Deterring rapists

Rape is sexual assault involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without that person’s consent.
Rapists may also carry out the act out by a physical force against a person who is incapable of giving valid consent, such as one who is unconscious, incapacitated, has an intellectual disability, or is below the legal age of consent.

The trauma of being raped can be shattering, leaving the victim scared, ashamed and alone or plagued by nightmares, flashbacks and other unpleasant memories.

The physical trauma can be tormenting in the case of contracting a disease or being impregnated, while the psychological trauma can even lead to acute depression or even the temptation of committing suicide.

The impact of sexual violence could be deeper than any injury. Because when someone is raped, the world won’t appear a safe place anymore for the victim, and she would not trust anybody any longer.

Being a rape victim might even put one in a position of questioning one’s self-worth, blaming self for what happened or being haunted with a feeling that one has been debased.

In the dim past, rape cases were mostly triggered by drug consumption, low self-esteem of a rapist to  negotiate with the opposite sex for consensual sex, due to being shy or afraid of women, pornographic influence and use of rape as a “tool” for punishment.

Today, most trending rape cases are motivated by the drive to use the victim for ritual purposes.  This is the reason stories of adults defiling minors have become regular headlines in most national dailies almost on a daily basis.

There have been stories about grandfathers who abused their four-year-old babies, and even so-called servants of God who defiled supposed ‘sheep’ under their custody for spiritual growth and/or purification.

The issue of rape has assumed a frightening dimension that if it is not a father assaulting his two-year-old baby girl, it is the case of a nephew defiling his niece and the music goes on.

The pathetic aspect of it all is the apparent lack of will by government to enact appropriate legislation that would deter rapists, under whatever guise, from perpetrating the criminal act against humanity.

For example, girls wear skimpy clothes in foreign countries, yet, cases of rapists attacking in those climes are few and far between.

It is, therefore, high time all rapists should be put behind bars for not less than 10 years as a warning signal to those evil-minded people in our midst that immoral acts attract dire consequences.

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