Together we can end rape

 AntiRape is an organisation  that supports the recovery of survivors, seeks justice and makes change in communities. It also aims at creating a culture of respect for women and girls in South Africa. Rape is being normalised in our country slowly but surely. The sad part about this whole rape norm it will be passed from generation to generation which means we won’t win the rape war.

There are lot of conspiracies around rape. Some people believe that women bring this upon themselves, that some women deserve it. This belief is driven by the say “you dress how you want to be addressed”. Today we have inaccurate statistics for rape which resulted from this theory. People are afraid to report rape because they don’t know how to answer the question “what were you wearing”. This question has also resulted in perpetrators getting away with a 90% chance of doing it again and increasing the statistics. People need to understand that there is more to rape than how provocative a woman’s attire is, that this thing comes from male sexual entitlements. This theory shames the victims more than the perpetrators.  We need to learn and look closely to the effects this rape pandemic has on the victims and the society.Today we have people who intentionally spread STIs that they contracted from rape, we also have people who are serial rapists because they are also victims of rape. We have young people losing their lives to depression because of rape. Question is when are we going to live in a rape free community? Rape is ethically and morally wrong  regardless of how revealing and provocative a woman’s attire is. If rape is based on how a woman presents herself then why are little girls and boys being raped, do they call it upon themselves too? There are men who even rape toddlers, this shows that rape is a psychopathic act. There shouldn’t be excuses for it, firstly it’s brutal and traumatic, secondly wearing tight and revealing clothes does not mean a woman wants to have sex it simply means she appreciates her body enough to reveal it. Girls are taught that wearing short tight is provocative but boys are not taught that sex needs to be consensual. We need to look at the fact that 1 of 10 rapes are committed by strangers, in most cases it’s committed by people the victim knows which proves that this is more about a man feeling entitled to that person’s body. AntiRape plans to prioritise the survivors, by firstly helping them get justice and helping them with their recovery journey. But most importantly it is trying to fix how the society views rape. It aims to eradicate rape by going back to the root which is the value of women. It wants to change how people especially men view and treat women. It plans on preaching the value of women most importantly to young boys. With the society learning the value of women, rape won’t be a norm, actually it won’t exist. This will help survivors to feel free to report and share their stories. This will also educate people that rape shouldn’t be tolerated or excused. There is no such thing as provocative outfit or an outfit that screams rape. No woman deserves to be forced to have sex. The organisation  also works with men who are on board with eradicating this pandemic. If we have men in the front demanding that rape should be ended maybe it will show perpetrators how effective this rape thing is.

As the society we need to assure rape survivors that rape is never their fault and that the perpetrator should take 100% responsibility of the abuse. .Why don’t we break these societal beliefs and gender role systems, that way we can have a rape free zone. We also need to change how the society views this rape pandemic. Teaching young boys the value of women at an early age is very vital, not teaching young girls how to dress. Again we need to stop making excuses for rape. Lastly, we need to normalise sex talk so that people understand what is sex and how to do it the right way and that it needs to be a mutual and consensual activity.