Friday, April 8, 2011

Violence Against Women


In American society today, we have come quite a long way when it comes to women’s rights and justice for women. However, we still have far to go. Over the last few weeks, the number of stories that I have seen related to rape of women is jaw dropping. According to RAINN, the largest anti-sexual violence organization, every two minutes someone in the United States is sexually assaulted, and one out of six women has been the victim of rape. In a 2003 survey, nine out of ten rape victims were female, and 17.7 million victims of rape have been women. The fact that fifteen out of sixteen rapists will never spend a day in jail proves that the safety of women is not enough of a priority in our society today.
When I as a woman, looks at the statistics above, I can’t help but wonder why there are not more efforts being done to prevent rape or make the dangers and effects of rape more known by the public. This is a universal problem and greater efforts need to be made around the world to prevent violence against women.
Recently, there has been wide media coverage of a Lybian woman who was raped by Qaddfi’s soldiers. In places like Lybia, it is rare that a woman comes forward to claim that she has been raped due to the fact ,that not only do women have few rights, but when a woman does come forward to say that she has been raped, her family and friends often disown her due to shame and humiliation. For this woman in particular, it seemed that she wanted to do what she felt was right and make sure that the men who committed this heinous crime against her were punished for it. One would have thought that running into a hotel full of journalists would help someone in a situation like hers; however, she was taken at knife point and thrown into a car by the hotel staff who were trying to protect Qaddfi’s regime. Later she was accused of being “drunk and mentally ill”, and it was claimed that the reports of abuse and rape were her “fantasies”. While the Lybian police are holding her in custody and claim that she is being treated fairly, only time will tell if this is true.
Many people think this is a story of how low foreign troops can go, as to rape, intimidate, urinate and defecate upon, beat, and verbally abuse an innocent woman; but it is not. While this story does show the dark side of rape, we must be aware that this is not a problem that is limited to Lybia; it is a universal problem that is felt all over the world. At the same time, this horrific story occurred in Lybia, a similar case happened in Texas, the heart of America. This did not involve Qaddfi’s people; these were normal people, including a star high-school basketball player, proving that this issue is universal.
In a recent article posted by the Digital Journal, an eleven-year old girl was raped in Texas and is now being blamed for it due to her provocative appearance. Eighteen young men have been arrested for allegedly raping this eleven year old girl in Texas a few months ago. In the beginning, this case was taken as a rape case that “no one denies happened”, but it is now gaining further attention due to the fact that the young victim is being accused of “wanting this to happen” to her.
The defendants and their family members are stepping into a territory that to me is shocking; stating that the victim should be blamed because she dressed provocatively and “may” have lied about her age. A woman from the Texas area said to reporters about the case, “She lied about her age. Them boys didn't rape her. She wanted this to happen. I'm not taking nobody's side, but if she hadn't put herself in that predicament, this would have never happened."
 Really?
According to the victim’s mother, the young girl still “loves stuffed bears”. To me, it is shocking that people would stoop so low as to try to blame an eleven-year-old girl for being raped in an abandoned trailer by several young men. Who would want this to happen to them? Because this incident occurred in such a small town, and in turn affected so many people, there is a huge amount of blame and denial directed towards the victim.
Rape and violence against women occur everywhere. So why isn’t more attention paid to this issue? There is no place that is safe from rape, and no woman is beyond its reach.

3 comments:

  1. It seems like the idea of rape is socially constructed and heavily dependent on the society in which the crime occurs. That's scary, considering there are societies (our not excluded) that maintain the mentality that rape is sometimes justified. A contention that's clearly wrong but nonetheless present in both Libya and the small community in Texas that you mention. I think your post sheds light on the bigger problem at hand--women are so distrustful of one another that they can't even empathize with women who fall victim to rape. It's not just women who should rally to her cause but everyone and anyone who has a shred of humanity! Women never ask to be raped, we have got to stop using the age-old defense of "she was asking for it." It's a tired defense and it's about time we retire it. This isn't just prevalent in small communities like the one you mention in Texas, but almost every courtroom around the country defense attorneys rely on tainting the character of the rape victim in order to have juries sympathize with their clients, who are in many cases, RAPISTS. It doesn't matter what someone wore, how they acted, or what they said...no one deserves to be raped and have to stop protected those who try to justify their heinous actions both at home and abroad.

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  2. Both crimes described are heinous misguided acts. I think the second is actually more awful, as the United States does not see itself as a third world, or war-torn, country; not that rape is by any means acceptable in any civilization. The quoted Texan woman is clearly not the brightest individual, judging by the sophistication of her language. What's even more shocking is that skewed perspectives exist in worlds of higher education. The university I currently attend, a top 25 institution, refuses to shed light on the 15+ investigations of sexual assault and harassment that have occurred this year. So from Libya to a prestigious university, yes, more attention certainly needs to be brought to this matter.

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  3. It saddens me greatly to know that people can rationalize rape in any way, but particularly with the mentality of the woman from Texas. There is no justification for rape at all, and I cannot (or at least refuse) to believe that young men could mistake an 11 year old girl as a consenting and sexually mature adult. However, even if she performed some kind of voodoo makeup magic that aged her at least five years physically and personally, there is no such thing as asking for it or bringing upon yourself. It doesn't matter if you are lying about your age, dressing provocatively, or flirting with everyone--if you say no, it's rape. It reflects the problematic attitude in our country that women should not GET raped rather than that rapists should not DO the raping. Our mindset needs to changed to reflect the basic truth that rape is never the fault of the rape victim; otherwise, disgusting statements like that of the woman from Texas will continue in our supposedly fair, progressive, and equitable nation.

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