ACCRA, Ghana – Saturday, June 6, 2020/ https://africanpostonline.com/—There has been a series of arguments and mindsets to justify the reason why a man or a woman can rape. But the truth is that rape or sexual harassment has no excuse but only in exception of someone who can be declared by a psychiatric to have a mental illness and judged accordingly by a court of competent jurisdiction. Meaning, the person may have acted out of his or her mind.
However, this article addresses the issue of a sound and a reasonable person who rapes.
Chapter Six of the Criminal Offences Act of Ghana, 1960 (Act 29), as amended by Section 11 of the Criminal Code Amendment Act 1998 (Act 554), covers nine sexual offences: rape; defilement; carnal knowledge of an idiot, imbecile or mental patient; indecent assault; unnatural carnal knowledge; incest; householder permitting defilement of a child; procuration; and seduction or prostitution of a child under 16 years.
Section 98 of Act 29 defines rape as a person having carnal knowledge of a female of not less than sixteen years without her consent.
According to Section 99 of Act 29, carnal knowledge is complete upon proof of the least degree of penetration of the vagina by a penis.
Forcing access to a person body without consent is not just having physical access but psychologically and spiritually in a painful manner.
One day, on my way from work with three familiar guys I gave a lift, we saw a lady who was mentally ill walking the road.
Koo commented by stating that, her mini skirt and spaghetti top will attract men to rape her and she would complain.
Selik jumped in to tell us that she is mentally ill. He added that the lady was a prostitute and still acts like coming from work early morning just as she used to do when she closes.
I engaged the men by asking a simple question.
Will you be able to rape her? They all quickly answered cheekily, no! I was shocked and asked why? She is attractive like you said Koo and with her mini-skirt and spaghetti that reveals her body. Why? I asked again.
One said she is mentally ill and another added that she was a prostitute too. Then they all said, “but I can’t rape a woman.” “There are so many girls we can always have.” Another added.
I smiled and said, did you guys realised that rapist choose a target and don’t just rape anyone. Majority of the rapist cannot rape a mentally ill woman because they believe she is unclean or spiritually possessed especially in our part of the world.
Most people believe that mental illness is associated with evil spirits possing a person. So most people believe that men or women who rape mentally ill people seek black magic or witchcraft powers.
Rapist picks a target and calculates the steps they will take to perpetrate such evil.
They feel they can do and get away with it. They underestimate the damages caused to the victims and the consequences of their actions. They feel entitled and audacious to commit rape because society doesn’t chastise men (men rape more) enough when they have multiple partners, cheat in a relationship, sexually harass a woman or use diminishing words on a woman.
Rape is easily justified in a society where women are labelled as cheap, easy, nasty and so on, just because they have intimacy with the opposite partner. These words help rapist defend their actions and society applauds them.
You see, even though the mentally ill woman dressed in a way society labels as revealing and likely to get a man in a sexual mood to rape her, the guys gave reasons why she will not be a choice.
So we have now concluded that dressing cannot be an excuse for rape. Anytime a woman is raped and the issue of dressing suffixes, then it becomes an element validating rape. Trust me, a rapist would not want to be raped no matter his ways of life or dressing.
Children and babies are defiled, nuns, women who wear hijabs and elderly women are raped too. More women have been raped despite being decently dressed according to the standard of decent dressing accepted by our society. The problem is the mentality of the rapist and not the victim.
I continued by asking the guys if they believe that women don’t get attracted to a man’s body? Women do! However, women are thaught to respect men and view them as stronger. Consequently, urging women not to feel entitled to a man’s body no matter how attractive he looks.
Men must be educated to respect and support women. They must be educated to understand that they are not entitled to a woman’s body no matter how they look.
But unfortunately, families and friends including victims of rape will prefer to keep rape a secret because of discrimination and ridicule in society. Sometimes, people prefer to settle rape cases out of court. The out of court settlement of rape cases must not become a precedent anymore in our society if we are serious with enforcing the law on rape and stoping it.
We must intensify our education on rape and stop accepting the obnoxious excuses rapist give. Parents, schools, and churches must join the campaign to stop rape and support victims.
Source: By Renate Dzodzomenyo – African Post Online
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Renate is a lawyer, publicist, and writer. She believes that education and information is the key to developing and shaping Africa. In her free time, she paints beautiful art pieces on canvas. Renate believes that life is a perception, and you live it the way you perceive it.
