By Isaac Asabor
Before going far in the expression of this view, it is expedient to ask, “What is Rape Culture?” Rape Culture is an environment in which rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence is normalized. Rape culture is perpetuated through the use of misogynistic language, the objectification of women’s bodies, and the glamorization of sexual violence, thereby creating a society that disregards women’s rights and safety”. For the sake of clarity, it is also expedient to ask, “What does the phrase, ‘Blaming the victim’ mean?” “According to lexicographers, “Blaming the victim is a phenomenon in which victims of crimes or tragedies are held accountable for what happened to them. Victim blaming allows people to believe that such events could never happen to them”.
In this context, sexual victims are blamed through the expression of languages that tend to water down the evils that are inherent in prevailing rape culture as if it is not a serious issue. The languages cut across “She asked for it!” “Boys will be boys!” as well as blaming the victim for improper dressing or being at a lonely place at odd times. In as much as the view of this writer is not intended to undermine the need for both girls and women to be conscious of their voluptuous disposition and attractiveness to the opposite sex, there is still no justification whatsoever for playing down the gravity of sexual and gender-related crime by taking solace in any situation or cracking sexually explicit jokes. If rape is been justified from this perspective, what are the physiological features that usually attract pedophiles to babies? Sometime in January this year the police in Plateau confirmed the arrest of an 18-year-old man, Marvelous Luka, who allegedly raped his 70-year-old grandmother. If I may ask again, “What were the physiological features in a septuagenarian that attracted Luka? Based on the foregoing, this writer will not hesitate to agree with psychologists and scientists that most rapists are mentally disordered, and that people with schizophrenia or related psychoses may often commit rape or show abnormal sexual behavior which is related either directly to the psychosis or indirectly to disinhibition.
Against the foregoing backdrop, it suffice to opine at this juncture that one of the reasons people blame a victim is to distance themselves from an unpleasant occurrence and thereby confirm their own invulnerability to the risk. By labeling or accusing the victim, others can see the victim as different from themselves. People reassure themselves by thinking, “Because I am not like her, because I do not do that, this would never happen to me.” For God sake! Rape apologists need to be reminded that we need to help people understand that this is not a helpful reaction.
Without any scintilla of hyperbole, victim-blaming attitudes marginalize the victim and survivor and make it harder to come forward and report the abuse. If the survivor knows that the society blames her for the abuse, she will not feel safe or comfortable coming forward and talking about the rape.
Victim-blaming attitudes also reinforce what the abuser has been saying all along; that it is the victim’s fault this is happening. For the situation to be properly understood, it is NOT the victim’s fault or responsibility to fix the situation; it is the abuser’s choice. By engaging in victim-blaming attitudes, society allows the abuser to perpetrate relationship abuse or sexual assault while avoiding accountability for his actions.
Example of Victim-Blaming Attitude can be in the following similitude: “She must have provoked him into being abusive. They both needed to have arrived at a consensus. ”
Analyzing the issue through the eyes of Nigerian lawmakers, it is germane to opine in this context that James Faleke, representative of Ikeja Federal Constituency, Lagos, ostensibly irked by the high profile rape and murder of Miss Uwaila Omozuwa, a 22-year-old first year student of the University of Benin, made recommendation for the castration of men convicted of the rape of minors in Nigeria during plenary on Thursday, June 4, 2020.
The recommendation trailed series of vicious sex crimes that have attracted national attention over the past week.
Rotimi Agunsoye, representing the people of Kosofe Federal Constituency, Lagos, raised a motion of urgent public importance on the need to condemn the rising cases of sexual violence and other social vices against women, including police brutality.
In their contributions to the motion, many lawmakers said stiffer penalties, including the death penalty, should be made to discourage all manner of sexual crimes in the country.
While presenting his amendment, Faleke said anyone found guilty of raping minors in the country should be castrated, the removal of a man’s testicles.
“All men engaged in raping minors should be castrated and jailed,” he said.
However, the motion was rejected in a voice vote by members of the lower chamber of the National Assembly.
In his contribution, the House Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, representative of Surulere I Federal Constituency, Lagos, asked, “What’s interesting about this is that, in the rare event that a woman rapes a minor, what do you do to the woman?”
While blaming the victim, Hon. Ahmed Jaha, representing the people of Chibok, Damboa, Gwoza Federal Constituency of Borno, and affiliated to the APC in his contribution at the plenary urged women to inculcate the habit of proper dressing. He no doubt gave the advice to the womenfolk to enable them avoid unnecessary harassment from men who could not control themselves. Commendably enough, he apologized to the womenfolk as the statement affected the sensitivity of women, and ostensibly after realizing that it was an act of blaming the victim.
To my view, our lawmakers should exercise the legislative will that is within their power in ensuring that a punitive law is legislated in ensuring that rapists are adequately punished for their sins.
After all, it is said in the Christendom as recorded in Ecclesiastes 8:11 that “Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil”.
