At the time of this writing, people are angrily condemning rape following the rape of some females. A different opinion gets you the “Rapist” label. This article is written for academic and moral purposes without the fear of being tagged.
In a world where everything is debated, even genders, every SANE person agrees that rape is evil, bad. It is like an invasion, forced slavery as it is followed with dehumanization and the snatching away of human dignity. While it is agreed that rape is an evil that needs to be campaigned against, should we not make sure that we are creating awareness and not noises that have little or no effect?
It is surprising that we seem not to want to hear anything that addresses this issue fundamentally. For example, if you ask me to speak on the rise of rape among students in India, I will heavily criticize Sadh Ghuru before joining the bandwagon to say, “men are scum, trash, etc.”
Sadh Ghuru is an influential religious personality in India. When asked about what is good and what is evil, Sadh Ghuru had said that there is no good or evil because every man is in pursuit of happiness and what makes you happy is not what makes me happy. If a man takes your money, he is fulfilled, but you are pained. Consequentially, the youths who have gathered to listen to and agree with him are shaped psychologically. With theories like this, there could be an increase in rape and that is why we have fundamentals. It should be noted that we have many vices that have been existing for thousands of years. Addressing the fundamentals is not necessarily to eliminate them but to prevent the increase.
Yes! Rapists are rapists and no one is free from being raped even if they are wrapped from head to toe. A voice is enough to send signals to a rapist. That said, addressing the fundamental causes of rape should not make one a rapist.
Except for one who is mischievous, it should be understood that there would be more rape cases in a country where drugs, alcoholics, prostitution, and indecent dressing are norms. THIS DOES NOT SAY THAT THERE ARE OR WOULD BE NO RAPE CASES IN COUNTRIES WHERE THESE DO NOT EXIST (If there’s any).
In 2010, 84767 rape cases were reported in the United States while Saudi Arabia’s rape cases are generally 100 times lower than that of America. In 1981, the rates of forcible rape were 0.33 out of 100,000. Badr-el-din Ali suggests this may be due to Saudi Arabia having a synnomic state of culture, where everyone uncompromisingly shares the same values. ( International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice” Volume 9 (page 49-57) under “Islamic Law And Crime: The Case Of Saudi Arabia”) . THIS DOES NOT SAY THAT THERE ARE NO RAPISTS IN SAUDI ARABIA.
While it is true that rushing to ask women to dress decently, not visit men alone, etc. during a campaign that follows a rape case might be insensitive, the truth is some people do not just want to hear this at all. Here comes the fallacy of false equivalence. Rapists are rapists just as thieves are thieves. Yes, if you are covered, sitting in your own house, a rapist may come for you, this is very true and it is the same way a thief will come to burgle or break-in, even rob a well-secured bank because thieves are thieves and they’ll steal even if a place is guarded. The question we should ask is that, despite the fact that a robber will jump your face even if the gate is locked, have we stopped campaigning against security measures?
This article is not addressing a particular situation but the rape problem as a whole. It should not be annoying when women are advised to be careful. Women walk around with open cleavages, drugs are sold, alcohol is heavily consumed, porn is accessible, there is a psychological implication to this effect and this is not to give rapists an excuse. We know that robbers will rob because robbers are robbers yet we lock our doors, our cars, keep our money and we have the police. If the existence of the Police has not eliminated crime like robbery, has it not reduced? I agree that advising women to do this or that may come at the wrong time.
While the idea of walking around a peppered spray and a knife may be good, we may also want to weight the consequences. One reason why males get successfully raped is that they are scared of fighting back. You hurt a woman in the process of trying to rape you, you may get arrested and sued for harassment or battery. Ordinarily, women have been gifting men free slaps without consequences, how much more when armed. What is meant for a rape situation may be used for other purposes. The male who champions this idea may get pepper-sprayed when he gets to argue with a woman. “He wanted to rape me”, she would say.
Conclusively, like other crimes, rape has been existing for ages. If we cannot eliminate it, we can minimize it. The male child should be taught against rape as much as the female child is taught to be careful and mindful. It is a vice that should not be taken personally.
You cannot support rape without putting your mother, sisters, and daughters at risk. Similarly, rape cases should not be used to vent your anger against men as your father, brothers and sons would be at the receiving end too.
Join the debate: https://www.debate.org/opinions/should-we-apply-the-capital-punishment-to-rape-cases
Bashir Lucas Samson Lukman
English 
