Attempted Rape is as Vile as Rape--No Excuses

(Eketi Edima Ette) - RAPE IS INEXCUSABLE! ATTEMPTED RAPE IS AS VILE AS RAPE!!! 

Last night and through to the early hours of today, I read the rape stories on Olu Bunmi's wall. 
I thought I was strong, that I wouldn't cry or be shaken, because I've heard many of these stories before. My inbox is littered with them. But I did cry. I wasn't surprised when those sad stories intruded in my dreams. 

They brought to mind my second near-rape experience, and the terror that possessed me for weeks after. It's one I can never forget. 

*
His name was Jude* and I was 23 years old. 
He was a jovial colleague and we got along quite fabulously. He'd always referred to me as his paddy. So, I was surprised when the day he asked me to come pay him a visit, the alarm bells in my head clanged furiously. Over the years, I have learned to trust my intuition implicitly. That's why I was genuinely troubled by such a strong, negative reaction.

Try as I might, I couldn't brush aside the feeling of unease. I told him, "No, I can't come to your place."

Of Rape Stories and Social Media

(By Joy Isi Bewaji) - RAPE STORIES: Three things… 

What happens when victims of rape share stories on social media?

1)

These stories excite rapists. No rapist ever “repented” by reason of a victim’s confession. A victim’s story, with details of the event, stirs the rot inside a rapist. It’s a thrill. It’s a moment to relive what he has done (to another woman, not necessarily the writer).

It achieves very little on that account.

Rapists do not change. It is why the only place they belong is in prison. If you watch C&I, you’ll realize many rapists return to jail after their first sentence. They spend 14 years in jail, are released… and in less than 7 months, they are back in jail for another, say, 21 years. They are repeat offenders, even with rehabilitation. Especially those disgusting things called Paedophiles

In Nigeria, there is no structure for professional counseling and rehabilitation, except for religious homes and their keepers who brag about curing HIV and removing the demon of Rape from offenders. Our situation is quite dire.

An Epidemic of Rape

(By Olusegun Adeniyi) - There is hardly any member of my generation who did not watch the controversial rape revenge movie of the eighties titled, ‘I Spit on Your Grave’. The first time I watched the movie, which in 2010 made TIME magazine’s list of ten ‘most ridiculously violent’ movies of all times, I shed tears. But I also enjoyed the victim’s revenge mission, even with all the brutality, because I believed that the men who so cruelly raped the female character deserved their gruesome end. Unfortunately, after exacting her revenge by violently eliminating the four men she believed raped her, the movie ended on a tragic note with the woman learning from the police that the real culprits had been caught!

I could not but remember that movie last weekend after watching a WhatsApp video clip of a man whose hands and legs were tied and suspended on a wood with a big stone strapped to his back dangling on a rope in a most gruesome act of torture one can ever imagine. I hope the man is guilty of rape as charged by a mob before the jungle justice was meted to him. That is because we live in a society where innocent people can easily be framed, as we saw with the four innocent University of Port Harcourt undergraduates whose murderers were sentenced to death on Monday.

Of Rape and (Nigerian) Facebook Activism

(By Hymar Idibie David) - The Vex On The Go. 

We are talking about the rape issue, holding conversations, trying to consciously create a free-to-speak-up environment for victims. We are consciously trying to trend the issue into national consciousness because everyone knows social media is power. Of course it has always been a national issue, just that it is treated with hush hush and wrist-slap gloves. We didn't start talking about it today. We have always been talking about it. 

You are a decent human being. I know that. I can sense that in you. But because someone is a decent person doesn't mean they are not capable of now and then acts and utterances of just plain idiocy. 

Idiocy like calling our conversations and engagements on the rape issue noise. Social media noise. Facebook trending topic of the day(s).

I am sorry, but please clam the hell up.