Confronting and addressing rape culture

“OUR LIVES BEGIN TO END THE DAY WE BECOME SILENT ABOUT THINGS THAT MATTER.”- MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

Is it awkward and shameful that I’m penning on this topic or is it awkward that millions of people are contending with this crime every day? I have multiple reasons for choosing this topic to address .

My little brother is a mischief and quite problematic kid but it is very rare for us to see his sensitive side. 2 days ago I saw him almost about to cry, confusion and disgust all over his face then he showed me the story his online friend posted with confusion on his face and crack in his voice, he asked me” is rape normal in every countries , do men get raped too ?”

I was completely numb and speechless , after that I delved into this case as I saw the headline which said ; “ON DUTY DOCTOR WAS BRUTALLY GANG RAPED AND THEN MURDERED ” I was numb then after processing the whole case I was shivering , my blood was boiling with anger and I felt the ground beneath me shaking .

This is not the only rape case that perturbed me this way because I remember when I heard about Nirbhaya case I couldn’t sleep properly for 2 days .I remember when I heard about Nirmala Panta’s case I was devastated , when I heard about Junko Faruta’s case I was distressed and traumatized .

Well these are just some very known traumatizing cases but there are millions of such cases so WHAT IS RAPE ? Why is this simple or common word so problematic and a hideous crime? Rape is basically a terror to humanity.

The misconception most of the people have about rape is that only women are victim of rape which is totally misleading, even men can be rape victims but unfortunately our society laughs if a man says that he was sexually assaulted.

Rape is the most disgusting crime that leaves the victim shattered mentally , physically and emotionally . According to some data , 91% rape victims are women and 9% are men which clearly shows how unsafe the environment is for women .

When I hear some people joke about Rape I feel sorry for them that they don’t know how traumatizing meaning this simple word holds. Question to all of us, do we want this unsafe environment for our sister, for our mother, for our partner, for our daughters , for our friends? .

I am a big reader so I read diverse genres of books , In some books , rape is frequently romanticized which gives me an ick to actually continue the book , not only in books , In numerous shows and movies rape is casually romanticized which is absolutely misleading .

According to our society the first thing we should ask to a rape victim or their parents is ” what was she wearing ?  Who was she with ? Was she asking for it ? ” a newborn baby gets raped , was she asking for it ? , a 6 year old gets raped, what was she wearing? , an 80 year old gets raped who was she with? “

But no one asks what was the rapist thinking? As a 15-year-old , I’m a rebel for talking about this , but what about the shameless people who rape infants , teenagers , adults and older citizens , why aren’t they called shameless ?

A doctor gets raped when she is working and taking care of patients saving lives , was she asking for it ? Did she spend her 14 years working hard to get her degree just to get gang raped? what was she wearing , a scrub ?

A girl going to school on the way gets raped, what was she wearing, a school uniform? a mother gets raped by her own son , who was she with ? These all questions should be asked to the criminals, they should be ashamed, they should be punished not the victims. We should be taught to stand up for ourselves, we must say no and these filthy criminals should face all the allegations by the society, not the innocent victims .

-class 10 student,Xavier international school