Are we breeding motivated offenders?
Part 2…Continued from last week
Last week, I shared the story of Uwa, a young girl who was gang raped and gruesomely murdered in cold blood in a church in Nigeria. Some people had the nerve to ask why she was studying in the church’s premises?
Shortly after Uwa’s death, another horrible story of child rape was broadcasted. This time, a full-grown man raped a child of barely four years. There were comments like, “sadly, some toddlers (female) are satanic from the womb! Seduction is their vogue. But, an adult must not belittle himself to descend so low to get involved in this demonic act.”
Another commenter stated, “I want to emphasize that women should de-sexify which means women should lay less emphasis on appearing sexy”. Let me reiterate the fact that there is no way to avoid being a victim of assault by monitoring what you wear or how you behave. It is difficult and frightening to raise our daughters in a society that finds every means possible to justify rape and blame the victims.
By the time I turned 13, I had been properly schooled on how to cover myself modestly in long apparels, stay indoors at night, speak quietly, not to act violently, serve my male counterparts, not challenge men and keep myself as a reward for the man who will eventually marry me. I received several lectures from my parents, yet they barely had one conversation with my brother about respecting women.
We condition girls to be well behaved and we allow boys to be bull-headed and indifferent. We teach girls to close their legs, dress properly but we do not teach boys self-control. We condition boys to be promiscuous and expect girls to be virgins. We condition girls to aspire to marriage and show them their place in the kitchen while we condition boys to be ambitious.
Another thing we do so well, as a society in breeding motivated rapists, is placing the burden of proof on rape victims. Burden of proof is also another reason some victims don’t speak despite all the encouragement. The veteran Nigerian actress Omotola J Ekeinde is among the voices encouraging victims to speak up. “Speak out everyone is on your side now. If you don’t report it, the demon(s) might never be caught and will rape others! Do it for you, do it for others.” This is a great call, but difficult to respond to because we, as a society, continue to make it difficult.
While there are laws on the books to protect victims of rape, these laws are often not enforced in a timely and deterring manner, especially when the perpetrator is from a more ‘powerful’ caste. Ghana’s legal aid system is underfunded, and the Attorney General’s Office is overwhelmed, resulting in the delay in prosecution.
We need social education, awareness campaigns and all hands on deck to put an end to the rape culture and save the lives of many girls and women. Society needs to eschew the rape culture, the objectification of women, and call out rapist strongly and hold them accountable.
I was particularly elated when Reggie Rockstone, the musician called out a potential rapist on social media when he threatened to gang rape his daughter. More voices like his and that of his colleagues in the music industry is needed now more than ever, not only speak up, but to stop putting out music that objectifies women, encourages sexual abuse, mildly endorses child marriage and molestation. As is clearly heard in songs like…’small girl you don’t know the thing, I am teaching you the thing, you are playing with the thing’ and ‘Konkotiba’, which shares a similar message, just to mention a few. I believe that the National Media Commission should start sanctioning some of these lyrics to protect women and girls. The National Commission for Civic Education, the Information Services Department, media, religious bodies and politicians are also encouraged to speak up against sexual abuse and create awareness in their various sectors.
The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection needs to create more shelters. Because most of the assaults on victims are perpetrated by close family members, friends, relatives, church members, partners, school mates and people close to the victims’ families, there is the need to relocate or isolate victims from their current assailants, providing them with a safer environment to heal.
As I look forward to increased action from all of us towards ending rape and eliminating rape culture, I wish to remind you, the next time you are tempted to trivialize rape or blame the victim, pause and ask yourself, “Am I contributing to BREEDING MOTIVATED OFFENDERS?
Bucky Exe-Evans is recognized as one of the prominent voices advocating for women’s rights and gender equality in Ghana. She is deeply passionate about volunteering and leading for change. Bucky is an entrepreneur, a Girls Excellence Movement (GEM) Mentor and the Director of Operations for GEM. She is also the CEO for The Good Food Company, a start-up Agro-business, and a Partner at GAP Auto Services Ltd.
