Over past few months, the incessant report of the issue of rape, domestic violence and sexual molestation has been the breath of the air. It’s with much ado to pick one of our national dallies and not see at least a special column dedicated to the barbaric and sardonic act perpetuated by men. It’s even alarming that young ladies between the age brackets of 7-16 years are mostly the targeted victims of this unfortunate and delicate issue that needs urgent and prompt attention. Not to forget married couples that still report sexual molestation on daily basis and cry out on social media about the movie directed by unworthy male ambassador.
Sometimes, I’m left to wonder if it’s a deliberate attempt to show forth the masculinity and rigidity which men are classified and known for or a direct miscalculation on the part of men about their emotions and body control in the face of sexual urge. But in all truth without any other false statements, it’s animalistic in nature to mount on the opposite sex forcefully without her consent as it is only animals that favours that kind of sexual experience.
I am placing a major and precise emphasis on the male gender and the reason why we have to do more in making sure the menace of sexual abuse is trimmed down to the mustard minimal. I have couple of friends that have been beaten and battered by men. Some have been ganged raped by two, three, four guys, some got drugged, raped and recorded to serve as a tormenting devil for the victim and it’s a sort of advantage for the perpetrators. And to crown these heartbreaking issues of beautiful disappointment, most of all these cases couldn’t see the light of the day like a baby destined to die after making his first sound.
The adverse effect of the experience has left many to indulge in drugs and other immoral activity since most of them felt they have been devalued and lost a greater part of their virtue. Thus, they need to get along and move on since they couldn’t contemplate on suicide the moment it happened. They only find respite in engaging their mind in the temporality of the drugs and not the long walk to freedom and comfort.
For example, I was talking to a young lady sometimes last year asking her the reason why she gives herself cheaply and sometimes freely to men, and the response i got was “What’s left in my empty body”. For a moment I was confused and didn’t get the meaning until she clouded up her story and ended it with a rainy eye. In her words, she doesn’t feel sex again, she can get turned on again, she doesn’t even know when a guy loves her truly or when a guy wants sex, all what she knows is if it’s sex it’s okay by her. We have many of those people in our society and most especially very close to us, but they have bottled up their pain like a disconnected bomb that can only go off when the negative meets the positive. So many stories have been reported, but only few got a deserving judgment.
The reason why we have to do more as men is that the safety, prosperity and well-being of the opposite sex should be of Paramount importance to us not because they are the opposite sex, but because our structural tenacity and ability defers per gender which is not proportional to age neither is it defined by size. We must condemn rape in all, inclusively; voice and clamp down on the people demoralizing the integrity of a gender.
Having said all these, it is very important for institutions, NGOs, governments and corporate bodies to also turn to the right side that is willing to fight this bizarre and also put in place effective mechanisms and machinery to curb the excessive lineage of rape.
We need to fight a course to stop rape and show that
#MenAreNotScum against the popular music played on social media that #MenAreScum. #ScumHasNoGender!
Written by Oyawale Olabode
olatomibhone@gmail.com