Why rape victims must speak out

A ACCORDING to section 357 of Criminal Code Act, “Any person who has unlawful carnal knowledge of a woman or girl without her consent, or with her consent, if the consent is obtained by force or by means of threat or intimidation of any kind, or by fear of harm, or by means of false and fraudulent representation as to the nature of act, or in the case of married woman by impersonating her husband, is guilty of an offence which is called rape.” Over the years, rape, a criminal act, that has become a pressing issue all over the world. Recently, there have been frequent reports of different rape cases. Different forms of campaigns are being made by conscientious people in our society to limit the vast increase in rape cases. The damage rape has caused in the lives of victims involved cannot be denigrated. Rape has led many victims involved to make horrible and irrational actions such as murder or suicide. Many innocent young girls who unfortunately were raped are battling with depression and stigmatisation in our society.

However, in order to suppress the high rate of sexual assault in our society, rape victims have crucial roles to play. It is a common thing that most victims are unwilling to share their rape experience because of one reason or the other. It should be known that being silent cannot help as it may cause psychological issues. Moreover, the silence of some of these victims can be linked to the society we are in. This is because of the beliefs in some parts of our society. Once it is known that a girl has been raped, people throw tantrums and speak unkind words to the victim instead of helping out. Some of them make them believe that they will never find a man to marry them if others find out about it. Most of the cultural fallacies have made some rape victims to keep quiet about it by deciding to live with it. Rape is not a plague and anyone who falls victim should be confident to speak out immediately.

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Immediacy is very important because the victim stands a higher chance of being helped, rather than waiting for years before reporting the issue. However, in some cases, quick reporting of rape is not advisable. It is therefore advisable to ensure that all essential evidence is in place to prove the fact before charging the case to court. This is because if the accused is proved to be innocent, he can sue the presumed victim for defamation. The victim might therefore be asked  to pay a huge amount of money or she could be sent to jail. Speaking to the right person is also very important: this determines to an extent, the outcome and success of the case. If you are a rape victim, tell someone that will take valuable and legal steps to vindicate you. Some victims made the mistake of telling ignorant or irrational friends or family members whose advice led them to commit more atrocities.

Parents also are advised not to be selfish and they should handle any form of sexual assault without sentiments. There have been cases whereby some parents gagged their daughter who was raped because of the position they hold in the society, or a religious gathering. During my conversation with a 22-year-old lady, she shared her rape experience when she was 18 years old and how her parent handled it with levity all because of the close relationship they had with the family of the attacker. She said she was raped by the son of her mother’s best friend on a fateful evening and that at first she didn’t tell her parents because of fear. But within two months, she discovered that she was pregnant, so she told her parents what had happened to her two months previously. Unfortunately, her parents decided to settle the issue amicably with the boy’s family without making it known to the public. She was taken to the hospital for an abortion but after that, her life was not the same due to the complications that happened during the process. For the parents out there, rape should not be treated with sentiments or any form of friendship emotions. Rape is a crime and justice must be done irrespective of who the rapist is.

Victims need to develop self-confidence and courage so as to overcome depression or any form of condemnation from myopic people. We are in a society in which rape is the only case where the victims are accused. People often ask critics questions such as “What did she go to do there? Why did she put on the kind of clothes she had on? What was she doing outside by that time?” My question is, are we trying to encourage rapists to sexually assault any girl they feel is not dressing well or that is walking late at night? There is no acceptable reason a lady should be forced to have sex without her consent. However, decency and modesty are very important. Females should not dress in a seductive way all because of trends in the western world. In addition, the kind of friends you associate yourself with and the places you go will determine if you will be safe from rape or not.

Moreover, the victim might be threatened by the rapist or his relatives in other to silent the victim. It is therefore wise for the victim to stay put and protect herself. Any strange experience should be reported to any security agency for help. However, sexual transmitted diseases might be contacted through rape. Some of these diseases are HIV, syphilis, public lice and scabies, hepatitis B, Gental herpes, zika virus and lot more. I will provide some insight about a few of them, so that any victim that feels anything strange will know whether she is carrying the disease or not. However, medical test should be done for confirmation. For Human immune virus (HIV), it weakens the body immune system and increases the vulnerability to different infections, as well as the development of certain cancers. Although there are no specific specific symptoms or signs that confirm HIV infection, many people will develop a non specific illness two or four weeks after they have been infected. This initial illness may be characterised by fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, muscle and joint pains, headache or sore throat.  Having known the risk of rape and what to do if raped, victims are advised to speak out, build up courage and fight against it. Fight against rape.

• Akinde, a student of the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, writes in via [email protected]