet behavior. 

"Internet provides people immediate gratification," she said. "People feel that they can be bold because it's not really them."

The environment created by this, she said, is not positive for men or women. 

“It perpetuates stereotypes that men talk about their sexual activity, relationships in a way that is devoid of their sexual partner," she said. "That the woman is not a human.” 

Shamecca Bryant, executive director of the Orange County Rape Crisis Center, said the Waking Life owners made deplorable comments.

"Not only are those comments hard for survivors to hear, it continues to validate the overwhelming concern for many survivors, which is that they won't be believed," she said.

Johnson Hostler said evaluating overall culture can be very different for a university, rather than a city like Asheville. 

"On college campuses, accountability can be immediate to change the culture that is organized around them," she said. 

Owens and Rutledge also offered to donate to a nonprofit organization based in Asheville dedicated to rape prevention and crisis.

Our Voice, the nonprofit, declined the owners' donation, according to the organization's Executive Director Angélica Wind.

She said customers' trust in the business has been broken as a result of the owners' horrible actions. 

Still, Wind said it has sparked a dialogue in the community about rape culture. 

"What does rape culture look like? How did the owners contribute to rape culture? And how we can minimize and end rape culture?" she said. 

state@dailytarheel.com