It is Important to Talk about Rape

Does the world know how important it is to teach out young people?

I’m not talking about teaching in the basic sense of school but teaching them about life. How unfair is it that bad things happen to people because they were never warned because the issue is taboo in ‘polite society’ – how many lives could have been improved because we taught our young people that no, we don’t have to be doormats to other people’s wants or needs.

I think it is very important that we talk about rape, sexual assault and other taboo subjects to high school children. For them to be sent into the world knowing Pythagoras' Theorem and how to structure an essay but not that it is wrong for a person to touch you without your consent is completely reckless and may have dire consequences. However, I think that the most pertinent discussion needed with these young adults is about rape.

 

 Rape is a word some people are afraid to say while others joke about it, not realising the severity or the repercussions. The incidence of rape is becoming higher with many people still not reporting it to the authorities. The danger if this subject remains quiet is that it will soon be socially acceptable to rape or be raped - it just won't be talked about. Often publicised, in novels or movies, is the ‘sex talk’ that parents have with their children. This is a good start for elevating teenagers into the real world after high school but there has to be more – there needs to be more. All over the media there are debates about rape: ‘is the girl asking for it because of the clothes she wears or should we teach our males better manners to not take advantage of a girl in any situation?”. I agree that we have to impart knowledge about rape upon this generation and those to come because I believe that they need to know it is not something to be joked about or taken lightly. It is something that can, and has, affected many people’s lives and the lives of those around them.

We need to be explaining what rape is and that it is not ok whoever the victim is because it should not be happening period. We need to talk about this with our young people – we are the ones who shape them into the adults they become – and by leaving subjects forbidden we leave open the option that maybe something’s not bad because it is never said it to be. We need to help people by alerting them to what is always a possibility so that they aren’t completely taken aback when something arises and they have no idea what to do about it. They need to know that the best thing they can do is to tell someone if they have been sexually assaulted in any way and that they tell the police. Being afraid is what most victims are when rape happens – afraid of what their family or friends will think, afraid of how they will now be viewed, afraid of everything after the fact and sometimes unable to face life because they feel so guilty that they let this happen or didn’t try harder for it not to happen.

My biggest regret was how guilty my family felt. Years after it happened to me, I found out that my brother had blamed himself, saying that if only he had found out or realised what was happening – a bit hard for an eight year-old boy. To this day I still can’t forgive myself for what I put my family through; I was only five years old then. The point is that I didn’t tell anyone until my mother accidently found out. This isn’t what I want the next generation doing – repressing the truth because of fear, guilt or any other emotion – we should want a safer environment for the current and future generations of this world. This can be solved by talking about rape, starting around the age of 15-16. This age bracket might be early for some and late for others but I believe that at this age they need to know about the world outside of school.

Rape should be communicated as an unnecessary evil which is by no fault of the victim. They should be told that it is not alright to take something, anything without permission and that includes pleasure from another person’s body. They need not be treated like a victim or abuser but as a young adult who is being trusted to do the right thing. They need to know that if it happens to them that it is the fault of the rapist, not the victim that it happened.

Awareness in many cases is what helps most. A person doesn’t deserve to get robbed just as a person does not deserve to be raped. There are so many campaigns out there to create awareness for many different causes – who is going to fight against rape?

Can you create awareness for rape?