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FREE WOMEN

—THOUGHTS ON STOPPING THE BEAST CALLED RAPE

MIKE E. CHUKWU

Designed and published on PDF by Mike E. Chukwu

Copyright © 2018

The author permits you to share, broadcast, print, reproduce and communicate the information in this book in all possible formats. He wishes to retain the credit though.

Please direct all comments, corrections, disagreements and enquiries to the author via:

eeaumc@gmail.com

shidorshe@yahoo.com

Twitter.com/@eecmichael

DEDICATION

To all women, especially all victims of rape

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Lord God most gracious, most loving, most merciful and most kind has been everything great to me in the course of producing this book. I've enjoyed His wonderful provisions. I'm deeply grateful to all who agreed to share their thoughts and opinions on this subject with me.

I thank the owners and authors of the websites and blogs which supplied some of the invaluable information in chapters 5 and 9. I regret any mix-up in dates of events or errors in representation of facts.

I also thank you for being on the right side of the campaign.

"We are driven to this. We are determined to go on with this agitation. It is our duty to make this world a better place for women."

— EMMELINE PANKHURST

PREFACE

It's not a free world we all know, especially when it comes to the welfare of women and girls. And we cannot claim to not know why. We live in a world where we hear, see and feel the impact of our good and evil deeds. And we know the difference between the two. We also have a choice between the two: To remain as we are and keep watching things go down the drain or stand up and begin to address issues the way they deserve. I chose the latter about nine years ago. That's why you are reading this book now. I've seen the impact of the evil, the beast called RAPE. I sure know that many persons and organizations have been involved in the fight to address it over the years. I salute their courage, efforts and resilience. I put this little book, FREE WOMEN together in my belief that it will aid in the campaign. I have not been able to capture all that everyone needs to know to help this campaign succeed. But I sure believe that the information herein (some of which you'd find elsewhere) would help further in achieving good success. But this will happen only when you believe in the campaign and join the train. Your gender, rank, social class, religion, etc. doesn't matter; the effects of rape affect us all. Therefore I implore you... help talk about it, act against it, identify with victims, and strive hard to prevent it. You would be doing the world (and this includes you) a lot of good.

CONTENTS

Dedication.................................................. 2

Acknowledgments......................................... 3

Preface......................................................... 5

Author's Note.............................................. 7

Chapter 1 Mama Weeps Again.................... 8

Chapter 2 Mama Must Live........................ 15

Chapter 3 Beast of Many Faces..................... 28

Chapter 4 A Beast with Three Limbs............ 36

Chapter 5 O Beast, Who is Your Father? .......... 46

Chapter 6 True Confessions....................... 79

Chapter 7 After Rape............................... 88

Chapter 8 Your Conscience Your Watchdog  
Your Judge................................ 95

Chapter 9 To Kill the Beast........................ 100

Chapter 10 The Red Card............................ 144

Index........................................................ 152

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Putting this book together has been much painful delight. After nine years of working on it and struggling to see it published in print, I've decided to publish and share it first on PDF. Sincerely, I anticipate more delight; not for me but for you, though I won't be awestruck if I hear of more pains. That's the way of the truth; it is always accepted by some and rejected by others. It bites, stings and hurts... most painfully oftentimes. It destroys... and even kills. But it also gives life to far more than it kills. The truth remains unchanged; never to be subdued. Let's all accept it. It's the succour we seek and the saviour we need against the global threat; rape. So let's live the truth henceforth. And spread the news.

1

MAMA WEEPS AGAIN

"Now, should we treat women as independent agents, responsible for themselves? Of course. But being responsible has nothing to do with being raped. Women don't get raped because they were drinking or took drugs. Women do not get raped because they weren't careful enough. Women get raped because someone raped them."

— JESSICA VALENTI

Exhausted from the steep ascent up the slope that led to his hamlet, Mike paused to catch his breath. He was famished to breaking point. It was Friday, about two o' clock in the afternoon. He loved Friday and always anxiously awaited it. It was the beginning of his brief weekends at home. Every Friday was special to him. Because it always gave him another time to unite with his dearly cherished mother. It was another time to bond with her. Mike had come to value Friday more than other days. Though he spent many hours every Sunday serving God more than other days, over time he had started to become apprehensive with its approach.

Sunday evening saw him separated from his mom, his best companion ever, for more days than he could imagine. Actually, it would be till the next Friday unless something kept him from returning. And it must be something very important, very unavoidable. Whenever his weekend ended and he was due to leave, his heart would leap and bounce in anticipation of his mother's embrace. It was a very deep, engrossing farewell, which usually stuck to him like leech.

And he had always done one thing. He had always embraced his mother with his chest bare. That way he believed that her scent stuck to his skin and permeated deeply through his skin pores to seep into his blood. It was at such moments that he believed they bonded again blood for blood, heart to heart; their oneness renewed.

It seemed as he gasped for breath that the fresh air from the dense green foliage lining the path bore a song. He felt it strongly. Then he heard it, "Who sat and watched my infant head, when sleeping on my cradle bed..." Instantly he sprang up and with renewed vigour, hurried home; the song spurring him on. Closer home, the tin roof of his father's house came into view. He broke into a trot.

"Mama!" he called out as he rounded the corner of the house, and burst into its compound. "Ma..." he started calling again but halted... his mouth agape. His mother was sprawled on the ground, unkempt, her face sullen.

"Mama..." he muttered. His bag slipped off his shoulders. Naturally, his distaste for dirt wouldn't have allowed his bag to touch dust but with the sight before him, who cares? He hurried to her, and stooped instantly to help her up. Rather than rise to stand, she sat. What again?

How angry he was to behold his pearl in such demeaning, unwelcome state. She had been weeping, had wept herself dry. Mike accepted her cold hug. No! This wasn't his mother. This surely wasn't Oriaku!

"Nwa m kedu?" (My child, how are you?) She asked him looking deeply into his eyes. She knew he shouldn't have met her in that pitiful state.

"Mama, I'm fine. O gini?" (What is it?)

"How was your journey?" she asked, carefully avoiding his question. Holding him close, she caressed his head in an attempt to soothe his shocked nerves.

"It was good. Why are you like this?"

Oriaku managed a smile baring a set of immaculate teeth which accentuated her beauty whenever she smiled. Mike sat beside her.

"Mmm gh mmgh, kunie, nwa m," she objected and took his hand. She wouldn't want him to sit on the bare ground with her.

"Not until you tell me who or what it is."

It was more of a vow.

"Hmm..." she grimaced. Slipping an arm across his shoulders, she drew him closer and nudged his head onto her shoulder. "It has happened again." She sighed. Jolted by her words, the young man sat bolt upright.

"What happened? Mama, what has happened again?"

"Nwa m biko, maybe I shouldn't tell you this now," she pleaded, "You need to eat and rest. We'll talk later."

"No mama, I'm sorry but you have to tell me what it is now."

Oriaku knew it was no use arguing with him. She knew her son too well. On his forehead was that rainbow, those hard lines she had come to believe formed a rainbow which contrary to nature signified trouble. Any time she sees those lines, she would experience an instant rush of adrenaline. She always felt... in truth, always believed that her son's anxiety (which always brought those lines) if not assuaged could make the inner line snap like a dry twig, and end his life.

How terribly she loathed that thought! How badly she feared losing her only child; her invaluable jewel...

"They've done it again," she sighed deeply, tears rolling down her cheeks. Mike was bewildered. Whatever could keep his mother so tongue-tied... whatever could keep her in such a painful state must be worth giving the battle of his life. And if that's what it would take, then he'd rather go than live and watch his pearl downcast in sorrow. Inward, he swore to conquer her grief once for all time, before it would dominate him.

"This one..." she began, "... was in Agunasaa. They brought her home this morning. No one knows if she would live to tell her story. She couldn't talk... couldn't tell anybody what befell her... but the signs were there. She was attacked. Heo! Chi m ooo..." And she burst into fresh tears, weakened as she was, still cuddling her son tightly.

Tears had dropped from his eye before he knew it. Then he began to cry. Mike understood his mother's concern now. Another woman had suffered a terrible ordeal. Another woman had been sexually assaulted in her farm at the outskirts of their village. Vividly he remembered this was the fourth time, at least from his count, the fourth time he would hear such a report from his mother since by design, he shunned every gist from the village's grapevine. And he abhorred gossip too.

Oriaku wouldn't lie. As long as he remained Michael Ogonnia Chukwu, his mother, Oriaku never lied, and would not dare. At least, not to him and not in such circumstance... knowing the very sensitive nature of the matter. A notorious devil... one women hardly talked to their sons about was threatening to make him an orphan. He knew this matter had all the while been adult talk, always communicated in relative silence.

"No!" he blurted out, "I will fight this devil, be it spirit or human." And he rose swiftly. Oriaku rose too, in panic.

But who's the devil here? Where is he? How do I know him? And where do I find him? Puzzles were fighting in his head. And he swore again, this time, muttering to himself. Whatever or whoever is the devil threatening to steal his jewel, threatening to rob him of his joy, must not live!

Find it and kill it! Yes! He vowed, vaguely aware of his mother's arm hooked to his, and guiding him into their house.

2

MAMA MUST LIVE

"No woman has to be a victim of physical abuse. Women have to feel like they are not alone."   
- SALMA HAYEK

Sunday afternoon. Though Mike loathed that moment when he usually left his village to return to school, he sensed he'd heard a clarion call to duty. He felt it heavily in his spirit. Two nights before, on Friday, he couldn't sleep. One whip had scourged his mother too often. And time was ripe to deal with it. Rolling around in bed that night, he had remembered the lyrics of a song, "Even when times are so bad, they are so cool, calm and collected." The singer knew about women. He knew their sufferings.

Had he not grown under the loving care and tutelage of his mother, he would not have understood those lines. He wouldn't have believed that singer. His mother, Oriaku was an epitome of divine motherhood. Though different songs he'd heard portrayed women from different fronts, Oriaku fitted into the most positive, most compelling and inspiring pictures of virtuous women. And if most women, if not all, were like Oriaku, why would anyone think of molesting them?

Even if they are bad, did God assign anyone to be their judge and punisher? He was sure they were created to live. Not just live, but live in absolute freedom! As God's creation, they have their own rights. What man or other creature has God empowered to modify their divine rights and define rules of existence for them? That night after crickets had begun their nocturnal routine, his mother had given him the details of the attack. It was gruesome, very blood-chilling. Worst of all, the palace still kept mum.

Whatever made Oriaku weep so deeply in emotional distress for days was a cause worth fighting against, even if he would spend all his blood. She hardly wept. But the few times she had had been grievous, too heart-wrenching, and too unbearable.

Far into the night she had slipped out of the room leaving him asleep on their bed. Mike felt he was dreaming until he stirred, turned and felt around for her. But his hand kept touching the straw mattress until he felt the mud frame of the bed. Clearing his eyes, he searched around the dimly-lit room. Then he heard her or so he thought, transiting between her soul-searching monologue and evocative dirge.

He ignored the slowly-dimming flame of their kerosene lamp, and left the room.

Down the last footpath out of his village he went, greatly worried about his mother's health. He prayed it wouldn't take a dive into the deep. Oriaku cared for him. She was the only reason why he was still alive. Again, she had tied in a sack some garri, dried fish, abacha and a small keg of fresh palm oil. Though her food stock was fast depleting, she had insisted that he take the foodstuffs. Nobody should ever study under the threat of hunger, she had always warned him. And she had often added that nothing could cause the kind of destructive distraction hunger causes

Monday morning. He checked his planner. A lecture on the course 'Nigerian Peoples and Culture' was in view at 9:00 A.M. Interesting. Nigerian peoples... and their culture... What culture... Is it their culture of indiscipline and impunity or their culture of molesting women? Their culture of sexual abuse, of ignoring victims of sexual abuse like his village's chiefs had just done again... culture of refusing to protect the vulnerable?

What sane Nigerian culture would the lecturer talk about? Is it their culture of idiosyncrasy and crass complacency with citizens' welfare in the face of abject poverty, frustration, disillusion and confusion across the land? Culture of... what good culture could the people boast of in such a maximally endowed nation where its indescribably corrupt leaders ignore the truth, where so-called leaders neglect the provision and maintenance of basic mediums to peoples' joy?

His mother's dilemma had just made him to recall times past when he had heard about cases of sexual abuse. Too painful was the fact that most of them had rested unresolved, even when they had resulted in the victim's death. So-called high-profile cases had been thoroughly flushed down the drain and permanently silenced, at least in the eyes of man.

Some executive cases and some which involved their cronies, even some law enforcement culprits' cases had been shoved under very thick rugs not just carpets; no indictment, no arrest, and no prosecution. No whatever... A case which involved three policemen in Enugu state, south-eastern Nigeria in 2007 had run in court for two years. It had been a mushroom trial, one which the media was virtually denied coverage. And when it ended, the men had gone home free. But in police cells and prisons across the land numerous citizens are languishing in penury, illegally detained without trial. Most of them could be innocent; mere victims of fate and administrative foul play.

This society is crazy! Mike concluded. Even when soldiers seized power calling politicians looters, things worsened. Now, civil rule is back. Yet, no one cares to face the situation with the daredevil tenacity it deserves. And people especially women and children–the most vulnerable group at least in the Nigerian society–suffer continuously, weeping out their hearts each time another one goes down. Oriaku was deeply frightened. She could not attend to her farms again because her safety was not guaranteed. She could be the next victim. Her daily labour under the intense heat of the sun for long hours was perishing. Yet, she always heard tales. The peoples' representatives, their leaders were always justifying their 'schooled' brains by sitting in the assemblies, big conferences and TV, telling the world how peacefully and joyfully their constituents were living.

She considered them irrational and insensitive people, men and women who would stop at nothing even if it meant shedding blood to grab grants and allocations (meant for their constituents but hardly tasted by same) and shift them to God-knows-where. People who think nothing before they drain the blood of citizens, fellow citizens for that matter... Citizens who they are meant to represent and insure their well-being...

His village in particular was in a helpless situation. With no king on the throne fifteen years running, council members that posed as the village's administrators were without formal recognition. Toothless! The Town Union–a body of concerned elderly men–was trying to oversee the village's affairs but their activities were without legal backing, without any recognized statutes. All their deeds were based on tradition. And not everyone agreed with tradition.

How many men now respect tradition? How effective were those age-long laws, and how proper were even most of them? Most had been proved to be lopsided, carefully crafted to favour the menfolk.

The Town Union was aghast when the first attack on a woman was reported. The attackers were becoming more mysterious. They would strike, succeed and disappear without trace each time. The Union was clearly armless and clueless. And the divisional police officer at the local government headquarters had compounded their woes. No response to their reports, no policemen to patrol the village, not even a failed promise, nothing...

Women lived in gripping fear.

Tick! 9:00 A.M. He sprang to his feet; a mission beckoned. After the class, he would begin his search with that lecturer. He must be well-informed about the devil if he would succeed in the combat that loomed – the very venomous thorns in his mother's flesh. The journey had just begun; mama must live.

Mike had written for hours before he realized he was hungry. After the lecture which had bored him crazy, he had tailed the lecturer, Dr. Onyiuke, to his office at the General Studies Department. The old man had laughed when Mike had made his request, but he had later given him a lifeline. The rest of the day had been rewarding too, at least from the notes before him, he was beginning to appreciate what he was pitched against. So far, his notes read...

THIS BEAST CALLED RAPE...

"He who spites a woman has a hole in his heart."

A social vice called 'RAPE' has become the source of my greatest worry lately. And I'm convinced I'm not alone in this bothersome noisy world of silence. Why? Today, I learned that there were people before me who shared, and there are still my contemporaries who share my belief in the general well-being of humanity as man's foremost basic right. And this same cause bothers them.

Feel free to call it an odd subject, maybe because the world keeps virtual silence to its rampage but remember; it keeps taking its diabolic toll on not just women but everyone; on all of us. Murder, suicide, genocide, fratricide and most other cides have continually showed up in the aftermath of this social evil. So does the fast-rising population of illegitimate children...

I sincerely pray you will view this matter with the seriousness and prompt attention it demands, and join in the campaign to pull it down to rubbles. It deserves a swift deep burial. When we succeed in quenching this disastrous inferno, which has become one of the fastest-spreading scourges of mankind, we would have succeeded in making the world a better place for not just women, but all of us.

RAPE – Real Atrocity Plus Evil

"... in practice the standard for what constitutes rape is set not at the level of women's experience of violation but just above the level of coercion acceptable to men."

― JUDITH LEWIS HERMAN

Dictionaries define the word, rape, in seeming diverse ways yet with common terms, which still identify it as the evil it is... the beast. Some say it is sexual intercourse with a woman by a man without her consent and chiefly by force or deception. Others view it as sexual intercourse by force or threat other than by a man with a woman; an outrageous violation.

I found the term 'statutory rape' to mean sexual intercourse with a female who is below the statutory age of consent. Some online reports show that international human rights organizations have presented various guidelines and recommendations in regard to rape and sexual violence. Some views say that the offense of 'rape' should be replaced with a broader offense of 'sexual assault'. For instance, the Handbook for Legislation on Violence against Women from the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs Division for the Advancement of Women suggests the following about legislation on sexual violence:

Legislation should:

  * Define sexual assault as a violation of bodily integrity and sexual autonomy;

  * Replace existing offences of rape and "indecent" assault with a broad offence of sexual assault graded based on harm;

  * Provide for aggravating circumstances including, but not limited to, the age of the survivor, the relationship of the perpetrator and survivor, the use or threat of violence, the presence of multiple perpetrators, and grave physical or mental consequences of the attack on the victim;

  * Remove any requirement that sexual assault be committed by force or violence, and any requirement of proof of penetration, and minimize secondary victimization of the complainant/survivor in proceedings by enacting a definition of sexual assault that either:

Requires the existence of "unequivocal and voluntary agreement" and requiring proof by the accused of steps taken to ascertain whether the complainant/survivor was consenting; or

Requires that the act take place in "coercive circumstances" and includes a broad range of coercive circumstances; and

  * Specifically criminalize sexual assault within a relationship (i.e., "marital rape"), either by:

Providing that sexual assault provisions apply "irrespective of the nature of the relationship" between the perpetrator and complainant; or

Stating that "no marriage or other relationship shall constitute a defence to a charge of sexual assault under the legislation."

Whatever their views, the bottom line is: Sexual intercourse, force, threat and deception are involved.

Now, here's my take... Rape is a cruel, sadistic, barbaric and sacrilegious inhuman act of people-turned-beasts against mankind. Socially, religiously and otherwise, rape remains the most diabolic act that grossly debases mankind, and places him below the most unintelligent animals. Rape is a kamikaze venture undertaken by foul-minded individuals; kamikaze because it's a potential self-destructor. A school of thought says it's an adventure from which players derive immense pleasure. Well, I keep wondering what kind of pleasure such an accursed act would give. When sexual intercourse is lovemaking, it is pleasure. But when it becomes rape, it is pain and no pleasure! Pain for the victim as well as the 'victor'...

Anyone–man, woman, child–can be raped. The victim–often female–understands that if she says 'no' there may likely be serious adverse consequences, some kind of a loss, or pressure of sorts. The offensive brute often only needs to glare at, frown at, motion with the hand or use any other act to signify that he wants sex, without delay.

Many African slaves suffered rape. Countless slave-masters in America were rapists. Their slaves dared not refuse them sex. And most slave-masters saw them as objects fit only for their gratification, and never bothered to make polite sexual advances. The black slave woman was nothing but an ordinary piece of property. It was OK to have sex with her, with or without her permission and with or without the use of force. It wasn't against the law.

There were possible or real consequences, and the slaves knew. Those who dared say 'no' were often tortured, mutilated, and still raped. Some founding fathers of the Americas owned black concubines. In some cases, it looked like sweet relationships, like love affairs, mutual on the face of it. Yet, the slave woman was perceived as an inferior and often dared not say 'no'. Implied force lived in the slave master's consciousness. He could have sex with any of his slaves at will, be it an adult woman, a man or a child. In the workforce, they often used this kind of implied force.

Rape is a barbaric crime against humanity. It's the scourge of the earth. It's a sin against God and man. It brings psychological trauma first on the victim, and then sometimes, on the perpetrator–the rapist. Rape is evil! Some people think they achieve their evil desire of inflicting immortal injury on their target(s)–the victim(s)–when they rape, but the big question is: Between the rapist and the raped who is safe; who is injury-proof? None!

For rapists to believe that they are injury-proof is to self-destruct. Victims who swear vengeance plan reprisal attacks. They may plan well and succeed. Their attacker(s) could be maimed, inflicted with mortal injury, killed outright, etc. Relations of victims may be involved in this mission of vengeance. A rapist may meet jungle justice–death in the hands of an aggrieved mob. While some convicted rapists may die in jail, others may contract life-ending diseases.

The rapist is as unsafe as the raped!

Determined to start a campaign against rape, Mike thought deeply and smiled. Picking up his pencil, he scribbled on top of the page;

"THE WAR BEGINS..."

"Love your neighbour as you love yourself. Do unto others as you would want them do unto you. Be your brother's keeper. And sin not against your brother..."

—THE HOLY BIBLE

3

BEAST OF MANY FACES

"Rape is one of the most terrible crimes on earth and it happens every few minutes. The problem with groups who deal with rape is that they try to educate women about how to defend themselves. What really needs to be done is teaching men not to rape.  
Go to the source and start there."   
― KURT COBAIN

I learned that rape is a beast with many faces. Here are some of them.

PSYCHOTIC RAPE

This is rape indulged in by people suffering from severe mental illness; a psychotic disorder. A classic case is that of a patient kept in a psychiatrist's sanatorium, who was suddenly grabbed in a fit of violence (after the effect of sedatives wore off), then sexual urge, and raped his personal attendant – a young female nurse. Sane or insane, a rapist has committed the world's most abominable act after murder.

GANG RAPE

The word, gang, describes an organized group of people who regularly associate together. Criminals – robbers, pimps, fraudsters, cultists, etc. – usually operate as gangs. There are also gangs of vandals, workers, builders, etc., whatever the profession; a group of people is involved.

Gang rape is usually organized and executed by a gang of robbers, cultists, rapists and other miscreants, mostly masculine. Their motives differ, but include:

  * To assert their superiority over a victim;

  * A means of intimidation; and

  * A mode of torture during interrogation.

Gang rape is usually more disastrous than the rest because in it, a victim could be assaulted by all gang members irrespective of their number. And this leaves the victim more devastated than when attacked by a single beast.

RITUAL RAPE

Sexual violation happens in the cult and occult underworlds hence the 2 forms of Ritual Rape – Cultic and Occult. It could form part of initiation rites undergone oftentimes by unsuspecting, prospective members of a cult group or an occult family. During widowhood in some cultures, occult rape forms part of widows' cleansing rites. At night, they are lured or forced into a forest or fetish priest's abode (it may be a voodoo priest or other fetish custodian of culture) where they are sexually violated by the 'priest'; a ritual, which supposedly severs marriage ties between the widow and her late husband. This rite is also touted to prepare them for remarriage.

Sexual violation has also befallen some widows who are labelled either 'adamant' or 'stubborn' by their late husbands' male successors in the course of the battle for widow inheritance, wealth control and supremacy.

PROFESSIONAL RAPE

Specialists who are sometimes hired for rape execute this. For the 'fun' of it or when hired, such beasts track down their victims in homes, alleys, offices, rest rooms, etc., where they commit the crime. Trained professionals – academics, doctors, lawyers, etc., are involved here. In different professions, there have been lots of cases of teachers and students, superiors against subordinates, employers against employees, etc.

Some women are intimidated by their superiors; others may be so desperate to cling onto their jobs they'll do just about anything to keep it. Sex bribery has often led to rape. As employers demand sex for employment, teachers demand sexual gratification for exam success. And these sometimes end in rape, conception, abortion, frustration, and sometimes death.

ACQUAINTANCE RAPE

Here, the rapist is someone the victim knows; a fellow student, casual friend, classmate, friend of one's girlfriend, friend of the family, etc. It's the most common type of rape.

STRANGER RAPE

In this setting, the victim doesn't know the attacker. The rapist may wear a mask to hide his/her identity. It's thus, difficult for the victim to identify the attacker. The rapist may emerge from the shadows or other sort of darkness, pull a weapon and with brutish threat and force accomplish their evil mission. The surprised victim often ends up in shock and gross trauma.

MARITAL OR DATE RAPE

People who are in a love relationship – married or dating – may fall victims here. The rapist could be one's spouse (often the husband) or boyfriend, someone who the victim could swear would never think up such evil.

DRUG RAPE

Some people rape under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. In some situations, the victim has passed out from his or her own drug use, and found unconscious, the rapist, usually an opportunist takes advantage of the situation. A guy raped his close relative. She was out cold in his home, having passed out after drinking too much. The guy just seized the opportunity for whatever reasons.

There was a case where a hospital orderly impregnated a woman in coma. There is usually little or no resistance in drug-related rapes. And the victim's memory may be clouded. He or she may not know; may not even recall what happened. Such victim's often lose their case.

NECROPHILIA

This is sex with a dead body. Workers in morgues may indulge in necrophilia. Even where there are two or more workers on a shift, the evil could happen.

STATUTORY RAPE

When a victim is considered too young by law to give consent to sexual act, it is wrong and illegal. With or without coercion, because the victim is under-age such sexual act is statutory rape, which can also be called sexual assault, carnal knowledge of a minor or rape of a child.

RAPE OF AN INTELLECTUALLY-CHALLENGED PERSON

This involves having wilful sex with someone who's feeble-minded, mentally-retarded or outright demented.

OPPORTUNISTIC RAPE

When a person has rape tendencies which may be hidden, they await opportunity. Once it calls, they rape, often without inducement. This is similar to drug rape, just that it's usually unplanned. There was a case of a burglar who entered a home for the sole purpose of stealing a computer and stereo system. He saw a woman sleeping in the bedroom, then decides to rape her. This is a rape of opportunity, a kind of behaviour which also occurs with some paedophiles.

RAPE ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES

Though this falls under a few of the faces of the beast already mentioned above, I need to discuss it distinctly. Rape on college campuses is one of the most under-reported crimes. Victims of rape in campus parties often have clogged memories or may not even remember the assault. Furthermore, the stigma of being drunk and then being penetrated by one or more guys is often more than enough to keep the victim quiet.

According to a U.S. Department of Justice Report, 95% of students who are raped never report the incident to the authorities (in The Sexual Victimization of College Women). In addition–as is widely known–but re-affirmed in this study, college women are at an increased risk of being raped on college campuses than in the general population.

Potential rapists in bars and discos are often strangers. College campus parties do not discriminate between students and strangers. Peer group cohorts and fellow students of the same culture (college students), or even the perpetrator may have been introduced to the victim by a mutual friend, male or female. So, the attacker fits in easily.

What an audacity a victim may muster to file a criminal complaint regarding a rape or gang-rape on campus! Dorms and even the entire campus will be agog with the story. An octopus of emotions, empathy, pity, love, hatred... often follows. And the grapevine and newsstands will raise all their heat. The victim is sure to have some hectic time dealing with the inferno. She will be faced with such insolence as disbelief, accusations (like 'she wanted it' and 'she enjoyed it') and name-calling – slut, whore, bitch... She could be tagged 'shameless'.

Whatever the face of the beast, moral justification for it will never be found! Rapists must remember that those who traverse the earth's route with a sour face and a bitter heart got a full cup of vinegar when they thirsted. When they die, the ultimate wage is paid. Sometimes, rape is initiated by lust and desire. But a stern warning goes, "Whatever you cannot afford to a woman twice, do not try to do once."

4

A BEAST WITH THREE LIMBS

"There remains what seems like an impenetrable wall of silence  
around violence and we must all play a role in breaking this silence."  
―REESE WITHERSPOON

As I walked out of Dr. John Kay's office Day 2 of my quest, I couldn't help but scream, God! Dr. Kay had been amused when I popped my first question at him.

"How old are you, son?" he asked me.

"Nineteen."

The old man laughed, a bit raucous, throaty and marked by intermittent coughing. It was evident that cigarette abuse was taking its toll on his health. His face was a bit bloated and his skin looked like it would burst with just a light tap.

"You know, son... I'm wondering... you should have better things to do. Why... I mean what sparked your interest in this subject?"

"My mommy... her life is under threat," I humbly answered, though my patience was under trial.

"I don't understand," the Doctor of Psychology expressed. I could feel his innocence. It only took about a minute into my explanation before he saw my zeal, and felt the need to help unburden my collapsing heart. I had hardly slept the previous night. My discoveries so far had been too amazing! And without a proper dinner, I had kept tossing and turning around on my small mattress as I waited for the breaking of dawn. Oriaku had been in the pictures, had been in my brief dreams. She looked so dull and her face drawn with suffering and grief the last time I saw her. With that picture in my consciousness, God!

Dr. Kay asked me to join him in his car, and drove us to a beer joint. With deep sincerity, he made some stunning revelations. And truly, at a time, I felt he had stepped into my shoes. By the time I left him, it was obvious he hated the beast.

Here are the three limbs of the beast called rape according to Dr. John Kay.

HOMOSEXUAL RAPE

Some males prefer sexual intercourse with other males. Sometimes it turns to rape or it is planned that way. A classic case is that of a male make-up artist who lured an unsuspecting young actor into his hotel room, trapped him in and raped him.

Females too, lesbians, who prefer sex with same gender, may violate young girls who refuse their nefarious demands. I will place a report in The Independent (UK) entitled Calais Jungle Refugee Children Being Raped in Camp, Aid Workers Claim here.

Exclusive: Medical volunteers say they have treated seven boys aged between 14 and 16 in the past six months

Teenage boys are being raped in the Calais Jungle, aid workers have claimed, amid concerns over the lack of child protection measures in place in the refugee camp – and the risks of abuse facing thousands of displaced children across the continent.

Medical volunteers helping those camped outside the French town told The Independent they have treated seven boys aged between 14 and 16 in the past six months, who claimed to have been raped. They all had injuries consistent with these claims.

In four cases, the boys required surgery. Only one attended hospital, however, with the others refusing treatment for fear of repercussions or through shame at having been abused.

The Independent has spoken to a GMC-registered doctor to whom the volunteers reported the incidents. He confirmed knowledge of the cases.

Europol, the EU's law enforcement agency, has also raised concerns that unaccompanied refugee children across the continent are at high risk of sexual exploitation.

In January, a senior representative of Europol estimated that 10,000 unaccompanied children had gone missing within Europe.

Volunteers in the Calais camp have spoken out about the lack of procedure in reporting serious cases of sexual abuse. They add that the French government's refusal to classify the camp as a humanitarian crisis is causing major child protection issues.

"If I took one of the boys to the police and said 'I'm one of the medics and I know this boy has been sexually abused', I could guarantee they would shrug their shoulders and continue their conversation," said one of the volunteers.

"I have three boys of my own and this is horrendous," they added. "These boys would have left their homes and their parents would have thought they were safe and that they were going to a better life, fleeing violence and they end up at 14 being raped in a refugee camp. That it is going on in Europe makes it even more unacceptable."

The volunteers said they referred the reports to Médecins Sans Frontières, the largest organization operating within the camp.

Aid agencies have largely been absent from the Calais camp, leaving volunteers to fill their place. The UNHCR has a remit to administer care in refugee camps only if a humanitarian crisis has been declared or if invited to do so by the host government.

With the clearance of the southern half of the camp, which includes the women and children's centre and commenced on 29 February, the plight of the unaccompanied children has reached crisis point.

Concerns have been raised consistently that a lack of adequate alternative provision for the unaccompanied children – estimated to number up to 500 – has left them at grave risk of falling prey to criminal gangs. In most cases, these children have travelled from their home countries with traffickers.

A spokesperson for Save the Children acknowledged that sexual abuse has been carried out against children in Calais, adding that it was part of a Europe-wide problem and calling on the British government to ease the path of entry into the country for children with a legitimate asylum claim.

"We know that unaccompanied children, of whom there are over 400 in the camp and tens of thousands across the continent, are the most vulnerable of the vulnerable. They have travelled hundreds of miles without the protection of adults or families.

"They face exploitation in all different forms, including sexual exploitation, often at the hands of criminal gangs. Save the Children has seen it in Italy, in Greece and in Calais too unfortunately."

"Many of the children who are in Calais have family in the UK and a right to asylum here but the process is so complex that it can take years... In the meantime they are living in very dangerous situations when they could be safely with their families in the UK."

A spokesperson for Europol said the organization had declared the figure of 10,000 missing children across the continent to "raise awareness of the vulnerability of unaccompanied minors traveling with the migrant flow".

"Unaccompanied minors are vulnerable due to their young age and may be especially vulnerable to different forms of exploitation," he added.

Médecins Sans Frontières was unable to confirm having received the reports of sexual abuse against minors. The volunteers with whom The Independent spoke also raised concerns that a sex trade was operating within the camp, saying that boys as young as 13 asked them for condoms. They added that attempts to distribute rape alarms were largely futile as there "is nobody here to hear them'.

(The Independent, Saturday, 5 March 2016)

HETEROSEXUAL RAPE

This involves people of opposite gender; the most common limb of the beast. Here are some cases:

  * A man (in his forties) against a 12-year-old girl – a goods hawker who he was always patronising.

  * A female child beggar molested by her trusted male benefactor in his kitchen.

  * A male Youth Service Corps member against a teenage junior secondary school female student in the man's place of primary assignment.

  * A female undergraduate admitted into a 'Study Group,' and later trapped in a male hostel room (which was one of their usual study venues alternated amongst members), and raped by three of her male study mates.

  * Male armed robbers against females, sometimes, nursing mothers.

  * A female university lecturer ambushed and raped by five male students.

  * A 14-year-old female student taken home by her 'school mother' (a senior female student) on a weekend visit to the latter's home, and was later forced into her older male cousin's room to be raped as planned.

  * The gruesome gang-rape of a mother of two alongside her daughters, which led to the woman's suicide before dawn.

  * Death of a female night-clubber trapped and raped in the dark by some men.

  * A rich spinster (in her 40s) assaulted by her male driver while she slept.

  * A mother of four, whose first son was ordered by a gang of robbers to sexually abuse her, got shot to death when he refused, and had her second son quickly obey the robbers' orders in the presence of her other children.

  * A male house-keeper who usually indulged in voyeurism, and ended up abusing his employer's preteen daughter.

  * A young male chauffeur raped under gunpoint by his rich female boss and her friends because he wouldn't shift from morality and his Christian faith.

  * A female house-help (in her 20s) who violated her employer's 5-year-old son because she was never allowed outside their home, and over time like she claimed, became sex-starved.

  * Female gang-rape of a teenage boy who unknown to him, was terribly 'desired' by his older female cousin.

  * A young male university freshman forced through sexual assault by a group of female cultists on a revenge mission.

ANIMAL RAPE (BESTIALITY)

Also described as Beast Rape... "This is sexual activity between a human being and an animal," Dr. Kay explained.

Rape is such a horrifying and dehumanizing act! Yet, some people have even turned their insanity to animals. I couldn't help but ponder... why would a sane human desire to have sex with an animal? What gripping propulsion could drive a human being to such insanity? It's unbelievable! Yet, Dr Kay showed me proof. Penalties for bestiality were recommended in some laws – divine and human. I saw clearly that God hates it!

Beast Rape involves sexual activity with an animal. Animals don't have the mental or intellectual capacity to truly understand what's happening during a sexual act with a human being. The human knows better. All sex with animals is rape, with the exception of an animal attacking a human.

There have been cases of orang-utans brutally raping women. Women working with orang-utans need to be careful during their period. Animals become excited from the scent. Male orang-utans become aroused. They are incredibly strong, easily able to scale a tree while holding a woman in one arm. She simply can't fight back.

An ambition which overpowers and rules a person will soon ruin him also. Fantasy and ambitious tendencies resulting from X-rated videos, books and their kind, result in destructive obsession. And through this, many souls have been lost to the beast.

5

O BEAST, WHO IS YOUR FATHER?

"He only employs his passion who can make use of his reason."  
— CICERO

Every fruit comes from a seed; every child comes from a father. I spent at least eight hours of Days 3 and 4 hunting for people who would be as sincere as Dr. John Kay or even more. After I left him, my mind was so preoccupied with his blood-chilling revelations that I totally forgot the next lifelines he had offered me in continuity of my quest.

Nine-twenty A.M., I woke with a start. I had been through a terrible nightmare. And it seemed some forces had fought hard to snuff out the breath of life in me. It had been a very bad struggle. Sweating all over, I rushed to the door, quickly slid back its bolt and dashed outside. A dark night with sweet breeze hit me, and I gasped. What a relief!

It was one of those numerous moonless nights when we spent long hours without electricity. My activities the previous day came floating back and I remembered: I had purposed to call Dr. Kay and thank him for his assistance. But I had slept off right there on the floor where I had my meal.

I had spent about ten minutes out there when I resolved it wasn't yet late to call the doctor. And I did, though he didn't quite like it. He was busy in his study. I apologized.

"It's OK," he answered, "Have you called the matron, Mrs. Jack?"

"Oh my! Yes, em, no... er... sir, I will..." I stuttered.

"When?"

"Tomorrow, sir, first thing early morning..."

He paused over the line and I almost hung up. Thank God I didn't.

"You know what, boy?"

I had no answer. I simply waited. He continued. "Just pray you'll get her attention if you don't book an appointment today." And he hung up.

I sensed it was not just an advice; it was an order.

Mommy Jack as I chose to call her turned out to be a strict disciplinarian. Her secretary took my call, booked me to see her on Day 4 but warned me it won't be fun. And truly, it wasn't. Mommy Jack was forced to listen to me when she got set for home but found me hanging around her car. It was almost 8 P.M. She was a dedicated counsellor, a workaholic whose strength was too amazing for her age.

"What're you doing there?" she asked me as she peered into the lights and saw it was me. It was almost a scream because she was surprised. Having turned me down around 2:00 P.M. and warned her secretary sternly against such misbehaviour like she termed my appointment, she couldn't believe I hadn't gone home.

I was afraid. So I simply stepped away from her car and watched her draw close. At the door, she halted and gave me a hard stare. Slipping her car key into the lock, she instructed me, "See my secretary tomorrow."

Though I couldn't understand why at the time, I was overjoyed. I had got or should I say, earned an invitation. As she drove off into the night, I hurried out of the parking lot, smiling at the security who graciously allowed me to hang around against his superior's orders.

I will now bring forth most of what I learned from Mommy Jack, and more from Dr. Kay. People state different reasons for committing rape. And I consider these reasons to be seeds or fathers of the beast. A child from many fathers would sure be an extra-terrestrial. I learned about...

GENDER DISCRIMINATION / CONTEMPT FOR THE FEMININE GENDER)

"He is only a man who keeps his women from harm."

What a saying filled with wisdom! In the light of the admonition from the Apostle Peter that "Husbands [men] dwell with them [women] with understanding, giving honour to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life..." (1 Peter 3:7, NKJV, emphasis mine), I still can't understand why gender discrimination would be found in our world.

God created man from dust, and woman from man for his very excellent reason: that the woman should be a helper to the man. Now, a helper deserves everything the one she helps deserves. The helped ought to know that despising his helper is automatically sending himself on a suicide mission. God did not design honour for man alone. Women must be honoured too; it's part of God's plan for mankind. I can't imagine a world without women. If it was possible, God wouldn't have bothered to create the first one. This is still too difficult for most men to absorb.

Women ought to be treated as ornaments – though strong, yet fragile – but sadly most men consider them to be mere sex objects, created for their satisfaction. Sexists (and even non-sexists but lovers of the beast) see them as sex toys, and claim this to be their justification for interacting with them sexually anytime anywhere, with or without their consent. This has also affected a lot of female children; abused minors. A saying goes that women are God's partners in creation. I can't imagine a world without women, I dare say again. How will men (their abusers) be born? God created all for His very good reasons and granted each, rights to be upheld.

MANIA

Psychology describes mania as a mental illness marked by extreme obsession, excitement or violence. It's a condition which makes a person to live in an extreme and abnormal desire; an enthusiasm for something, e.g. stealing. Kleptomania, dipsomania, nymphomania and pyromania are different forms of mania. Nymphomaniac is an often derogatory expression for a woman who has an excessive desire for sex. Such person may often indulge in rape.

DRUG INFLUENCE

Dipsomaniacs – people with a strong, uncontrollable desire for alcoholic drinks belong here. Others are people who get drunk any way. Psychoactive substances and 'Controlled Drugs' don't leave people with a normal sense of reasoning. Popularly known as 'hard drugs,' their hard effects can lead to recklessness and assault. A female under this effect can expose her body unnecessarily, and call for harm. She can even institute assault on other people. 'Controlled Drugs' are mind controllers capable of initiating a crazy urge for sexual satisfaction.

A male under this influence is a colossal risk to his neighbours. He can do unimaginable harm.

CRISIS AND WAR

"What had human beings become? Did war make us evil or just activate an evil already lurking within us?

― RUTA SEPETYS

Crisis and war create fertile grounds for sexual abuse. Insurgents, ethnic militiamen and soldiers indulge in extra-gruesome activities ossified in bloodletting, looting, maiming and rape. I was made to understand that rape ranks second only to murder during crisis.

During the gory periods of crisis and war, the scale of rape attacks on women increases in terrible intensity. It could be massive as it could be part of a military campaign, an ethnic cleansing campaign, revenge or a spontaneous series of actions during a rampage.

Mass terror-rape is the worst and most grand-scale of all rapes. A case in point involves the rape and in many instances the gang-rape of up to two million German women by the Red Army* (Who were they?). This mass terror-rape began soon after the German Military began to seriously disintegrate and retreat near the end of the Second World War.

Much horrific devastation had been caused by the German Military during that war. Starvation, imprisonment, horrible destruction and rape were inflicted upon the Slavic peoples. Bent on revenge, top brass and the Red Army's soldiers decided that one way to punish the German people was to rape their women.

As they proceeded, hardly a female was safe; females between the age of 8 and 80 were targeted. The rapists included Russians, Cossacks and other Slavs. Alcohol and other unknown drinks were rampant and it brought out the worst in many of the soldiers.

The rapes began in East Prussia, a place in Northern Europe, which was part of Germany for a while, and included land in Poland, too; existed 1525-1947. By January of 1945 the German Military was unable to properly defend the peripheral of its borders. Many of the victims were also beaten, some mutilated and many were spat on as onlookers laughed. Not all the soldiers and officer corps approved of these actions. However, vengeance, anger and victory were in the air.

Soviet revolutionary and politician, Josef Stalin (1878 - 1953) and his cronies knew exactly what was happening but did little to stop it. Jewish Soviet writer, Bolshevik revolutionary, journalist and historian, Ilya Ehrenburg (1891 - 1967), then Minister of Soviet Propaganda urged the Russian soldiers to punish the German women, after deliberately ignoring the fact that they weren't combatants in the least sense. In at least one instance which occurred in Dahlem, Germany inside a maternity clinic and orphanage, nuns, elderly women, pregnant women and new mothers were raped or gang-raped. There was no sympathy in the air.

The Red Army soldiers even had their 'fill' in liberated concentration camps, even raping their own kind (Russian women) and Jewish survivors of the camps. Many German women tried to hide. Others disguised to appear ugly and unattractive by pasting their faces and bodies with dirt. The mass terror-rape of Bosnian Muslim women during the Bosnian War (1992 -1995) was a calculated move by the Serbian Authorities.

Excerpts from a report on The Guardian (International Edition) state that:

A trial at the Hague and a new report show that women were abused as a method of war across Yugoslavia hears how soldiers brutalised girls as young as 12 during the Bosnian war .

The international war crimes tribunal at The Hague heard yesterday that "unimaginable horrors" including gang rape, torture and sexual enslavement were perpetrated against Muslim women and girls by Serb troops in the early days of the Bosnian conflict.

"This is a case about the women and girls - some as young as 12 or 15 years old - who endured unimaginable horrors as their worlds collapsed around them," prosecutor Dirk Ryneveld said in his opening statement.

It is the first case in which sexual crimes alone have come before the war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

In Bosnia's war, the accused were not "particularly major players", Mr. Ryneveld, a Canadian, told the panel of three judges.

"But make no mistake: there would have been no ethnic cleansing if there were not individuals willing to turn on their neighbours, to unleash terror and hatred and to leave scarred victims.

"Unlike the policymakers who dealt in theories and plans, these were the individuals who rounded up innocent women and girls, then raped them or sexually assaulted them, tortured them, enslaved them and then... exchanged, sold or transferred them to other soldiers."

Videos showed Foca as it was before spring 1992, a sleepy town of red-roofed buildings including the Partizan sports Hall, the high school and the Hotel Zelengora - all later used for rapes.

"This is not just a rape case like those in national jurisdictions," Mr. Ryneveld said. "These crimes were committed during an armed conflict and were widespread and systematic. What happened to the Muslim women of Foca occurred purely because of their ethnicity or religion, and because they were women."

Several women scheduled to appear as witnesses were warned that they and/or their children would be killed if they resisted sexual assault.

Mr. Vukovic, 44, a waiter and driver before the war, repeatedly led gang rapes. Witness 48 was told she would have her throat slashed if she resisted. Mr. Vukovic "bit her nipples until they bled and pinched her breasts until she fainted from pain".

Four of the 72 women held in the Partizan sports hall were raped almost nightly for a month. Witness 186 was raped for six months.

Another victim, described as AB, was just 12 when she was sold by Mr. Kovac, 38, to a soldier for 200 Deutschmarks (£66). She is still missing.

Witness 50 was raped on the night of August 2, 1992 - the night the town's mosque was destroyed - after being taken away by Mr. Kunarac. She was raped by a Montenegrin soldier who threatened to cut off her arms and legs and take her to a church to baptise her.

"Women and children, some as young as 12 years old, were detained and raped, vaginally, anally and orally; subjected to gang rapes, forced to dance nude with weapons pointed at them, and even enslaved," the court heard.

"Unlike many domestic rapes, the offences in this case were often done in the full view of others or in a room were several women were being raped simultaneously," the prosecutor said. "It will be difficult to fathom the depths of despair and the horror that these victims went through."

Up to 10 rape victims are expected to testify at the trial from behind screens or with voice scrambled to protect their identities.

One of the purposes of the rapes was to impregnate the victims. Many of the Muslim women were taken at gunpoint and then repeatedly raped often by more than one person. The Partizan Hall, located in the centre of a small village named Foca, was used as a special rape camp for two consecutive summer months in 1992. Dozens of women were routinely raped and gang-raped by Serbian soldiers, without mercy.

During the war, dozens of rape camps were used throughout Bosnia. The Partizan Hall rape camp in Foca (a sleepy town of red-roofed buildings including the Partizan sports Hall, the high school and the Hotel Zelengora) was located beside the local police station; complaints and pleadings were ignored. It was a horrific civil war. But beside the rape centres there were countless other rapes conducted by Serbian soldiers and paramilitary groups. The victims of these rapes who are still alive are still suffering from the effects, no doubt.

During the Armenian Genocide (1915-1917), a plan by the Turkish Authorities to exterminate and expel the Armenian population within its borders was implemented. Between 1 and 1.5 million Armenians were slaughtered outright, died of starvation or exhaustion, torture or from the elements (deportation, long treacherous treks). Many thousands of women were brutally raped and gang-raped. Within many of these rapes were horrific acts of torture and mutilation.

During the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (1994-2003), mass slaughter, plundering, ransacking and rape were rampant. Rapists included members of the military, paramilitary and individuals out for revenge. U.N. Special Representative, Margot Wallstrom once referred to Eastern Congo as 'the rape capital of the world' where it was estimated that 48 women were being raped every hour. Throughout this conflict many of the victims were raped for being on the wrong side, living in the wrong village or being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Any reason could justify rape. And as with other acts of mass terror-rape, being too young or too old is no guarantee of safety.

Congo had endured mass terror-rape earlier in the 20th century. Belgian soldiers 'did' many Congolese women. There were also instances of young Congolese men being forced to have sex with their mothers, at gunpoint of course. During the 22 years of brutal civil war, the second in Sudan (1983 - 2005), in particular Darfur and the surrounding regions, horrible slaughters, tortures, expulsions, starvations and deprivations and intimidation of countless peoples was a normal occurrence.

However, in addition to the horrors of the Sudan Civil War there were countless rapes and gang-rapes of women, some young and others old. The Janjaweed, a so-called Arab militia, used mass rape and gang-rape as one of their methods of punishing, terrifying and controlling their enemies. Raped women were non-combatants, innocent of any wrongdoing. One of the common methods of the Janjaweed was to enter a village, well-armed and sometimes on horseback, separate the men from the women; the prettiest women being further separated from others. Pregnant ones were not spared as the men would begin their work. Many men were slaughtered.

These rapes occurred in secluded places, in public and sometimes in refugee camps. Victims reported that the rapists laughed and sang in the course of their wickedness. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves during the act. In addition, the rapists would taunt the victims. A common taunt was 'slave'. The cries of the victims were ignored. Many rape victims in Sudan, both Arab and African have a hesitant attitude regarding conveying their stories.

Birth control devices and pills weren't easily accessible. Most traumatizing were Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) and the shock of giving birth to an innocent baby resulting from a rape. The mere act of looking at her child is a reminder of what had happened. Married rape victims had divorce staring at them. Single rape victims could expect to be marked 'outcasts' to men.

South African women and children face this scourge often. They have a 25 per cent chance of being raped prior to turning 16. Marital violence and child abuse are also common. And these attacks are often not reported. Since her independence, there are even cases of baby rape. Amongst many men in Southern Africa, sex with a baby is regarded a cure for HIV and AIDS. Where this preposterous belief originated, I'd surely like to know. Many rapists in South Africa truly believe that they have an inherent right to have sex with women and that raping them isn't wrong.

Former South African President, Jacob Zuma blamed apartheid for 'sowing the seeds for the breakdown of the institution of the family'. The nation has also witnessed a significant rise in rapes of lesbians. The belief is this act will cure you of your lesbianism. So erroneous! In the 2000s, unpublicized and unpunished brutal attacks and murders of lesbians rose. Former star athlete of South Africa's national female football league, Eudy Simelane who was open about her lifestyle died untimely. She was brutally gang-raped, beaten and stabbed a total of 25 times in the face, chest and legs. There can never be any justification for gay or lesbian lifestyles or actions in any way, shape or form. However, acting as judge, juror, executioner and moral police, raving lunatics wreck brutal rapes, beatings and murders on people. These are a grave danger to any society.

During the Second World War the Japanese Military used 200,000 (some estimates are higher) 'comfort women' as sex slaves for its soldiers. Sex slaves to the fullest intent! The women were all Asians: Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. They were scattered throughout the Japanese-occupied territories and also in Japan proper. The first 'comfort women' though, were Japanese prostitutes who began their work in the early 1930s. However, supply and demand were lopsided. And this resulted in the luring of additional women from the territories with work and other opportunities after being lied to. They had no inkling what they would face.

Many 'Comfort women' were treated like beasts, especially during the war. In Nanking, China, the Rape of Nanking was the absolute worst and most heinous brutal acts of rapes and gang-rapes then. There was no restraint in the bombing and raping at Nanking. According to many witnesses, 'it was extremely savage without any limitations'. There was no differentiating between children and elderly grandmothers. All were victims of the scourge. And many of the rapists were never touched. Many 'comfort women' were used to 'service' many men for many months. There can never be a confortable estimate of the many acts of rape and gang-rape committed.

The Communist Party of China keeps reminding its citizens about the Rape of Nanking. Practitioners of Falun Gong and other minorities have been subjected to persecution and brutality; especially females who have been subjected to extreme sexual harassment, aggressive groping and sometimes rape by Chinese policemen. Mothers are also raped. It's OK to not charge, try, and convict policemen for these offences. In fact, they sometimes receive pats on their backs.

During the Pakistani Civil War of 1971 which led to the establishment of Bangladesh, Pakistani soldiers brutally raped and gang-raped countless Bangladeshi women. They swept into Bangladeshi villages, sometimes in truckloads, rounded up the women and then took them to military compounds. So shocking was the horrible series of acts that the Bangladeshi Government of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman wasted no time in declaring all Bangladeshi women raped during this conflict 'heroines'. There's hardly an estimate of the rapes that occurred while husbands (tied up or somehow prevented from interceding) were forced to watch their wives. These heinous crimes were well orchestrated and the command and 'permission' to commit them came from the top brass. The idea appeared to be to punish, humiliate and harm the entire seceding region.

Many pregnancies resulted. And many husbands playing to tradition refused to take back their raped wives (impregnated or not). Most raped virgins were marked off limits for marriage, even though proof abounded that they were raped. At least 80% of the raped women were Muslims while the rest were Hindu, the tiniest percentage being Christian.

Although the Pakistani soldiers were theoretically Muslims, mass terror-rape permitted co-religionists and members of identical races, languages, etc., to rape or gang-rape for so-called justifiable reasons. Targets amount to nothing. Many of the rapists in this conflict were hypocritical; raping their defenceless co-religionist women and then later performing Salat (ritual prayer).

In 1989 at the onset of a profoundly lopsided armed conflict, the illegal occupation of Kashmir saw the Indian Military significantly increase its use of systematic killings, brutality, torture, imprisonment, harassment and the rape and gang-rape of women and girls. The international community has, for the most part turned a blind eye to the crimes against humanity occurring in Kashmir; the United Nations appears to be impotent in imposing any kind of true sincere protection for the people of Kashmir. Kashmiri women and children suffer the brunt of violence. Kashmiri women are specifically targeted for rape, and many have also been tortured in the process. Indian soldiers have literally carved up rape victims with knives and other sharp objects.

A study conducted in 2005 by Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) indicates that Kashmiri women are ranked as one of the worst victims of sexual violence. Kashmiri rape statistics are grossly incomplete. Retribution by the courts and vengeance by Indian Military personnel and individuals terrify many rape victims, and bar them from reporting the crime, even litigation.

During the profoundly lopsided war in Chechnya, the Russian Military used brutal rapes and gang-rapes (even of visibly pregnant women), indiscriminate killings, torture, kidnappings, checkpoints, unlawful incarceration, disappearances, massive devastation and destruction and brutal blockades to terrify and subdue the Chechen population.

The late 1990s until the early 20th Century saw horrific accounts of rape documented. According to Human Rights Watch, 'Russian Soldiers have been raping Chechen women in areas of Russian-controlled Chechnya'. Most of these women were beaten during the assaults; some brutally killed afterwards while others were abducted and moved to detention centres where the world could hardly know their fate. From 1994 to 1999 the population had been decimated up to one-fifth. Instances abound where non-combatant women were locked up and repeatedly raped by Russian soldiers often drunk on Vodka. Single Chechen women who were raped hardly ever got married, even with proof of the assault. Married women often faced divorce. Russian Military checkpoints also became a danger zone for these women. All these were well-orchestrated.

In abject neglect of Article 4 of the Geneva Convention which defines rape as a war crime, and Article 27 which clearly prohibits it, this heinous act keeps occurring.

Turkey's Kurdish communities also suffered as a weapon of terror. With their true identity rejected, and being commonly referred to as 'Mountain Turks' by the Turkish authorities, countless innocent Kurdish women were raped and slaughtered for many decades by the Turkish Military. Many suffered all forms of sexual torture in detention centres. And rape was freely deployed during interrogations. Culturally there, raped women often lose their honours. Victims of rape and sexual torture sometimes included males and children.

During the Turkish invasion of Cyprus (launched on 20 July 1974), Turkish soldiers raped over 1000 Greek-Cypriot Women. The Libyan Civil War saw hundreds of courageous Libyan women admit openly that they were raped or gang-raped by forces loyal to late Libyan revolutionary, politician and political theorist, Muammar Gaddafi. These were co-nationals-soldiers and militiamen. Gaddafi was alleged to have ordered the rapes in order to punish and humiliate the resistance. With a considerably higher number of Libyan women raped during this conflict, cultural stigma against such victims was not only upheld but rose in intensity. Many victims wouldn't dare open up forever while impregnated ones faced a worse fate. Surprisingly, rapists and the society kept pushing blames onto the victims.

Nothing whatsoever can justify rape during wars, even if the 'raping side' claims they're avenging their women. Wars can be fought devoid of rape. But in total neglect for the sanctity of human life and human rights, some governments deploy mass terror-rape to punish, humiliate, terrorize and subdue female inmates. Gulag camps witnessed this. Used as punishment and 'corrective devices' for all dissidents, women endured rapes, gang-rapes and beatings from male camp employees, guards and sex-starved raving inmates. These were considered political enemies of the state, and had absolutely no rights. Their humiliations began right from the entry point. Many women were shoved into urine-and-faecal-filthy often roofless enclosures after being forced to strip naked. Some victims became pregnant. With no ears to hear their cries, some female inmates, most of which were pregnant, sent there on forced labour, were forced to take camp husbands for protective custody and male companionship.

Shortly after Italian explorer, navigator, and colonist, Christopher Columbus and Spanish Conquistador, Hernán Cortes arrived in the so-called New World, mass rapes and a sex trade amongst other evils ensued. These leaders and their lieutenants were nothing short of brutal war criminals. Caribbean girls as young as eight were among the victims of these beasts' mass terror-rape. Habitually, Spaniards raped women; their bound husbands watching. In that land where women virtually had no rights, Columbus and co. opened a lucrative sex slave industry.

WILFUL INTENT

A school of thought believes that sexual abuse is an appropriate punishment for offending females. Inane! When a young female lecturer was raped by some of her male students, she was informed that her strictness and diligence in the discharge of her academic duties (virtues meant to be of immense benefit to the students) were offensive and unbearable. Therefore, she needed to be cautioned. In security and defence business, wilful intent is often the major reason for the use of rape during the interrogation of female suspects..

INDECENT DRESSING

Though this shouldn't be any man's reason for rape, I would crave your understanding if I describe the female anatomy as far more appealing and provoking than that of the male. Right from creation, God made it so. But He made it to be appreciated and not abused. Decent dressing is noble. It brings honour to both God and mankind. Nasty issues arise from unnecessary body exposure.

When fantasy grips a man, rendering him deaf to his conscience, even his carnal eyes – though open – go momentarily blind. His thoughts remain glued to the cleavages and curves oftentimes gladly exposed all around him in the name of modern fashion. Thoughts can make or mar anybody. Urge-control is a battle that can be won only by the Christian mind.

Some students employ their endowments and sensuous appearances in their quest for academic success; sex for marks! Job-seekers do the same. That's 'use what you have to get what you need,' the devil's philosophy! In my research, I learned that sometimes they lead men on by provoking their urge with their dressing and all other green lights without any true intention of 'paying'.

Refusal of sex bribe demanded by a lecturer can lead to either of two things, sometimes both: rape or the student's failure. Some vehemently adamant lecturers insist on one thing: sex. Asinine! I also learned that they do this having heard from their colleagues about such female student's willingness to 'offer it'.

Deduce for yourself what the outcome would be when such an unchristian mind and his student are alone in a prearranged rendezvous (like I learned they usually do), and then she objects to his advances. Indecent dressing can provoke the demanding of sex bribe because one could be addressed the way she's dressed. But this ought not to be for any reason whatsoever.

INSATIABLE LUST FOR SEX

This may not be up to maniacal levels, but it's a dangerous because of sexual assault. Heredity, habit and possibly, curse are capable of making a man to live with an unusual desire for sex. People involved in this often seek to 'have a go' at women (maybe their lovers, spouses, whoever) even when the latter are in no mood for such, and are thus, unwilling. Some people often wonder, "Can a man actually be said to have raped his wife?" Frankly, I'd appreciate your opinion on this. You'd find my e-mail address on the title page.

I know that an unwilling wife might object to her husband's advances, and consequently, she might be forced by him. But could the elements of violence involved in rape – slapping, kicking, punching, etc., often aimed at subduing a rape victim be involved here. Given the circumstances described here, what do you think? Has the man raped his wife?

An uncontrolled urge is a potential killer. Imagine a septuagenarian polygamist (with 7 wives) seeking to marry a new wife, a youngster, on grounds of insufficient sexual satisfaction from his harem of wives! God gave man dominion over all things, and this includes his passions and emotions. Therefore, this should help man eliminate urge as a reason for the evil.

PORNOGRAPHY

Acts of describing or showing naked people or sexual acts in order to initiate and elicit sexual excitement and satisfaction form the bedrock of pornography. Producers and proprietors of pornography business circulate dangerous books, magazines and audio-visual materials to consumers. These are especially dangerous to the younger generation who are mostly vibrant and hyperactive, eager to practice what they see, especially when it holds promises of excitement for them.

Being more adventurous than most adults, adolescents and youths fall into the dangers of pornography use. Abuse is inevitable here, even if it could be said to have any good use. Young people often graduate rapidly from voyeurism to experimenting with the real acts, ending up most likely as victims of misinformation. Recently, internet pornography has made adolescents and young adults more vulnerable to rape. One then begins to wonder about the moral justification for the trade. Pornography is utterly evil; all pains, no gain!

Parents watch out: check the level of intimacy you display before your children. I came across a true story of incest (confirmed by the parents) involving core minors – 5 to 8 years of age – who played the kind of play they always saw daddy play with mommy.

Though you think children are under-aged and therefore, understand nothing, their senses are always at alert. And they may be itching to try out what they witnessed especially because they had seen and believed that it held pleasure, joy per se, for mommy and daddy. And they could do with such joy too. In their innocence, they are right.

GREED AND INSINCERITY

Friendship is meant to be sincere; devoid of greed. Elements of cheating need not be conceived in friendship – intimate or casual. People have sexually abused their friends, and other people have fallen victim of the evil because their friend(s) suspected or confirmed cheating in their relationship. But wait! Love... what's its place in friendship? The Bible says, "Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited (boastful) or proud (or rude). Love is not ill-mannered or selfish (does not demand its own way) or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs. Love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth." (1 COR. 13:4-6)

And that's the way it should be!

A young woman adjudged to have been excessively siphoning her willing and loving boyfriend's pockets fell victim to gang rape (which included her boyfriend) when the young man's friends discovered that he had never touched the girl. Unknown to the girl, her boyfriend who in the course of their relationship had continually pledged undying and unquenchable love for her, had been ill-tutored and insulted by his envious friends, and threatened with expulsion from their group if he failed to 'wisen' up. Their evil counsel led him to insincerity. He felt cheated and as he began to demand for sex, he got greedy. For him, he deserved to recoup all he'd lost in one swoop. He feared the girl would not yield to his demands easily, but may choose to run away.

His assent – albeit reluctantly – to his friends' evil schemes quashed his dreams of a blissful marital life with the woman. And he lived in deep regrets later in the hands of the law. Beware of evil counsel; it leads to rape.

"Evil communications corrupt good manners."

(1 Cor. 15:33B; KJV).

Some men feel cheated when they suspect that their date is shunning body contact with them while accepting same from other men. Greed and insincerity can lead to sexual abuse.

ENVY

It's funny but it's true. An armed robber paraded in a security watch programme on national TV gave his reason for raping a high class society lady as envy. Expatiating, he told the camera that most society ladies rebuff love advances from younger and seemingly low-class men. Therefore, they (robbers) 'take' them by force when opportune especially in the course of an operation.

How insensible and absurd this sounds! Is every woman not entitled to her choice? I wonder why that robber and co-sharers of the same thought-line won't go and retrieve their discarded powers of rational thinking, and cut their coats according to their cloths. That is, if they must 'wear a coat'!

PEER INFLUENCE

Influence is sure to exist amongst peers. Birds of a kind can flock together and contend to win others to their side. Caution is of the utmost importance if one must identify with a peer group directly or indirectly. It's common to hear people defend their acts as 'what's en vogue,' i.e. the reigning thing.

"Don't be fooled by those who say such things, for 'bad company corrupts good character.'"  
(1 Cor. 15:33; NLT)

Beware of the company you keep, and watch the company your children keep. Tales have been told of victims lured into rape by 'trusted' friends.

CURSE

Often pronounced out of anger and/or in agony, a curse is a rude or offensive word, phrase or statement spoken with the aim of punishing, injuring or destroying somebody. The Bible says, "Curses cannot hurt unless you deserve them. They are like birds that fly by and never settle." (Proverbs 26:2; GNT)

Someone who is suffering from the effects of a curse to continue raping and never stop probably because of guilt from a rape incident is bound to continue with the evil. One such curse then leaves countless victims in its trail until the cursed is 'released.' And his targets might include the previous victim again and her relations. Where then is the propriety of such a curse? Which is better: to seek redress in court or to curse? Rape is evil, I say again, but it's better to not curse any offender at least for future's sake.

LOW SELF ESTEEM

This describes the disposition of people who lack courage to look other people (seemingly of a superior status) in the face; a low self-esteem challenge. Even in the presence of mates and friends, some people still lack the power to express their feelings and desires. A man living within the confines of this restriction expresses his desires through actions, often impromptu and irrational.

Many cases of paedophilia involve this class of men who experience emotional difficulty (often too shy or weak) in approaching ladies. Some cases have come from isolated females – restricted house-helps, gardeners, and nannies – who claimed to have been sex-starved over time, and resorted to using their employers' sons as relief materials.

BRUTALITY

Many cases of professional rape are borne out of sheer brutality informed and aided by the assaulter's exalted official position. Ladies are oppressed by their superiors in workplaces who sometimes blackmail them when involved in a crime or threaten them into kowtowing to their demands, with employment termination. Sadly, many end up raped when they object or fidget between accepting and rejecting the demand.

These ladies keep suffering and dying silently in instalments for fear of being prosecuted or thrown back to the labour market. In truth, some pay the sex bribe to gain employment, and are requested thereafter to continue. Their refusal could attract forceful compliance – rape! Or they lose their jobs.

MYTH

In the near past, a myth spread around town and went viral in a flash: any adult person living with HIV/AIDS who has sexual intercourse with a virgin HIV/AIDS-free child will automatically be healed of the virus. What a myth; so erroneous and queer! Yet some people living with AIDS swallowed it utterly, went into a maddening search for this newfound cure, and not only did they rape and destroy the virginity of innocent children, they spread the dreaded pandemic further.

Some cultures demand that a widow have sexual intercourse with a traditional deity's custodian (shrine priest) at a designated period during her mourning in order to sever ties between her and her late husband, and prepare her for remarriage. In those climes, this is a non-negotiable tradition. Many widows blatantly reject the ritual, and get forced through it. The effects have been diverse: sometimes, the widow dies in the struggle. Some commit suicide, having sworn to not live with the shame and indignity. Infections have spread that way, as well as illegitimate children.

Myths are oftentimes baseless, senseless, and demeaning. They have over time, depraved rather than improved human existence. People ought to beware of the myth they propound, propagate or indulge in.

OVERALL NEGATIVE CONDUCT

In a French survey report entitled Rape Victims Who Flirt are 'Partially to Blame', Four in Ten French People Believe, Thursday, 3 March 2016, Elsa Vulliamy stated that four out of 10 people think a 'flirty' woman is at least partially to blame if she is raped. Conducting this survey, a campaign group that supports rape survivors asked 1,001 people about their attitudes towards sexual assault. 40 per cent said that if a woman in a restaurant or night club is acting provocatively and is raped, then the rapist does not hold all the responsibility.

36 per cent said that if an adolescent girl is raped by an adult man, and she has acted seductively towards him, then the man cannot be held entirely to blame.

This survey simply concludes(d) that 40 per cent believe that a woman who acts provocatively in a public place can be held partially responsible if she is raped.

Generally, whatever the cause, no act of rape can ever be justified. It's uncouth. It's anathema to mankind, and everyman should remember that a rapist is as unsafe as the raped. Never allow your passion to override your thinking.

6

TRUE CONFESSIONS

"The truth will make you free."  
—THE LORD JESUS CHRIST (JOHN 8:32)

"Violators cannot live with the truth: survivors cannot live without it. There are those who still, once again, are poised to invalidate and deny us. If we don't assert our truth, it may again be relegated to fantasy. But the truth won't go away. It will keep surfacing until it is recognized. Truth will outlast any campaigns mounted against it, no matter how mighty, clever, or long. It is invincible. It's only a matter of which generation is willing to face it and, in so doing, protect future generations from ritual abuse."

― CHRYSTINE OKSANA

In the course of my research, it was so onerous a task getting victims of rape and their relations to talk about their experiences. Some cringed at the word. However, with strong promises of anonymity, empathy and plea that they understand my motive, I succeeded with a few. Now, don't get this twisted. My motive for coming alive with this chapter is very pure and genuine.

We can only be made free by the truth we know. Therefore, when we know how it happened before, we can then beat the beast and guard against any further attack. That, I think, is the key way we can conquer the beast. Knowledge... In-depth true knowledge...

Here are the details I gathered, most of them uncensored.

17-YEAR-OLD FEMALE PEDDLER

"I was living with an aunt who traded in chewing-stick and a few other articles; I was always on the streets selling her wares. A vulcanizer began to patronize me. A few days later, he began to buy a full load of my goods. Soon, it grew to two loads daily, and he would invite me to drop them inside his workshop. He always praised me for being hard-working, and lamented often that my aunt wasn't taking proper care of me.

One day, he offered me a wrapped gift, and advised that I should hide it properly if my aunt would raise a shout. Undies. A few days after, he forced me through it in his shop. I never suspected he had the plan all along. I cried all the way home and lied that I was beaten by street urchins. My aunt believed me and didn't bother since I returned home with her expected money intact. Weeks later, the signs showed, though I didn't know what it was.

This boy (patting a little boy sulking near her) is... well..."

LATE FEMALE VICTIM'S SISTER

"She was in her 30s then; so charming and wealthy. Her servants included a valet, cook and driver. One fateful evening, we were thrown into confusion when a police officer told us she was found dead. It was suicide; her driver whom she had trusted greatly raped her, and she took her life. Excuse me..." Entering a room, she returned with a note. "Here's the note they found in her room. That's the only reason we believed the police. We had warned her often it wasn't safe to stay alone, being a young spinster, but she wouldn't listen. She wanted to enjoy her official residence. And that was it."

15-YEAR-OLD STUDENT MALE VICTIM

(I edited this confession because the confessor was too explicit and vulgar.)

"I was fifteen then, in secondary school form two. There was this female teacher who always chided me for being too playful and unserious with my class work. One day after she had just taken the last lesson and the day was over, she called me out of earshot and ordered that I see her in her home at the staff quarters immediately. I had chores that would serve as my punishment for having failed her test.

In fear, I went, knocked and got admitted. Locking the door, she left for the inner room and motioned me to follow. My fright grew. Holding the door open, she stood there and called me. As I turned to answer her, I was stunned; her chest was almost bared. Ah, ah! I was really shocked. Why would my teacher let her blouse drop before me and not quickly pick it up?

"Naughty boy, there's no time to waste. Come here fast!" she ordered me, and she flashed a cane.

That marked his initiation into sex. His teacher had apologised afterwards. But another day, she invited him again, and it was much easier for her to convince him this time. That way, they started what kept on even after she got married and he was an undergraduate. He lost respect for women in the process, and started desiring other teachers. He felt they were no different from his 'woman,' and so, had no reason to frown at him. She cautioned him against it so as to not expose their deeds.

While he talked, his cell phone rang. He checked the screen, smiled and switched it off. "I must leave now," he said, "I've got a flight to catch." And he rose. "Em... I'm sorry to say this... I've raped about ten girls over the years. Well... that was simply because I felt like reliving my first experience."? "Ha ha..." he cackled.

"You can't be serious!" I yelled at him, taken aback.

"Of course I am," he said calmly, "but I've stopped," he added.

I thanked him for his time and sincere revelations, and we parted.

YOUNG FEMALE STUDENT

"All I can tell you is that my education was cut short when I took in after a youth corper [a young man on National Youth Service assignment] in my school called [lured] me to his room, and raped me. He had always told me how much he liked me and wanted to marry me. I told him, 'No!' I was not new to sex then but I was dodging [avoiding] it because of AIDS.

Things went wrong the day he gave me some money to help him buy food items, and come and help him to cook. He forced me in his house."

23-YEAR-OLD FEMALE VICTIM

"I was 23 then, and in my second year. In fact, all I can now remember is that I joined a study group. We were like 6 guys and 3 babes. One day, the venue we agreed on was changed to a male hostel room at short notice. There was no way I could have suspected anything since we had been changing [alternating] venues including hostels, and that particular hostel had some of my friends staying there.

I didn't know it was a trap for me, and after my ordeal in the hands of those four wicked devils, I gradually developed hatred for men. Now, I'm getting to 50 and I'm still single. It's my choice if you must know."

18-YEAR-OLD FEMALE LOVER

"I always feared that thing [sex] and told my boyfriend I would only try it when I get married. He was worried and didn't hide his feelings; he wasn't happy with me. He tried all he could to assure me it was okay to do it with him. I refused. One day, I visited him in his parents' home. He was a fresh graduate then... jobless... and I accepted a glass of cold drink from him. That was all.

I woke up in a hospital. My mother explained that I was found half-dead near a gutter on the guy's street. It was my friend who knew that my boyfriend lived on that street who raised suspicions. He later confessed to the police."

14-YEAR-OLD FEMALE SICKLE CELL ANAEMIA VICTIM

"I nearly died when I was 14 because 3 boys attacked me in our school farm. It was the day of our school's inter-house sports competitions. They beat me. I fainted."

32-YEAR-OLD FEMALE PATIENT

"God! That doctor is an idiot! I complained about fever and he asked me to lie down so that he would check me. He then gave me an IV injection, and said I'd be alright. I slept off and woke up later feeling some kind of pain around my waist. I didn't suspect anything because I was having waist pain sometimes, and he was such a young guy... nice-looking too.

When I stood to leave, I felt stickiness between my thighs. I managed to get home and check myself, and you won't believe it. My sister took up the matter and had him arrested. Ah! That doctor... small boy o..."

MADAM LECTURER

"It's rampant in my side [geographic region] where early marriage thrives. Lots of adolescent girls are forced through a first-time sex experience by their older husbands – men who are sometimes two or even three times their age. We have many cases of VVF [Vesico Vaginal Fistula] that have resulted from this, and the social stigma and frustration of these young girls are terrible. Do you know that the men abandon them especially when something like VVF occurs? It's a terrible condition."

HEALTH WORKER

"We've had many cases of children, especially those between the ages of 2 to 8 years who have been sexually violated – some of them by HIV-positive adults, men and women alike. You know, there's this postulation or what do I call it, that sex with a virgin child can cure AIDS. Sadly, most of these kids are now positive [HIV-positive]."

7

AFTER RAPE

"We must send a message across the world that there is no disgrace in being a survivor of sexual violence – the shame is on the aggressor."

—ANGELINA JOLIE

"I wish I could tell my sister that she's not dirty and that she should not feel any shame for something that she literally was not responsible for."

—VIOLA DAVIS

"This heinous crime has grave consequences," Reverend Sister Maria Jose Da Silva told me. She was a Canadian-born Portuguese Missionary who worked at an orphanage. Much of what she told me was founded on her experiences in the countries she had served. I spoke also to mothers, traditional rulers, teachers, and other professionals. For reasons I still can't see, I had little success with most nurses I met, and fathers too – mostly above fifty by my guess.

"Am I actually stupid?" I had to ask myself at various times. Yeah, I had to check myself sometimes because I got very shocking reactions from people who I felt should be more concerned about this beast than me. Well, I'd better not dwell on these disgusting experiences now. Truly, after every act of rape comes any or more than one of...

PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAUMA AND EMOTIONAL STRESS

Rape is a traumatizing attack that can put a victim in terrible shock. Female victims may experience rape trauma syndrome. Most victims suffer this, and sometimes develop mental derangement. Loss of sanity could follow. Death from heartbreak is also a possibility. Some rapists undergo trauma too as a result of guilt and an attack of morality.

INFECTION(S)

Cases of sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs) and sexually-transmitted infections (STIs) have been reported after sexual assault. These have contributed to the spread of the dreaded HIV pandemic. Vesico Vaginal Fistula (VVF) could also result after sexual violation of a minor. VVF is a condition characterised by incessant dripping of urine by a female after parts of the excretory and reproductive systems – the bladder and vagina most times – are damaged by forced penetration. These victims suffer social stigmatization, isolation and rejection too.

INCREASE IN ILLEGITIMATE BIRTHS

Conceptions have been recorded after some rape cases; largely during wars. Some babies end up as motherless children after their mothers abandon them or commit suicide.

INCEST

Incest is an abomination, which could result from rape. It is sex between close relatives. Although cultures differ as to the extent relatives may be allowed to marry, incest is considered a serious taboo in almost all climes. People who are considered for moral or genetic reasons to be too closely related to have sexual relationship run the risk of incurring even up to divine wrath if they commit this evil.

ABORTION

After being raped, some impregnated victims swear to never keep it. Therefore, induced abortion – another moral evil – follows. Such forms of induced abortion make victims to live with the guilt of bloodshed. It could also result in a victim's death, uterus damage (leading to conception challenges) and other complications.

MURDER

Either party – victim or rapist – could die in the struggle or even after. This has birthed some murder cases.

INCREASE IN INFANT AND MATERNAL MORTALITY

Lots of Daffur women raped by the Janjaweed in the course of the Sudanese Civil War were reported to have killed their babies after birth. Some smashed their babies' heads on rocks while others threw them into pit latrines. Some pregnant women were reported to have had their abdomens slashed open, and death followed. Some nursing mothers (who decided to keep their babies) were also killed later as the war raged on. Such reports come from other wars and local communal clashes.

SUICIDE

Many suicide cases have been recorded after incidents. Some victims decide to not live with the stigma attached to rape especially when their cases become public knowledge. Suicide also follows some cases where the rapist is the victim's blood relation.

LOSS OF VALUABLE MANPOWER

A convicted culprit could die in detention. The society therefore loses the potentials – intelligence, values and skills – of this individual totally. Even after the convict regains freedom, the time spent in jail still amounts to a period of loss.

CURSE

In the Bible, Simeon and Levi, sons of Israel (Jacob), killed the men of Shechem out of anger, which arose from the rape of their sister, Dinah (Genesis 34:1-26). This act of vengeance earned them curses from their father. In Genesis chapter 49 verse 5 to 7, their father, Israel declared, "Simeon and Levi are brothers. They use their weapons to commit violence. I will not join in their secret talks, nor will I take part in their meetings, for they killed men in their anger and they crippled bulls for sport. A curse be on their anger, because it is so fierce, and on their fury, because it is so cruel. I will scatter them throughout the land of Israel. I will disperse them among its people." (TEV)

Think about the bitter results from a single crime of rape. Before the curses, a whole town lost all its men to the anger and fury of two aggrieved men. And the women and children of Shechem traded their freedom for captivity unwillingly. Notice that the deaths and curse came after an act of rape.

In sum, rape victims have their lives turned upside down while they're dealing with...

  1. The actual rape event.

  2. The fear during the rape, immediately after the rape, and the long-term lifelong fear.

  3. Inability to sleep, horrible nightmares and night terrors.

  4. Highly intrusive-uncontrollable flashbacks.

  5. Rapid pulse and elevated blood pressure; persistently in a state of fight or flight.

  6. Extreme regret at not having been able to somehow ward off or severely harm the attacker(s).

  7. Self-hatred and pity.

  8. Feeling dirty and used (most likely immediately following the attack).

  9. STDs, vaginal and/or anal ruptures; psychosomatic illnesses.

  10. Increased susceptibility to medical and/or mental illness.

  11. Having to tell family and friends; or keeping the rape a secret.

  12. Possible pregnancy.

  13. A generalized hatred, fear, distrust of males. This may include male relatives also. I read about a white woman who was raped by a man when she was a pre-pubescent. The damage to her vagina and insides was so great she was unable to ever have children. This woman was white, the attacker was black. In addition to her physical trauma she had an extreme fear of all black males in spite of the attacker being only one person and certainly representing no race or either gender. Rapes can leave a deep and long-lasting imprint on a victim.

  14. The victim may become numb or repulsed by sex.

  15. Social, interpersonal and work functions may be adversely affected. Years ago, Sister Maria told me, there was an unusual case involving a convenience store clerk who was brutally raped while on duty. Unfortunately for this woman she had to return to work the very next day to pay off her bills. Worse yet, she was raped again by the same person.

8

YOUR CONSCIENCE, YOUR WATCHDOG, YOUR JUDGE

"A man's conscience is the Lord's searchlight exposing his hidden motives."

  * KING SOLOMOM (PROVERBS 20:27, TLB)

Your opinion remains yours... yes, but it doesn't change the truth. You've got the right to choose what you believe and believe whatever you choose. And it may just be OK with you and for you. Well... I will still state it very clearly what I believe concerning the beast called Rape. Such a demeaning evil! It's only a beast of zero conscience that will attempt to justify it in all its ramifications. We seem to forget... the world goes down one step each time someone suffers a bite from the beast. You can imagine their pains but you can't actually feel it because you're not the victim. Talk the talk, walk the walk, do the needful. We don't need rape in our world. Whatever negative opinions people may give air to, rape will never be justified.

We must educate our sons to help save our daughters. No teenage boy should grow up persuaded that abuse is normal. We must rise against rape. When we stop rape, we serve the true honours of our women and girls and ensure they live to enjoy their womanhood. We must bear witness to their suffering. We must become their voice. Against rape, we must shield all women and girls as if they are our own. Truth is: they are our women.

If they are not yours, they are mine. They are my sisters. Believe me, they are your sisters too because we are one creation; God's work. I solicit your assistance. Together, we will free our sisters from the threats of this beast called Rape.

Rape is a gross violation of the human rights of girls and women. We can't keep living in its perilous grip. Women have for long, been fighting for justice for women and girls who are the victims of rape. It's time men joined the fight. Rape is not a weapon of war, soldiers beware! Not just soldiers but rebels. To rape a woman or a girl does not in any way assert your superiority or masculinity over her. It only swiftly exposes your weakness of character. It proves to the world that you are a vulture without scruples.

O woman (and girl)! Be wise. "Evil company corrupts good manners." (1 Corinthians 15:33b, The Holy Bible). Keeping company with a boy or man of questionable character is akin to inviting a vulture to a maternity visit in your home. Vultures devour; it's in their nature.

A young woman bathed thoroughly. Gorgeously dressed, wearing very expensive perfume and jewellery, she went to visit mother pig that just gave birth to a litter of pigs. While she admired and stroked the piglets, one squeaked. Suddenly, she felt a hard hit on her back and struggling to her feet, she was roughly hit again. She fell in a loud thud, crashing into the mire in excruciating pains.

It was a boar. Even mother pig joined in the attack. Though the woman escaped with her dear life, she woke up in a hospital, bleeding and stinking.

"I was there just to admire and help her nurse her babies," she tried to explain, "you know... I'm in too deep a love with the colour, pink. And those piglets were pinkish, too beautiful. I couldn't resist touching them."

Well... young woman, a pig is a pig. Maybe you now know that all that glitters is not gold, and may never be. You may also be wise enough to define your level of friendship, and understand that your feelings no matter how well intended may be misinterpreted.

Swine and mire hardly ever part... They are always ready to ravish and ravage. You can't relate with swine (rapist(s), and maybe other gangsters) and expect to return home not stinking. You may be just too fortunate to escape a permanent scar. Always be careful with your emotions.

You man, young or old, you're not the victim and your relation is not. So you don't care. You say 'it's nothing,' so you pay deaf ears to the cries of the victims. Your continuous refusal to expunge such negative belief is mental slavery. And just like late dynamic, evocative, charismatic and philosophical Jamaican reggae maestro, Bob Marley admonished, you should "Emancipate yourself from mental slavery [for] none but ourselves can free our souls." Prepare your mind, prepare your soul, you need better understanding.

Shun this violence. Love our sisters. Their tears cannot bring you joy. But their joy can bring you tears. When they cry, we cry too. And when they smile, we smile too. We hurt them yet they still choose to love us, they still care to hang around us. Love them, don't rape them. They are an integral part of our existence. They sit deep inside the nucleus of our being. We cannot stand aside and look while they are going down in pains. We just cannot afford to stand and watch while the beast steals and kills our joy.

Without women (and girls), no race would hardly ever be complete. None would be wholly an independent entity. Rape threatens us all. It's a beast that is crushing our peace in bits. Professionals, parents, artisans, everyone, hear this... we can't keep turning a blind eye to the menace of this beast. While women and girls scream for justice, while they scream for their rights... fathers, sons, husbands, brothers, lovers and co. keep mute. I think they're just being complicit.

9

TO KILL THE BEAST

"Rape is a felony against the state, so people should be discouraged from settling the case outside the police. A rapist should be meant to face the law, and the punishment for rape is life imprisonment."

—JOY EZEILO

"Rape is oppressive; it is forceful means of possession; and it is evil! Rape has destroyed lives, it has not repaired any, and it has to be stopped."  
— JOE OKEI-ODUMAKIN

While I went on a maddening search for the best weapons to annihilate this beast called Rape, lawyers referred me to the Constitution and other statutes. My quest nearly hit the rocks here when I encountered people who were utterly reluctant, were adamant and some afraid to bare their minds on the best way to stop the evil. Why would people still be deeply engrossed in trading blames with the government and the police when it is stark clear that the evil is no respecter of age, status, rank, office, profession, gender, etc.?

In the course of an armed robbery operation, an eighteen-year-old boy raped an octogenarian woman. And it was all over the local news. The youth even confessed to the crime after he was arrested alongside a gang member during another robbery operation. And a sixty-three-year-old man raped an eight-year-old girl.

"Does this tell us something serious?" I asked a woman who felt so bitter about the government not doing anything [I guess she meant not doing enough] to stop offenders.

"What?" she fired at me.

"I mean... we should all be involved. You, me, everyone..." I tried to explain.

"Involved in what?" She frowned heavily, her face turning into a rugged expression of an Igbo masquerade. "Am I the police?"

"It's not just the police. Ma'am, this is a fight for everyone. And it's not a case of 'everyone for himself'."

"Get out!" she shrieked, rose up and left.

We were in a snack bar. The woman had caught wind of my discussion with two friends who felt I was wasting time doing this. They saw my quest as a wild goose chase; a colossal waste of valuable time which should have been better invested in my studies as a college sophomore. The woman had grown furious.

"What if you have daughters? Can't you do something good to protect them?" I asked, raising my voice. But she was gone. I felt so sorry she was hurt. It wasn't my intention. I only tried to get her opinion about dealing with the beast. I still believe it's a collective fight. Though yes, the strong would need to stand up for the weak. Yet the weak has a vital role to play. And to win this war, they must play it!

We can work effectively towards stopping this beast when we ensure...

  * Strict adherence to constitutional penalties for rape and related crimes

  * Speedy dispensation of justice in law courts

  * The deleting of all immunity clauses for any favoured class of offenders

  * The intensification of the campaign against rape

  * Proper parenting with respect to monitoring of children's and wards' activities, and teaching them possibly all that concerns rape

  * Further legislation to enact proper (stiffer) penalties.

  * We encourage victims to report the crime to the appropriate agencies quickly

  * Active domestic and international legislation to ban and take down from the Internet all websites, blogs, etc., that promote sexual violence

  * The enactment of laws that prohibit the setting up of sexual-violence-promoting sites

  * The enactment of laws that also prohibit the uploading of sexual-violence-promoting videos and photos on personal websites

  * Constant check by the administrators and operators of social media platforms to disallow and quickly take down all sexual-violence-promoting videos and photos, more so, those that swiftly go viral

The media must as a matter of necessity and urgency begin to properly censor all audio-visual publications and materials before airing. And everyone should join the war against rape. Across the world, it has been diverse views for diverse people. I've heard clamouring that most established penalties don't represent citizens' views.

The Nigerian Constitution says...

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 threats or intimidation of any kind, or by fear of harm, or by means of false and fraudulent representation as to the nature of the act, or, in the case of a married woman, by personating her husband, is guilty of an offence which is called rape. (s.357)

This same Constitution recommends that "Any person who commits the offence of rape is liable to imprisonment for life, with or without caning." (s.358)

It also declares that "Any person who attempts to commit the offence of rape is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for fourteen years, with or without caning." (s.359) (Criminal Code Act Chapter 77 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990)

It is very important that a victim should report every offence of rape, and promptly too. Rape victims shouldn't believe statements like...

  * You caused it.

  * You asked for it.

  * You're worthless.

  * You're a sl*t, wh*re or any other derogatory term used by the rapist.

  * I couldn't help it, baby.

  * I really love you.

  * I'm sorry I didn't mean to hurt you.

  * I know you enjoyed it deep down inside.

  * No one cares.

  * No one will listen to you.

  * It's my word against yours. (Even so, if you were raped notify the police immediately and get medical help.)

  * You were sending me mixed signals.

  * It was nothing, c'mon.

If a victim doesn't report an offender, and possibly proceed to press charges regarding the rape, the rapist may rape someone else. Even the victim may be raped again by the same offender, which by the way has happened before.

A cashier of a convenience store was raped during the graveyard shift. She returned to work the very next day only to be re-raped by the same offender again. It's not our place to judge her. The victim may have been living on daily wage and couldn't lose a single day of work. Furthermore, she probably assumed that the assailant would never return, or repeat the rape for that matter.

In addition, every rape victim should as a matter of necessity know that...

  1. Your personal safety and security is number one!

  2. If you were raped by a stranger in unfamiliar surroundings and left after the rape, the rapists may return for some more.

  3. You need immediate medical care regardless of how you feel. Rape can sometimes make a victim numb. You may have serious medical injuries that need to be treated immediately.

  4. You need to call the police or someone who can adequately protect you from further harm, maybe family, friends, etc.

  5. You're understandably fearful and anxious about having a physical examination, strangers gawking at you, yet another person touching you and your private parts. There are many men in hospitals and clinics.

  6. During the examination you have the right to say stop at any time.

  7. You DO NOT forget to inform the physician and nurse if you're on medication or if you're addicted to alcohol or other drugs; even tobacco. Furthermore, if you have alcohol or drugs in your system at the time of the examination or if you're an addict, it's imperative that you inform hospital staff.

  8. If you have any suspicions whatsoever about having been drugged, ask the physician to check for traces of rape drugs or similar derivatives.

  9. If you have any food or drug allergies, inform the medical staff. You may later forget, pass out or have a seizure. Be on the safe side always.

  10. The examiner is trying to help you. She's searching for signs of injury and whatever she writes in her report can be used as evidence on your behalf.

  11. STDs and possible pregnancy can be determined. In the case of the former many STDs can be successfully treated and cured if detected early. STDs that are more complicated and without a cure should also be dealt with as soon as possible.

  12. Evidence should be collected as soon as possible after the rape. This will give you the opportunity to change your mind at a later date and go through with the criminal justice process.

  13. You may feel that the entire world will find out about your secret. However, you must decide to move on with your life. Don't allow your life's dreams, visions and aspirations to die because of the incident.

  14. You may feel you lost all control of your destiny during the rape, now you feel helpless again.

  15. You really want to take a shower, throw or wash all of the affected clothing, go home and cry like a baby.

  16. You shouldn't even comb or clean your hair. DNA and other valuable evidence can be obtained from your body and clothing.

  17. A specialized counsellor who has the educational and work experience can begin helping you with your recovery process.

  18. Sometimes, the social worker is also a survivor of rape and/or incest.

  19. It's imperative that a blood test be taken.

  20. Birth control pills are taken to prevent pregnancy.

  21. You need vaccination for Hepatitis B; you may be prescribed medication for gonorrhoea, syphilis and chlamydia.

  22. You need someone caring to talk to.

  23. The information pertaining to your rape is confidential and protected by law (e.g. the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Law). Check for such protection laws in your country. This law applies to adults. Minors need to know their rights in their respective jurisdictions.

  24. You need to ask about follow-up treatment and medications.

  25. You should inform your family physician (if you have one) of what has happened. Ask the medical staff to send an official copy of the exam results to your physician.

  26. You shall decide whether or not to press charges against the assailant.

  27. Rape kits are used to collect valuable evidence relating to the rape; semen, body fluids, hair, skin, fibres, soil samples, etc. All items of evidence are carefully marked, and then stored in a secure place for easy retrieval. Rape kits contain little boxes, microscope slides and plastic bags.

  28. If someone is charged with your rape, understand that many criminal cases are plea-bargained. Civil cases are similar. These are the cases that actually make it this far into the system; countless others don't.

  29. There's a statute of limitations on rape. Child rape or child molestation cases are usually exceptions as victims may be allowed to press charges against a perpetrator many years after an alleged crime.

  30. You have to find out about billing and insurance. Laws and billing vary between jurisdictions. Rape treatment should be absolutely free. However, politicians never engage this as their topic of choice during their election campaigns and debates.

Remember, anyone can be raped and the rapist need not be a stranger. Oftentimes the rapist is a close family member or friend. Whether the victim was drinking or not or whether she was able to say no or not does not diminish the rape. An increasing number of women in North America are learning how to prevent being attacked. To prevent being raped, they are taking special self-defence classes because rape has been identified as a serious problem global problem.

Now, here's what a number of people recommended that potential rape victims can do to protect themselves from being attacked.

  * Ask a trusted qualified person where you can find an institution that offers self-defence classes specifically designed for women.

  * You should learn the street fighting method first. It's crude but often effective. Chances are the rapist will not fight clean; you're fighting for your mind and body.

  * Martial arts classes can be taken, after or simultaneously with self-defence for women. If you're small and the rapist is a large person, a punch in his face or shoulder may have little or absolutely no effect upon him. You must learn how to properly attack sensitive areas such as the eyes, nose, ears, groin, shins, ear drums, knees, etc.

  * Understand that mastery of the martial arts take years. In addition, many of the leg kicks may involve stretching first. There's no time to stretch during a rape. Street fighting is brutal, but can be very effective if the victim is lucky and lightning-fast. In a rape, you may have to fight very dirty.

Years ago an assailant was stalking a woman. She'd been raped earlier in her life and decided to learn martial arts; she got a black belt. He did the same and when the time came, he beat her up martial arts style and then raped her.

  * You must learn how to properly scream and shout 'No', etc. Your instructor should be qualified. Don't be embarrassed to check his/her credentials.

  * Some classes are free. However most require that you pay some money.

  * Ask your local police, social service worker, hospital staff or other victims for details.

  * It may be more difficult for a victim to fight dirty against an attacker who she loves or is closely related to, but if you're being attacked you must defend yourself at all costs if need be.

  * High kicks and fancy moves are easier to make in the privacy of your home or in the gym with other friends and classmates. Learn them, but it's imperative that you master the basics first. The fear, surprise and stress factors are not the same while training in a safe area; the person in the training suit that you learn how to strike won't really fight back, he or she won't hurt you. Fighting and survival instinct and quick action in dangerous situations are imperative.

  * If it's imperative that a potential victim must physically fight off a rapist, she must not hesitate or pull back her blows. This may further aggravate the offender. The strikes must be smooth and automatic.

  * Don't be ashamed or embarrassed to shout or to say no, etc.

  * Run for help if necessary. Potential rapists hate large crowds, a screaming victim, and if at night, a lighted place. This action may not work if you're all alone out in the middle of nowhere.

  * The potential victim may freeze up out of fear and shock.

  * The potential victim may be in a situation where fighting is out of the question. The assailant(s) may be armed or the victim may be thrown into a van in the dark in the middle of nowhere facing several large potential rapists.

There's a story about a woman who'd studied self-defence for women. The rapist was a large man. He got on top of the victim, punched her in the face just once, and ended up knocking out several of her teeth, broke her nose and both of her cheek bones. The fight was basically over. He raped her after the first punch.

  * You may try to calmly talk your way out of the situation. Victims have been known to urinate, defecate or vomit to appear repulsive to the rapist(s). Telling the rapist(s) that you have an STD or a vaginal infection are other options. But this is no guarantee; he may have one or more STDs and not care.

A true story involved a woman who miraculously 'sweet-talked' and 'calmly-talked' to an attacking mountain lion. The mountain lion had pounced on the woman but froze still while she sweet-talked him.

  * There's never a guarantee. Furthermore, a backlash is always possible, but overall self-defence for women has helped many potential and former victims protect themselves from an attack. It also gives former victims a sense of more control over their own lives.

  * Women who are raped as virgins have additional problems to deal with; virginity never returns once it's lost. In addition, women who are raped by close relatives or gang-raped, tortured in the process, or acquire lifelong incurable or potentially deadly STDs also have additional problems to deal with.

  * Many cultures around the world blame the woman for the rape regardless of the circumstances. Furthermore, in some of these cultures husbands will divorce their wives; if she's never been married and word gets out regarding the rape no man will ever marry her.

  * Every woman should have access to free self-defence classes. That way, many rapes can be averted. If you're in college or university, your institution may offer free or subsidized classes. Self-defence classes may be taken for credit if under the Department of Physical Education.

Besides self-defence tactics, potential rape victims should also observe the following tips.

  * Follow your gut instincts. If someone scares you or somehow gives you the creeps, don't be alone with this person; this applies to 'creeps' who are males or females. Don't accept gifts, drinks or anything else from this person.

  * If you attend a function or party, go with trusted friends, have a designated driver and try to stay together. Watch each other's backs.

I read a story about a woman who was semiconscious in a respectable downtown bar. A couple of guys dragged her out to their car and no one gave them a second look. Onlookers may have assumed that she was married to one of the perpetrators, or maybe they didn't care less.

  * If one of your friends leaves the party or goes off with a stranger, meet the person just in case your friend 'disappears' thereafter or suffers from an attack.

  * Try to go to familiar places.

  * Don't give off the impression that you're weak and vulnerable. Rapists, even those who want their victims to struggle want to win in the end. Look confident.

  * Have a cell phone on hand at all times; better yet put your iPhone to good use.

  * Tell your family or friends if you plan to attend a party or event especially if it lasts into the late hours of the night.

  * Keep a keen eye on your drink and food. If you leave your drink unattended and return, don't drink from it if you're at a party.

  * Date-rape drugs are often scentless and tasteless and can't be distinguished from your actual drink. It doesn't take much work to slip in the rape drug.

  * Nightly walks should be with a trusted friend; better yet two or more friends. Large dogs repulse potential attackers.

  * If you jog or walk alone outdoors on a daily or regular basis, change your route frequently. If you don't the potential attacker can plan his rape to the last detail, in advance. He'll catch you off guard. Headphones will deeply impair your auditory sense and will distract you from your surroundings.

  * Don't walk in dark secluded places, near or around abandoned buildings or near tall grasses and hedges. These are places where you can be quickly and violently pulled into and hidden while being attacked.

  * Stay on the alert. If you're a passenger on public transport, every so often scan the area with your eyes. Know your surroundings, as someone may be following you or eyeing you intently.

  * Populated well-lit areas are places rapists do not like.

  * Mace or pepper spray can help. However, it takes time and coordination to remove the canister from your purse or pocket. Meanwhile you're in a scary situation. Practice at home until you've perfected the action. Even your keys can be used as a powerful weapon but you need to jab a sensitive area. Regarding mace or pepper spray, know what the law in your jurisdiction requires.

  * If you think that you're being followed, casually confront the pursuer by asking him or her for the time. Stranger rapists don't want you to know them or be able to identify them to the police.

  * Try to use more than one self-defence method if attacked. Screaming and yelling is natural and very effective, unless the assailant has somehow muffled your mouth or gagged you. In this regard, try to physically struggle. Hit sensitive areas, it's most effective. If you get free, run to a lit/populated area and scream your head off. Make it known to everyone in the area what had just happened.

  * Respond to an attack as soon and as quickly as possible. Don't wait too long.

  * Understand that the vast majority of rapes occur by acquaintances.

  * If you live alone tell your landlord or apartment manager upon moving in that you don't want your complete name posted on your mailbox. The first initial of your first name and your last name is sufficient.

  * If your potential rapist is your husband or boyfriend you need to know what to do. You must protect yourself; you're number one.

  * Don't judge a person solely on his/her looks. Good looks and cuteness don't necessarily correlate with good manners and behaviour. Judge a person by his/her behaviour. There's no use in marrying or being with a cute or handsome rapist or wife-beater.

  * The eyes are always good targets to strike. If a rapist is fully clothed and you try to strike his genitals you could miss or hit his penis instead. The most sensitive part of the male genitals is the testicles.

  * If you're somehow pinned to the ground or to a bed and are overpowered, calculate your strike and make it devastating. Gouge the eyes or you can grab the testicles tightly and then twist. But for that to happen you may have to wait until he removes his underwear. If you temporarily disable your attacker, flee the area. Note that failed attacks may enrage the attacker. Wearing high heels will offset your balance, may reduce your ability to kick, and will hinder your running speed if that's what it takes to get away from your attacker.

Pregnant teens or women, especially in their third trimester need to take special precautions. Some rapists don't have any problem punching or striking a pregnant woman in the stomach, especially if she tries to defend herself. A strike therein is dangerous to the victim's health and well-being, and to the unborn child.

Furthermore, if the rapist gets a pregnant woman on her back, it'll be extra difficult to get him off. Running speed will likely be seriously hampered. Under rare circumstances even during times of peace, a woman's cries for help may go unheeded.

Here's the most notorious example I heard. It happened in North America and it involves the case of Catherine 'Kitty' Genovese, who was a resident of Kew Gardens section of Queens, New York at the time; a nice middle class neighbourhood. The incident occurred on the morning of March 13, 1964. Twenty-eight-year-old Kitty Genovese worked in a lounge as a bar manager on Jamaica Avenue just a few blocks away from her apartment. After work, Kitty drove home arriving at roughly 3:15 A.M. She parked her Fiat about 30 yards from her apartment door. But upon exiting her car she took notice of Winston Moseley loitering and bumming around nearby. She tried in earnest to run away but Moseley was faster than her.

In spite of repeatedly shouting for help and being stabbed and raped by Moseley, not a single neighbour or resident in the area came to her rescue. Moseley had been spooked by a shouting neighbour who told him to 'leave that girl alone'! What ensued was only a temporary delay. Thereafter, Moseley was able to stab and rape Kitty three separate times. The rapes and attacks lasted around 32 minutes.

To add insult to injury Moseley took 49 dollars from Kitty's purse. In all, 38 people had heard the commotion, but many claimed that they didn't know it was a rape and brutal attack. Sometimes people just don't want to get involved.

Hitchhiking can be very dangerous, so hitchhikers beware, DO NOT HITCHHIKE! I send this advice to all, especially women. You don't know what kind of a person the driver is, even if it's a woman or an elderly person.

Here's a true story. In the fall of 1978, Mary Vincent, a 15-year-old runaway girl was hitchhiking through California. She ended up hitching a ride off Lawrence Singleton, a drunkard-killer. Mary Vincent didn't think Singleton was dangerous because he looked like he was old enough to be her grandfather. She was dead wrong. Singleton brutally raped Mary Vincent and then hacked off her forearms and left her for dead. She survived the ordeal, living armless since 1978. Singleton only served 8 years for that horrific crime. In 1994, he killed a Florida prostitute. This time he was sentenced to death in 1998. He died of cancer in December of 2001. The executioner missed that job.

In Uttar Pradesh Province of India, another horrible incident occurred in February of 2011. A 16-year-old Dalit girl had her limbs chopped off for attempting to fight off four men who were allegedly trying to rape her. Her assailants used axes. The attack was orchestrated by a man who had a personal feud with the girl's family. So I guess he felt it necessary to have her gang-raped and mutilated. The victim was first harassed, and as a result tried to escape the harassers.

Rape, in a general sense has no boundaries, even individuals who are mentally and/or physically disabled can be raped. This type of rape is nothing new. It has possibly been around for a time as old as rape itself. But it's often more hidden than that of non-disabled persons; thus posing a bigger problem. It's estimated that 10 per cent of the general population of Europe suffers from any one of a number of disabilities, and the numbers continue to rise. This number is likely doubled for developing countries. In most of the world, people with disabilities, especially major or profound disabilities are ignored or overlooked by the respective society at large; governments are by no means innocent of this practice. Disabled rape victims often have excessive obstacles to cross. These include:

  1. Being female and disabled

  2. Being of a visible or linguistic minority

  3. Being poor, uneducated or undereducated

  4. Living in a poor Third World country and/or a brutal regime

  5. Lack of adequate medical care and social services

  6. Living in war-torn or civil war-torn regions

  7. Rampant government and police corruption, and

  8. Being part of a misogynistic culture.

Regarding police corruption and apathy, years ago a Pakistani woman took her young daughter to the police station to report a possible molestation by her husband. The officer responded, 'We don't have this problem in Pakistan!' And that was the end of it. But unfortunately, there have been incidents in Pakistani police stations where complainant women have been raped. Other Third World countries also experience this problem. The people pulling the strings in these respective countries are heartless and corrupt. For disabled females, getting by or living may be quite a challenge. Citizenship rights are often compromised even in the developing world.

Mental and physical cruelty against disabled persons can occur from other family members, players in the system or from outright strangers. Females with major or profound disabilities are by far more likely to be abused physically, mentally and/or sexually.

It's even worse for a female with communication or severe speech impediments. Any potential rapist will know that 'she won't be able to tell on me'. Rape victims who are disabled face the following additional obstacles:

  * Considerably, they are usually weaker than the rapist.

  * They may have mobility problems.

  * Severely disabled females may be a target for a rapist who wants an easy rape or a rape without much resistance.

  * Difficulty conveying or reporting the abuse or just getting to the police station.

  * Rape cases involving disabled persons require additional and more intricate work; experts may be called in to help. The prosecutor's office must be extra diligent in their follow-up. There's a possibility that the disabled victim may be viewed as a less credible witness or simply not believed outright.

  * The victim may need the rapist for economic and everyday support (spouse, family member, landlord...)

  * The criminal justice system can be quite cold and assembly-like.

  * A disabled person who can't understand what's happening is at an even greater loss.

  * Many severely disabled females may have low self-esteem even before the rape. They may think that 'Nobody will care; nobody will believe that anyone could do that to me'.

  * Rape victim organizations generally cater to non-disabled rape victims.

  * Self-defence for women most often caters to physically capable females.

The aforementioned obstacles are by no means to dissuade anyone. If you or anyone you know is disabled and you believe that this person has been sexually or physically assaulted, you may need to call the police. Aside from all of the problems, there really is justice much of the time. The system isn't perfect though.

After being raped (especially students), some thoughts, oftentimes contradictory, recur in victims' minds. Some of these are:

  * What will my family say?

  * Will I have to quit school for the time being to go through a potentially long legal process?

  * What about work; I have to work to help pay for my tuition?

  * What about the stress of telling my story and repeating it over and over again?

  * What about having to go to the emergency room, being stripped and re-touched and re-examined by strangers; I don't want to see any men in the emergency room.

  * Will they believe me?

  * Will anybody believe me?

  * Was I really raped or was it just rough sex?

  * Am I over-reacting?

  * He`s not a stranger, I know him, he`s really a good guy.

  * I feel like everyone`s looking at me.

  * I don't want everyone to know my secret!

  * Will I get pregnant?

  * Will I acquire an STD?

  * I feel dirty and filthy.

  * I just want to take a shower, clean my clothes and forget about what happened.

  * I wish I can go back in time and erase this event.

  * How could I have been so stupid?

  * Was it my fault; was I asking for it?

  * Did I lead him/them on?

  * I hate his/their guts! I want to kill him/them!

The perpetrator(s) often has friends. Some or many of these people likely won`t believe the victim's story. These friends are males and females alike. But in all fairness too, every accused person is innocent until proven guilty, otherwise our criminal justice system will indeed become a nightmare for all of us. The rights of society as a whole and both the defendants and plaintiffs must be protected; due process is the best method.

In a rape incident, the victim may have invited the perpetrator(s) into her hostel room or entered a perpetrator(s) hostel room without suspecting anything. The victim may be drunk or sober. If an attack ensues, the victim should try to use several or more methods of self-defence. Usually, in a dormitory, shouting and screaming and flailing will shock the assailant(s). Neighbours and passers-by will hear the commotion. Someone will almost certainly ask if the screamer is all right or bang on the door. Banging on the door will certainly shock the perpetrator. If the victim is inebriated, self-defence abilities are reduced or annihilated (if the victim is out cold). It's best for a female college student to always be aware of her surroundings; better to be safe than sorry. Try to picture worst case scenarios if you're going to a party or to some guy's room.

Many people have two or more faces. When the need arises, a different face manifests. Most subtle rapists use date rape drugs. Take these few warning signs if you've awakened after being out cold for an indefinite period of time:

  * You've had a rough night of partying, you're in the nude or semi-nude and you have a throbbing headache.

  * You're in an unfamiliar place or someone else's room.

  * You were with your girlfriends but somehow you were split up and they're nowhere in sight.

  * The party is long over.

  * Your clothes have been tossed onto the carpet or are nowhere in sight.

  * You feel pain in your vagina or rectum.

  * Dried or fresh blood in and around your vagina and/or rectum.

  * There's a stench in the air, like semen and/or vaginal fluid. Or the general scent of genitals.

  * You have crusted semen on any part of your body, or on any article of your clothing.

  * You puked your brains out but don't remember the details. The scent of puke and visible puke are a dead giveaway that you lost consciousness and were unable to defend yourself (if something did happen).

  * You left your drink unattended to or were given a drink by someone. You probably don't remember who.

  * Someone offered you a drug and you accepted.

  * If you can remember, you were with one or more guys alone or maybe conversing with them away from the crowd.

  * If you can remember, you were speaking to more than one guy and they appeared to be 'together' 'buddies', focused upon you.

If a woman suspects that she's been raped, a shower should not be taken; clothing should be kept as evidence and not washed. If she can, she should try to hold back her urination until after the initial examination. Furthermore, the police should be called because they always have more jurisdiction and authority in this matter. And the victim must go to the hospital or a clinic. If it happened on campus, the security department should be alerted immediately. Though the school's reputation may be at stake, the security department shouldn't be under pressure to conceal the crime. They may know some of the alleged offenders. The victim needs to be given a ride to the hospital or clinic. A trustworthy and beloved friend to the victim can accompany her. Two good brains are better than one. The victim's friend may be able to fill in some of the blanks.

Because sexual assault on college campuses in the United States has been receiving added attention, it can't be ignored or hidden anymore. Therefore the U.S. Congress enacted laws that make it mandatory for schools to make known their security procedures, report crime data, and to secure victim`s rights. These are:

  * Student Right-to-Know and Campus Security Act of 1990 (the "Clery Act"*) (20 U.S.C. § 1092): Another name for this bill is the Clery Bill in memory of Jeane Clery; she was raped and killed on her college campus in 1986.

  * Campus Sexual Assault Victims' Bill of Rights of 1992: This is an amendment to the 1990 Act. This act mandates that schools draft prevention policies and provide certain assurances to victims.

It is instructive to note what American writer Alice Sebold said:

"You save yourself or you remain unsaved."

THE BIBLE ON SEXUAL ABUSE

"How we live with men determines how we are before God."

The Bible vehemently condemns all forms of sexual immorality and sexual abuse. An Old Testament command says:

"If a man has sex with an animal, he must be put to death and you must kill the animal. If a woman has sex with an animal, you must kill both the woman and the animal. They must be put to death. And they are responsible for their deaths."

— LEV. 20:15-17 (THE MESSAGE)

And another text says:

"If a man comes upon a virgin in town... and sleeps with her, take both of them to the town gate and stone them until they die — the girl because she didn't yell out for help in the town and the man because he raped her. But if it was out in the country that the man... raped her, only the man is to die, the man who raped her."

-DEUT. 22:23-27 (THE MESSAGE)

I wrote earlier in Chapter 7 (under 'Curse'), how the rape of Dinah, Jacob's daughter, by Shechem, son of King Hamor, led to the killing of all males in the offender's town including the offender and his father. Simeon and Levi, sons of Jacob did this, and looted the town afterwards, all to avenge their sister's disgrace (Genesis 34).

Amnon, King David's first son, raped his half-sister, Tamar. Two years after, Absalom, the girl's brother, masterminded the killing of Amnon because of the offence (2 Samuel 13:1-17; 28-29). Rape is as much gross human rights violation as it is colossal demeaning sexual immorality. The Holy Bible declares that:

"He who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body."

—1 COR. 6:18B (NKJV)

"The body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord..." —1 COR. 6:13B (NKJV)

"He who is joined to a harlot is one body with her."

—1 COR. 6:16 (NKJV)

In ancient Israel, the grave evil, sexual immorality caused the deaths of twenty-four thousand persons in one day (Numbers 25; 1 Corinthians 10:8). Hear this:

"We should also be warned by what happened to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and the nearby towns. Their people became immoral and did all sorts of sexual sins. Then God made an example of them and punished them with an eternal fire."

—JUDE vs. 7 (CEV)

Rape, adultery, fornication, lesbianism, whatever form of illicit sex destroys. The Bible vehemently and specifically speaks out against adultery. Here are some of the Bible's most striking voices:

\- PROVERBS 5:3-6 (CEV)

3 The words of an immoral woman may be as sweet as honey and as smooth as olive oil.

4 But all that you really get from being with her is bitter poison and pain.

5 If you follow her, she will lead you down to the world of the dead.

6 She has missed the path that leads to life and doesn't even know it.

PROVERBS 6:23-29 (CEV)

23 The Law of the Lord is a lamp, and its teachings shine brightly. Correction and self-control will lead you through life.

24 They will protect you from the flattering words of someone else's wife.

25 Don't let yourself be attracted by the charm and lovely eyes of someone like that.

26 A woman who sells her love can be bought for as little as the price of a meal. But making love to another man's wife will cost you everything.

27 If you carry burning coals, you burn your clothes;

28 if you step on hot coals, you burn your feet.

29 And if you go to bed with another man's wife, you pay the price.

PROVERBS 7:4-27 (CEV)

4 Let wisdom be your sister and make common sense your closest friend.

5 They will protect you from the flattering words of someone else's wife.

6 From the window of my house, I once happened to see

7 some foolish young men.

8 It was late in the evening, sometime after dark.

9 One of these young men turned the corner and was walking by the house of an unfaithful wife.

10 She was dressed fancy like a woman of the street with only one thing in mind.

11 She was one of those women who are loud and restless and never stay at home,

12 who walk street after street, waiting to trap a man.

13 She grabbed him and kissed him, and with no sense of shame, she said:

14 "I had to offer a sacrifice, and there is enough meat left over for a feast.

15 So I came looking for you, and here you are!

16 The sheets on my bed are bright-coloured cloth from Egypt.

17 And I have covered it with perfume made of myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

18 "Let's go there and make love all night.

19 My husband is traveling, and he's far away.

20 He took a lot of money along, and he won't be back home before the middle of the month."

21 And so, she tricked him with all of her sweet talk and her flattery.

22 Right away he followed her like an ox on the way to be slaughtered, or like a fool on the way to be punished

23 and killed with arrows. He was no more than a bird rushing into a trap, without knowing it would cost him his life.

24 My son, pay close attention to what I have said.

25 Don't even think about that kind of woman or let yourself be misled by someone like her.

26 Such a woman has caused the downfall and destruction of a lot of men.

27 Her house is a one-way street leading straight down to the world of the dead.

Notice what verse 23 says, "...without knowing it would cost him his life!" And verse 26 says emphatically, "Such a woman has caused the downfall and destruction of a lot of men."

The Lord Jesus Christ says your thoughts are the source of sexual immorality (Mark 7:21). So, you must watch your thoughts. And the Bible recommends that you avoid sexually immoral people (1 Cor. 5:9). It states clearly that "... sexually immoral... shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." — REV. 21:8 (NKJV)

And then it commands us to, "Flee sexual immorality!" — 1 COR. 6:18. The apostle Paul communicates clearly in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, "For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality." (Emphasis mine)

It's our collective responsibility to kill the beast!

I read a copy of the Kano State (Nigeria) Shari'a Penal Code. In it I read that whoever commits an act of rape, shall be punished...

  1. With caning of one hundred lashes if unmarried, and shall be liable to imprisonment which may extend to life imprisonment; or

  2. If married, with stoning to death (rajm);

  3. In addition to the punishments either (a) or (b) above, he shall also pay the dowry of her equals (sadaq al mithli).

In homosexualism, (male to male affair) termed sodomy [Liwat], forced cases are crimes of offenders, i.e. rapists. The code recommends that punishment is with...

  1. Stoning to death (rajm) if married or has previously been married;

  2. Caning which may extend to one hundred lashes and one year imprisonment if yet to be married.

Lesbianism (female to female affair) [sihaq] attracts same punishments as sodomy. Bestiality is often considered animal rape. The code recommends punishment with caning of one hundred lashes and in addition, two years imprisonment.

The truth is... many people still find these laws ineffective, grossly lacking in substance, will and/or execution. Sometimes ago we've heard few reported incidents of rape. We also heard that some cases had gone to court. But we did not hear the end. We did not even see the penalties – caning, jail terms, etc. – being executed. It's very important that we witness the administering of these penalties on convicts. Nothing should stop the press from putting them in the spotlight the same way the execution – hanging or firing squad – of convicts on death row from other crimes have been televised.

You may hold a different view. Good. It's healthy for us. If I can have your view, I'd be too grateful and glad. Please send it to me via: eeaumc@gmail.com

NATIONS PENALTIES AGAINST THE BEAST

"Be careful not to refuse to listen to Him who is speaking to you. For if they of old did not escape unpunished when they refused to listen to him who spoke on earth, much less shall we escape who turn a deaf ear to Him who now speaks from Heaven."

—HEB. 12:25 (WEYMOUTH)

Rape is a punishable offence in many countries though some of these countries have no clear definition of rape. Punishment for rape in most countries today is imprisonment. Algeria, Nigeria, France, The Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Singapore, Malaysia, Ghana, Kenya, and Israel are some of the countries that have defined jail terms (and options) for rape offenders.

In Afghanistan, it's a very big risk to report Rape. Rape victims could be subjected to violence: on one hand they can become victims of honour killings perpetrated by their families, and on the other hand they can be victimized by the country's laws. To be charged with adultery is very common, and it's a crime that can be punishable by death. Furthermore, they can be forced by their families to marry their rapist. In 2011, Afghanistan made international news after a woman who was raped by a man was jailed for adultery. This woman gave birth to a child in jail, and after being pardoned by President Hamid Karzai, she ended up getting married to the man who raped her.

In 2012, Afghanistan recorded 240 cases of honour killings and 160 cases of rape, but the number for both honour killings and rapes is estimated to be much higher. In 2013, in eastern Ghazni, a man attacked a woman and attempted to rape her, and as a result the relatives of the woman killed both the woman and the man in an honour killing. In Afghanistan, crimes such as adultery, rape and trafficking are often conflated with each other. And it is generally not acceptable for a woman and a man to be alone together (unless married or related). If this happens the response can be very violent.

In the past, rape was often punished with death, and it is punishable by death in at least 10 countries today: China, Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Bangladesh, Iran, Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan and North Korea. In some of these instances, special circumstances apply. For example, rape is only punishable by death in India if the victim dies or is put in a persistent vegetative state, and/or if the rapist is a repeat offender. In Iran, a death sentence for rape can be substituted with compensation, with or without imprisonment and flogging, if the victim so chooses.

In 1977, in Coker v. Georgia, the Supreme Court of the United States held that the death penalty for the crime of rape of an adult woman was cruel and unusual punishment, and thus banned it as a violation of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and in 2008 in Kennedy v. Louisiana it ruled the same in regard to rape of a child.

Castration is sometimes a punishment for rape and, controversially, some U.S. jurisdictions allow shorter sentences for sex criminals who agree to voluntary chemical castration.

The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention, which creates legally binding obligations for countries which choose to ratify it, reads:

Article 36 – Sexual violence, including rape

  1. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that the following intentional conducts are criminalized:

  1. engaging in non-consensual vaginal, anal or oral penetration of a sexual nature of the body of another person with any bodily part or object;

  2. engaging in other non-consensual acts of a sexual nature with a person;

  3. causing another person to engage in non-consensual acts of a sexual nature with a third person.

  2. Consent must be given voluntarily as the result of the person's free will assessed in the context of the surrounding circumstances.

  3. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that the provisions of paragraph 1 also apply to acts committed against former or current spouses or partners as recognized by internal law.

The offences established in accordance with this Convention shall apply irrespective of the nature of the relationship between victim and perpetrator.

I first heard it on the 3 P.M. news on Radio Nigeria, Coal City FM, 13 June 2018. A 28-year-old man was sentenced to 28 years imprisonment with hard labour – 7 years on the first count and 21 years on the second count – to run concurrently starting from 1st June 2016, the day he was arrested for raping a 15-year-old girl, who was actually gang-raped alongside her friends by the beast and his comrades-in-crime in Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria. Don't you think this is more like the penalty we need?

10

THE RED CARD

"I can feel the sufferings of millions, and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty will end, and that peace and tranquillity will return again."

—ANNE FRANK

I also obtained information about a rape case involving two undergraduate women, and two men and one officer of the Nigerian Police Force (mentioned earlier). This happened in Enugu State of Nigeria in 2007. The court proceedings were badly handled. When the court ended its sitting in 2009, the accused – men of the force – went home free. The 2 men bagged a 2-year jail term each, which the court ruled, began same time (in 2007) when the case opened in court. The officer was clearly discharged and acquitted on some flimsy grounds. It was established he had no actual penetration of the ladies. But truth remains that he watched his subordinates carry out the crime. It was alleged that he actually ordered it as a punishment to an 'unclear' crime committed by the ladies.  
Note that it was established that the ladies were picked up by the policemen along a road and taken to the cops' office on unclear grounds. The officer ought to have been docked for complicity, and punished for that too. As my source spoke, his face became drawn; brows creased into a bitter frown like someone whom bile had crossed his jugular.

The law could be sometimes insensitive to the plight of rape victims. In September 2015, Judge Robin Camp had to face a week-long hearing in Calgary before the Canadian Judicial Council for his remarks in the 2014 trial of Scott Wagner, who was accused of raping a 19-year-old girl over a sink at a party. Judge Camp asked the alleged victim "Why couldn't you just keep your knees together?" and "Why didn't you just sink your bottom down into the basin so he couldn't penetrate you?"  
Camp repeatedly referred to the girl as "the accused", and acquitted Wagner but Alberta's Court of Appeal overturned the ruling in 2015 and ordered a fresh trial.  
In Spain, Judge Maria del Carmen Molina Mansilla asked a rape victim if she tried 'closing her legs' and 'if she closed her female organs'. The judge was later accused of "offensive questioning" of a woman who was describing how she was sexually and physically abuse. The Clara Campoamor Association, a campaign group for victims of gender crime, observed that the judge's remarks showed a clear prejudice towards disbelieving the victim. "She showed obvious disbelief of the testimony of the victim, questioned her without allowing her to answer, asking leading and offensive questions," Blance Estrella Ruiz of the Clara Campoamor Association said, according to The Local (9 March 2016).

Ruiz further observed that the incident was not the first time that the judge had appeared to make light of a victim's allegations. The Local further reported Ruiz to have said, "Such questions are not only unnecessary to the investigation but are completely offensive and violate the dignity of the victim. Unfortunately this is not an isolated act but such behaviour [by this judge] is habitual and continuous."

The weakness of the domestic law, contempt for it and the insensible manner in which lawmakers and law enforcers handle most rape cases have been very glaring. Nigeria suffers terribly from selective administration of the criminal justice system. If members of the Nigerian Federal House of Representatives – "honourable" as they are addressed – could sit dourly and engage each other in mindless miasma, unnerving brouhaha and incessant bickering, ostensibly to chart a right course for the nation, why would the case of a raped and murdered young lady – a college graduate on national youth service assignment – be boxed into oblivion?

After much media hype, even from female legislators – women, same as the victim – the matter still sleeps in pieces just like the victim's remains. When lawmakers and law enforcers become complicit in running burning humanity issues underground, who then could and would protect the people?

Generally, consent has been a major issue in rape. Elsa Vulliamy reported Katie Russell, a spokesperson for Rape Crisis England and Wales, to have said that misconceptions about consent can be dangerous because they contribute to the silencing of rape survivors who are scared to speak out about their experience because of the fear that they might be blamed.

In Russell's words;

"The law is really explicit about the fact that consent to any sexual act is a decision made by choice by someone with the freedom and capacity to make that choice. Consent can't be assumed, it can't be implied. It must be sought and received by both parties - it's as simple as that.

"These persistent attitudes, which we know exist as much in this country as they do in France, go to show how far we still need to go in educating the public about the reality of sexual violence.

She also said;

"These victim-blaming myths are really damaging because they contribute to a situation in which we know that only 15 per cent of rape and sexual assault victims report to the police.

"We know that roughly a quarter of those who experience sexual violence don't tell anyone. At Rape Crisis we work with survivors who come to us weeks, months, years or even decades after the event."

Author of The Nowhere Girls, Amy Reed said: "Silence does not mean yes. No can be thought and felt but never said. It can be screamed silently on the inside. It can be in the wordless stone of a clenched fist, fingernails digging into palm. Her lips sealed. Her eyes closed. His body just taking, never asking, never taught to question silence"

In 2016, Indian police officers were reported to have told rape victims to stay silent to protect their honour. The Tribune, 25 February 2016, reports that "at least 30 men" targeted commuters travelling to the National Capital Region, setting their vehicles on fire and attacking women unable to flee. After the attacks, families of alleged rape victims claimed senior Indian police officers told them to stay silent about these attacks for the sake of their honour.

Witnesses said at least 10 women were dragged from their vehicles and sexually assaulted in fields near the National Highway in the northern Indian state of Haryana. A senior IPS officer dismissed the assaults as just a rumour, and said the media should not write anything that could create tension in society.

Even a teacher, a child's next custodian after her parents/guardians, ignored a teenage girl's cries for help as she was gang-raped at school. The Independent, 16 February 2016 reports that six boys, then aged 15 and 16, were charged with the attack at a secondary school in Graz, Austria. The Kleine Zeitung newspaper reported that:

The victim was raped in the medical room in May 2015 but did not report the abuse until she felt able to confide in a member of staff at a new school. A police investigation revealed that it was not the only attack on the girl, who reportedly screamed as she was harassed by the same group of boys in the school toilets just two weeks before the rape.

"Students allegedly alerted her teacher and asked her to do something," the Kleine Zeitung reported. "Instead, she reportedly blamed the 15-year-old for turning up late to class." 11 people including schoolgirls who allegedly watched while she was raped were investigated alongside the teacher and suspected rapists, for complicity in the crime or failure to help the victim.

Rapists must desist from this devilish act. Every rapist is uncouth, and needs to repent and join the crusade against the evil. Admitting the crime may cause a scandal and surely, shame I agree, but every rapist needs to be exposed and dealt with comprehensively and judiciously. I therefore encourage every victim to cry out to the world for justice, which the law may deny her (or him). A victim may decide to forgive an offender, well... I advocate forgiveness too. But that should not bar the law from taking its course.

Forgiving, and not reporting the crime will surely not serve as a panacea, as a deterrent to potential rapists. Victims should talk to a confidant and seek proper counsel to help alleviate emotional trauma and stress. They should also seek immediate medical attention to detect possible infections and handle them early. And please strive hard to overcome the experience, forget it and move on with their lives.

We all must know that "true love is in the eyes of the beholder, and lust fails to save in the face of danger." Love all women... Don't rape any. Love mankind... don't rape, for it is evil God is love!

"I strongly believe that love is the answer and that it can mend even the deepest unseen wounds. Love can heal, love can console, love can strengthen, and yes, love can make change."

  * SOMALY MAM

INDEX

Kano State Shari'a Penal Code Law 2000. Ramadhan, 1421; November, 2000

# Black, I., (2000), Serbs 'enslaved Muslim women at rape camps' The Guardian (International Edition) Tue 21 Mar 2000

#

# https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/mar/21/warcrimes.balkans

Emmeline Pankhurst was a British political activist and leader of the British suffragette movement who helped women win the right to vote. She was born on 15 July 1858 in Moss Side, Manchester, United Kingdom. She died on 14 June 1928 in Hampstead, United Kingdom. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmeline_Pankhurst)

Cicero (Marcus Tullius) was a Roman statesman, orator, lawyer and philosopher, who served as consul in the year 63 BC. He was born on 3 January 106 BC in Arpino, Italy. Cicero was assassinated on 7 December 43 BC in Formia, Italy. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicero)

Joy Ezeilo is a Nigerian lawyer, feminist, scholar, teacher and activist. She is the Executive Director of her initiative, Women's Aid Collective (WACOL), a non-governmental organization that champions the rights of women, children and widows with base in Enugu State, Nigeria. She also heads TAMAR SARC, an acronym of Sexual Assault Referral Centre, a joint initiative of WACOL in partnership with the government of Enugu State, Nigeria. This initiative is represented by the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Gender Affairs and Social Development, and supported by the Justice for All (J4A) programme of the Department for International Development (DFID). In June 2008, she was appointed the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children (2008-2011) and took up office in August 2008.

Anne (Annelies Marie) Frank (12 June 1929 – February or March 1945) was a German-born diarist. One of the most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust, she gained fame posthumously with the publication of The Diary of a Young Girl, in which she documents her life in hiding from 1942 to 1944, during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. It is one of the world's most widely known books and has been the basis for several plays and films. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank)

Joe (Josephine Obiajulu) Okei-Odumakin is a Nigerian women's rights activist and president of the rights group, Women Arise for Change Initiative and the Campaign for Democracy. Born in Zaria, Kaduna state, Nigeria on 4 July 1966, she has frequently been arrested for her activism. Detained 17 times during the military rule of Ibrahim Babangida, she was involved with over 2,000 cases where a woman's rights had been disregarded. The cases included extrajudicial killings of women or their husbands by the police, and others where the rights of their children were also ignored by the Nigerian school or hospital authorities.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephine_Obiajulu_Odumakin; womenarise.org.ng/about-dr-joe-okei-odumakin/)

Ruta Sepetys is a Lithuanian-American writer of historical fiction, and author of Salt to the Sea

Chrystine Oksana is the author, Safe Passage to Healing: A Guide for Survivors of Ritual Abuse

Judith Lewis Herman is an American psychiatrist, researcher, teacher, and author.

Jessica Valenti is an American feminist, writer and journalist; author of The Purity Myth: How America's Obsession with Virginity is Hurting Young Women

**Salma Hayek** is a Mexican-American film actress, producer, and former model

Kurt Cobain (20 February 1967 – 5 April 1994) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician

Reese Witherspoon is an American actress, producer and entrepreneur

Angelina Jolie is an American actress, filmmaker and humanitarian

Viola Davis is an American actress and producer

Somaly Mam is a Cambodian anti-trafficking advocate who focuses primarily on sex trafficking

The Red Army (also known as the Workers and Peasant's Red Army) was the army and the air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics after 1922. This army was established immediately after the 1917 October Revolution (Red October or Bolshevik Revolution), and raised to oppose the military confederations (especially the various groups collectively known as the White Army) of their adversaries during the Russian Civil War. Beginning in February 1946, the Red Army, along with the Soviet Navy, embodied the main component of the Soviet Armed Forces; taking the official name of "Soviet Army", until its dissolution in December 1991. The Red Army is credited as being the decisive land force in the Allied victory in the European theatre of World War II, and its invasion of Manchuria contributed heavily to the ultimate unconditional surrender of Imperial Japan. During operations on the Eastern Front, it accounted for 75-80% of casualties the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS suffered during the war and ultimately captured the Nazi German capital, Berlin.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army]

SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

CEV - Contemporary English Version

GNT - Good News Translation

KJV - King James Version

NKJV - New King James Version

TEV - Today's English Version

TLB - The Living Bible

THE MESSAGE (The Bible in Contemporary Language)

WEYMOUTH

P. S.: The views expressed in this book are mostly those of the author.

