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Rape: A Silent Epidemic


By; Okunola Promise

                  The term rape originated from the Latin word, rapere (supine stem raptum), "to snatch, to grab, to carry off.  Rape was initially considered a crime only in terms of the property violation of another man.  For instance, ancient Hebrew women who were raped were considered defiled, and stoned to death. The first case of rape was the case of a young girl called Mathura, Mathura was a young orphan tribal girl living with one of her two brithers. The incident is suspected to have taken place on 26th March 1972, she was between 14 and 16years old at that time and the case was an incident of custodial rape in India on 26th March 1972. 


                    Rape , according to Merriam-Webster dictionary is an unlawful sexual activity and usually sexual intercourse carried out by force or under threat of injury against a persons will or with a person who is beneath a certain age or incapable of valid consent because of mental illness, mental deficiency, intoxication, unconsciousness or deception. My personal definition for rape is having sex with an opposite sex forcefully with without his or her own desire, will or consent. Many people believe that women are the only victims of rape, this is not totally true, we have a lot of men who are also victim of rape which case are not as obvious to that of women. Rape is gradually growing into global epidemic as the menace is eating deep into our society, secretly killing thousands of infants, teenagers, adolescents. 


             Rape is rampant all over the world and the a consecus is yet to be reached in the major cause of rape because it goes beyond dressing indecentlyalthough it is part of it  Rape in the society has caused a lot of havoc and it is still causing havoc because the societal ills which is caused by it increases on a daily basis. It is not only associated with a particular gender but can happen to anyone, Rape is not a matter of gender. Rape brings fear into the heart of the victim and leaves them with psychological effects. Sometimes ago, it was known that a woman who molested and raped her step-son due to the fact that the son is motherless. The step  mother molested him go the extent that the guy could not open up until his father knew about it. To some people, they believe rape sometimes is caused by indecent dressing, some female and make dresses to show off the exposive and private parts of their body. The opposite sex might get triggered about part of the body which is been exposed to the public, this single act might lead to rape therefore giving the opposite sex the justification to lack control of there sexual desire.


          There might be a lot of reasons why the issue of rape is fast becoming a ethical and contemporary issue in our society.Young girls and women are more at the verge to rape as they are likable prey to the doers of this dastardly act. Men are also victims of rape but the major focus in the Nigerian society and the world at large is that of the female child or women generally. Most of these rape offenders commit this crime out of anger, power, spirituality, lust, drugs or mental trauma. They care less of their victims as they are only interested in satisfying their carnal urge and they go at lengthof involving sexual violence to ensure that their desires are satisfied.
        
          There are a lot of cases of rape heard and seen which clearly depicts that rape isn't only caused by uncontrollable sexual urge, to some they see it as an act of payback, revenge towards an hurtful act. Recently, a worker in the church was said to have raped a young lady by the name Efe, this case went viral as information revealed that the young lady was raped in the church all to Tanisha the image if the given church and the pastoring pastor.


           Statistics shows that 93% of rape cases are dastardly committed by close relations of the victims while only 7% are by strangers. There are some rape cases that are caused by close relations i.e between father to daughter,  bother to sister, Uncle to Niece e.t.c Statistics show 1 out of every 10 rape victims are male. By believing a man cannot be raped, we enforce the stereotype that men will always voluntarily hav sex because that's all they want and take away his chance at justice. Men can also be raped too and in order to stop rape culture, we need to come to terms with this first. Just like the statistics show that 93% of rape cases are committed by close relations, some of the causes by close relation is due to proximity therefore leaving the victims in trauma forever.
One of the various ways to curb the act if to provide justifiable justice system available for culprit, educate and inform the public more on the dangers and effects of rape on the social, psychological and physical growth of the Society at large.

          Okunola Promise Temidayo, 400level linguistics and communication studies. Osun state university osogbo                   

Comments

Unknown said…
Thanks for the enlightenment
September 27, 2021 at 12:56 PM
Olateru Oyindamola said…
Kudos for your broad-mindedness and edification
September 27, 2021 at 1:12 PM
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