Rape Culture:
Reviewing the Structure of Our Moral Principles on Gender and Rape.
The sociological presuppositions of individuals within a given society on gender and sexuality has the potential create an ambivalent understanding of sexual offences and in effect, formulate unguided opinions such as sexual objectification, victim blaming, tolerance of sexual harassment and the trivialisation of sexual assault. This sad reality in our communities, states and nation is known as ‘rape culture’. This refers to certain illogical and non-factual societal claims that are made in response to cases of rape and consequently sets out ‘who can be victimized, who may be classed as an accused, what narratives of rape becomes plausible and the acceptable context and space which the issue of rape can be discussed’. It is also important to note that although cases of sexual violence and assault sprout from social issues such as gang membership, harmful or illicit use of alcohol or drugs, exposure to interparental violence as a child, antisocial personality, ill education, multiple partners and gender inequitable views. However, our society has the potential to collectively overcome these issues that amount to a dangerous rape culture.
My aim in this publication is to re-echo the existing reasonable ways we ought to have meaningful social discussions in the bid to further enlighten ourselves on the dangers of rape and how we can incrementally speak and act against rape, the rapist and the rape apologist. This is premised on the fact that in recent months, Nigeria recorded several cases of rape that caused panic and shock to every reasonable person. These cases ranged from the rape and murder of Uwavera Omozuwa at a church where her head was smashed with a fire extinguisher, the rape of a 12 year-old girl in Jigawa State where the said victim was sexually violated for over two months, and the 17 year-old girl who was allegedly gang raped in Ekiti State. This reoccurring chain of events in Nigeria is increasingly buttressing the need for Nigerians to stand against rape by any reasonable means possible.
The word ‘rape’ historically originates from the Latin term(s) raptio which means abduction and rapere which means to carry off by force or to seize. The use of the word rape has shifted overtime to focus on the prohibition placed on the seizure of women or men for the purposes sexual intercourse. This prohibition is deeply rooted in ancient times as it was also examined in our earliest civilisations. For example, the ‘Code of Hammurabi’ outlines the early laws that criticised and criminalized rape. Similarly, in recent times, organisations such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) has reviewed the nature of sexual offences and defined rape as “Any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, unwanted sexual comments, or advances, acts to traffic or otherwise directed, against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim in any setting, including but not limited to home and work.”
Similarly, Section 1(1) the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015 (VAPP) in Nigeria also defines rape as a person’s intentional use of any part of his/her body or thing to penetrate the vagina, anus, or mouth of another person provided the individual in question did not obtain consent from the affected party or the consent obtained in that instance was fraudulent or by any other unlawful means. Although these definitions clearly outline the requisite tenets that can confirm or deny an allegation of rape, the reoccurring acts and claims of rape from our societies and the proclivity for people to blame the victims and unconsciously exonerate the rapist is an existing problem.
The misconceptions of rape are often predicated on prejudice and stereotypes that silently applaud this embarrassing and humiliating act. This also means that the rape apologist who makes statements that infer no wrongdoing or tend to point out justifiable reasons for rape invariable condone rape. Examples of these statements include (i) was her clothes tight and revealing or what clothing did she wear at that instance (ii) she asked for it (Victim Blaming) (iii) we (men) need to score (iv) she said yes before (v) she said ‘NO’ but I thought… These utterances are commonly held by people who deliberately fail to access the situation or a legitimate claim of rape from an objective perspective. However, an easily debatable and sensitive but commonly held argument often used by people who may be on the defensive of rape allegations often points at the existing cultural misconceptions around consent and dating in traditional African societies and in Nigeria. They refer to claims such as ‘when a girl says NO, she means try harder.’ This flawed presupposition that may be commonly used by each gender/sex is completely out of context with the existing and established meaning of consent.
For centuries, the definition of consent has been upheld as ‘the valid permission of a person to engage in some sexual encounter with another person.’ This position is often debated in certain instances where it is important to define what is ‘valid consent.’ Regardless of the need to establish the requisite standard of consent prior to sexual relations with another person, I am more inclined to focus on the social perspective of people prior to seeking consent for sexual purposes. I share the opinion that if we educate ourselves incrementally against the existing elements in our social structure that promote rape culture and rape apologist, our society will begin to witness a potential slow but procedural decline in cases of rape overtime. This means that all genders affected by rape can start having more convincing conversation amongst them, of what they consider to be consent, rape and dating.
Drawing from this notion, I am suggesting that we continue to find resolves against issues of sexual violence, sexual assault, and several other existing misconceptions. This feat can become realistic once we adapt to certain measures such as… (i) resist using language that objectifies or degrades women or men (ii) speak against jokes or fantasies glorifying sexual violence (iii) support and take seriously claims of sexual violence or assault (iv) have respect for people’s private space and personal restrictions (v) do not allow stereotypes define our perspective towards sex or gender and (vi) do not shy away from starting conversations that will help our society eradicate the impending danger of sexual violence, sexual assault, or rape. I am convinced that with an ongoing individual engagement and commitment to the quest to end sexual offences, the fact that in 2017 Nigeria recorded 2,279 cases of rape, 1,164 reported cases of “unnatural offences” (such as anal sex) and 0 convictions (as reported by the police) as reported by the BBC (via Nigeria Bureau of Statistics) will gradually become a thing of the past.
Although we may be familiar with my proposition, the question becomes… how often do we act out this idea? It is on this premise that I seek to re-echo this notion to all my readers, that as we gradually recover from the chaos of the Covid-19 pandemic, we ought to also review our moral consciousness by having factual, reasonable and mind-boggling conversations amongst ourselves about how to communicate, advocate and speak against the scourge of another existing virus in our communities called rape.
