The Victim was Raped

Putting an end to rape goes beyond social media outcries that won't last more than a week. The impact is like dropping a pinch of salt in the river.

No one is addressing the main issue, the factors of rape. We live in a society that if you dare mention the causes and solution, you will be tagged an enabler, you are automatically blaming the victim or justifying the devilish act.

But for how long are we going to continue playing politics with the future of these fragile vessels?

The victim was not raped the moment rape occur.

The victim was raped when we allow songs glorifying rape in our society, songs describing female private part. Listen to Olumide's song "story for the gods" glorifying rape, and you will realised the victim was raped the moment the song was released into the society and we all keep mum.

The victim was raped the moment we accept indecent dressing as the new normal.

While we are growing up, it is a taboo to wear a mini skirt, but today we allow our girls to roam the street naked, grown up girls appear on the street with panties.

The victim was raped when women lost their dignity.

The society reduces women to mere object of advertisement. What is the correlation between advertising a car and putting the picture of a semi-nude lady in front of it?

Modeling was introduced to professionalise lack of shame.

The victim was raped when substance abuse is become a phenomenon. When addicts have access to prescription drugs. When the society is flooded with different brands of alcohol herbal beverages that are aphrodisiac

The victim was raped when the family system collapsed, the women that are supposed to instill moral values in the male child are on 8 am to 8 pm paid employment, the child is left at the mercy of uncensored content on television, he watched how rape is being done on television, he watched things that only married people are allowed to do, he listened to songs glorifying rape and when he eventually grows up, he would have become a monster. I weep.

If you want to realistically attack the menace of rape or sexual abuses in our society, then the approach should be holistic and not hypocritic...

We must be set to address real issues no matter how unworthy the people think it to be.

The one who thinks nude dresses are the sole cause of rape is as problematic and reckless as the one who doesn't think nudity of today's ladies is a part cause of the high increase of rape cases.

The whole society is sexually tensed up by what we hear and see daily... Do I need to explain any further with the kinds of music that glorifies illegitimate sex, soft core and hard core sex movies and programs that are increasingly filling up the satellite stations and internet spaces, the high rate of immoral dress codes in the name of dress to kill to such an extent that we are almost all generally confused as to what "private parts" mean again...

Yes, there are those who regardless of the presence or absence of the aforementioned are still serial rapists but how many are they?

We need practical steps to address the issues of rape in the society beyond this walking on the street everytime a rape occurs shouting "Say No To Rape" as if people actually don't know this already... Even the rapist knows his action is a BIG NO except for the one suffering some form of disorderliness.

When we were justifying premarital sex, when prostitutes were registering themselves as a corporate organization, when idiots were saying "virginity is not dignity but lack of opportunity", when fornication was presented as "mutual consent between two discerning adults", when we kept justifying immoralities... Were we expecting it not to graduate to more serious problems or crimes?

In my view, the issues of rape needs both a religious as well as a societal approach.

The religious centers must be at the forefront in fighting all forms of immoralities starting with immoral dresses, speeches and conducts....

Parents should as a matter of necessity give a robust upbringing to their children... Not leaving the children to this already condemned society to pick non-existent lessons or to the infamous TV stations and Internet which are becoming notorious and intentional for their spread of raw immoralities.

Cases of rape must be taken seriously and addressed speedily.

Penalties for rapists MUST not be less than *Public Death Sentence*.