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Dismantling Rape culture in modern day Africa

Dismantling Rape culture in modern day Africa

Rape is the most gruesome form of violence that can be perpetrated against anyone, it is horrific as it takes away a fundamental human right, choice. The rape culture which is becoming increasingly popular and has gradually engrafted itself into our modern society.

Rape culture
Rape culture occurs as a result of a society normalizing or trivializing sexual violence. It is as a result of an issue that has become systemic cutting across all strata that affect a woman – political, economic and social. The effect of the incident and the marked adverse impact it has on the lives of the affected woman, her family and community are minimised. It allows for a society where women are forced to take ownership and responsibility for the assault perpetrated on them as the social bias and stigmatization that ensures forced her to keep silent and the perpetrator to carry on with impunity. It allows rape and sexual violence to become permissible and a norm in the society.

Survivors are less likely to report their assaults because they are afraid of not being believed and these results in the perpetrator not being held responsible for a heinous crime. Rape culture also reinforces the myth that men cannot be survivors of sexual violence and so they are afraid to come forward.

What are the issues?

Culture of silence
The society we live in traditionally places women in a subjugated role, encouraging a culture of silence about the abuse. The survivor is made to feel ashamed and believes that the incident which occurred was her fault.

Survivor blaming / Survivor shaming

The community’s act of “survivor shaming ‘that occurs each time a survivor speaks out against her abuse and abuser, as it is assumed that she is in some way responsible for the act perpetrated on her. Survivors are not encouraged nor are they empowered to speak out about the atrocities they have had to endure. They are made to feel ashamed and guilty. More often than not, we ‘survivor blame’ by questioning their role in the act instead of addressing the crime for what it is.

Survivor blaming takes many forms. The classic example is when a rapist blames a survivor for arousing him or her by wearing revealing clothes. Sometimes when people hear a girl was raped the first question they ask is “what was she wearing” or pass comments like “She was dressed like a slut. She was asking for it”.

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Another subtle form is when girls are given lectures on what to wear and not wear. Although this advice is couched in “staying safe” but it gives this false information that “you will be raped because of how you dress”. What a woman is wearing, what and how much she had to drink, and where she was at a certain time, is not an invitation to rape her.

People making jokes about rape or sexual assault and this being interpreted as funny speaks also to a rape culture. Something as serious as rape should not be trivialised and used to make jokes in any form, directly and indirectly.

Unconscious bias
Unconscious bias is one that is prevalent in most communities and is usually as a result of social stereotypes formed about certain groups of people. These beliefs are marred in our environment by patriarchy and based on cultural practices and traditional norms that are harmful to women with the normalisation of these acts of violence against women.

Protecting perpetrators
These cases are typically perpetuated by individuals well known to the survivor such as a family member, family friend, financial provider or an authoritative figure like a school teacher or a pastor in a church; because these individuals are known to the survivor, she is forced to protect the dignity of the family unit by being silent.

Not just a women’s issue
Rape culture is a societal issue, it affects both men and women and so therefore it is a human issue. it is about the perception and attitude of collective groups of individuals towards the issues of rape and sexual violence. It is about changing mindsets about who is at fault and who is the wrongdoer. It is about encouraging the society to recognise that by being silent bystanders also condone these acts and have become complicit in the act. It is important to recognise it for the crime that it is and to seek justice for the survivors and punish perpetrators regardless of their social standing or personal relationship with the survivor.

How does rape affect our society
There are physical effects to the survivor which include direct injuries from the incident in some cases, even death. There are also medical consequences such as unwanted pregnancies and an increase in new cases of sexually transmitted infections such as HIV.

Psychological and emotional effects to the survivor also ensue. These include depression, anxiety, flashbacks and post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal ideation.

There are also economic effects such as the abuse will result in a loss of days at work which is equal to a loss of income. Women consist of half of the workforce, the more women are abused, the more income is lost in communities which adversely impacts on the social development of a nation as they are unable to contribute their quota.

The fear of violence can prevent women from pursuing education, working or exercising their political rights and voice. This fear is then trickled down from mother to daughter and the pattern continues with an increasing high rate of uneducated women being subjected to gender based violence. This is an intergenerational vice.

Anti- Rape Laws you should know about

The Criminal Code – applicable in all the Southern States
The Criminal Code of Nigeria (Section 357 & 358), Rape is defined as “having unlawful carnal knowledge of a woman or girl, without her consent, or with her consent, if the consent is obtained by force or by means of threats or intimidation of any kind, or by fear of harm, or by means of false act, or, in case of a married woman, be personating her husband.” This offence is punishable by imprisonment for life, with or without caning.

The Penal Code – applicable in all the Northern States
The Penal Code of Nigeria (Section 282), “A man is said to commit rape who has sexual intercourse with a woman in any of the following circumstance: against her will; without her consent; with her consent, when the consent is obtained by putting her in fear of death or of hurt.”

The Child Rights Act
Section 31 (1) & (2) of the CRA provides that any person who shall have sexual intercourse with a child commits an offence of rape and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for life.

The Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act (VAPP Act)
Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act (Section 1) “A person commits the offence of rape if he or she intentionally penetrates the vagina, anus or mouth of another person with any other part of his/her body or anything else without consent, or the consent is obtained by force”
The VAPP Act provides for both male and female sexual offenders as well as the rape of a person by a group of people (‘gang rape’) This act is very progressive but has only been domesticated in 14 states.

Why the issue of rape needs urgent attention in Nigeria

There has been an upsurge in the rape cases in Nigeria in recent times. The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu announced that 717 rape cases were reported within the first five months of 2020 alone.
Specifically, the rape cases of Uwa, Jennifer, Barakat and others this year is a sign that we still have a lot of work to do across all levels. Commendably, there are several organisations supporting the fight against sexual violence. One of them is WARIF.

THE WARIF Organisation

Women at Risk International Foundation (WARIF) is a non-profit organization founded and incorporated in 2016 by Dr. Kemi DaSilva-Ibru in response to the high incidence of rape, sexual violence and human trafficking occurring amongst young girls and women in communities across Nigeria. In the 4 years since its inception, WARIF has fast become one of the foremost anti sexual and gender based violence organisations working in the country.

In Nigeria, statistics have confirmed that 1 in 4 females have experienced sexual violence in childhood. of which 5.0% sought help, with only 3.5% receiving any services. This urgent need and alarming rates led to the establishment of the WARIF organisation, working to build a society free from rape and sexual violence. With advocacy, integrity and accountability; the organization is raising global awareness against the prevalence of violence against women.

WARIF through its unique approach of working under the following 3 pillars- health , education and community service, has implemented several measurable and impactful initiatives and has also recorded many laudable accomplishments and milestones. This WARIF Rape Crisis Centre remains a beckon of hope for many , offering free medical , forensic and counselling services to all women and successfully treated and attended to all ages from 2years to over 60years old. This year, a WARIF Vision 2020 campaign was launched to touch 1 million lives before the end of 2020 and already over 1, 288,966 people have been reached both directly and indirectly through the different advocacy , educational and community service initiatives and engagements in-person and virtually. The organisation has been able to achieve many of their projects through local and international collaborations and partnerships . Some of them include the Washington DC Rape Crisis Centre, USAID and UN Women, ACT Foundation, SAP and The US Consulate.

Way forward

Break the silence
We must work towards breaking the culture of silence. Issues such as survivor shaming and survivor blaming has made many survivors keep silent to avoid stigmatization. People must be sensitized to understand that speaking up is a sign of strength not weakness. Survivors need support not blame. There is also the false perception that men cannot get raped, which leads several male survivors to keep silent.

Creating a culture of consent
There is also a need to popularise the culture of consent, every time. Passing statements like women say “no” when they mean “yes” should be scrapped out of our vocabulary. Rather than listening for a “no,” and assuming a yes, people must be cultured to listen for an active, “yes,” in all cases, all the time.
Get Involved
Working with Organisations who fight against sexual violence like WARIF goes a long way. Also, there is the need to recognize that a more collaborative approach between civil societies organization (CSOs) and State governments need to be adopted as this is a national crisis.

Implementation of more Education programs
Educating children in schools – girls on grooming tactics and the importance of speaking out and reporting. Boys on changing the negative mindsets about rape and encouraging them to be protectors and not perpetrators. WARIF is doing this with the WARIF Education School Project and the WARIF Boys Conversation Café. Educating parents and caregivers on the prevalence of sexual violence, the importance of believing survivors and the need to report perpetrators so they can face justice.

Awareness campaigns Traditional media and social media campaigns
Education and sensitization are extremely important when tackling rape culture. Both in urban centres and more rural communities and the manner and the approach has to be tailored to suit both settings. We also need more platform available to survivors to remind people of the prevalence and harmful effects.

Implementation of laws and better prosecution rates
To end rape culture, perpetrators must be held accountable. By prosecuting sexual violence cases, people recognize these acts as crimes and it send a strong message of zero-tolerance.