Rape: A Global Issue

This was my assignment for English 101 Freshman Year 2016 at University of Nebraska Kearney when I was trying to complete my undergrad degree. I could not complete my degree due to my health issues, however, today I present my work for I've always believed in Power of Words in addressing any issue, even if I'm a non-degree holder. Here is my work on Rape: A Global Issue.

 Rape: A Global Issue 

1) “Gang-Raped and Nowhere to Turn” (Odhiambo) , February 16 2016, Kenya- A girl, 16 years, lost her conscious after being raped by more than three men and killed herself after giving birth to a child of an unknown father. 

2) “Pokhara girl murdered for sex denial” (Shrestha), February 8, 2016, Nepal – 19 – year – old was murdered by her friend for denying sex, possibly raped and then murdered. 

3) “Eight-year-old raped” (First post), February 17, 2016, India – the girl was allegedly kidnapped and raped by a youth in Meerganj area, India.

 4) “Former Kearney teacher sentenced to 9 years in prison for having sex with student”, (Lynch and Townsend), January 29, 2016, Kearney– the teacher was sentenced for nine years in Missouri Department of Corrections after he admitted of having sex with a 14-year old student. 

5) “A possible sexual assault was reported to UNK Police” (UNK Alert), January 24, 2016, UNK Alert. Investigation going on. 

I was just trying to find a topic for my research assignment on recent issues, so I searched for “Recent Global Issues” the first result was the first title. The moment I saw the title it saddened me, but I decided to continue with the topic because recently I had heard of a murder case in Nepal for sex denial the second title. Then, I had heard that “India is considered the capital for Rape”, so I searched to see if there were any such recent issues in India, and then searched for Kearney too, to see if it’s an issue in Kearney or not? That resulted in the third and fourth title. And I remember that there was a UNK Alert for a possible sexual assault may be a month back when our spring session started the fifth title. So, these all resulted in tons of questions in my mind: Is women safe in any corner of the world? Whose fault is it? Why would someone rape anyone? Does women rape men? Who are the victims and what could be done to prevent such action? 

Rape is a big word and a very big issue which has continued over the past 100 years if I may say or at least since I’ve heard the word “RAPE” and its meaning. In a country like Nepal, even though there is some awareness now in the city area, some people still consider it shameful to ask for justice if someone’s been raped, in the rural areas or even in some city areas. They prefer to keep it secret because they think it’s the fault of the victim that they got raped. Recently, I came across a Youtube video (Sapkota, Chetan) interview of a teenage girl who had been raped by her own father and grandfather. When she asked for justice her mother scold her and beat her to keep her silent so that the society would not know about the incident. 

According to the girl who got raped by her grandfather, she did not know she was raped or sexually abused as a child until she studied in her school. I believe there are millions of other such stories where such crimes are hidden due to lack of education. But these misconduct is not just common in developing or underdeveloped countries. This seem to be recognized even in the developed countries like United States, though it might not be in high rate as it is in other countries, it does exist. That brings me to the conclusion that Rape could not just be the result of lack of education. Lack of Awareness? Could be! 

What then drives men to Rape? Trying to find an answer to it I came across this article “Why do men rape women” (Radwan). The author states: “In many cases the rapper (rapist) is just a person who is trying to reach a completely different unconscious goal while believing that he is just satisfying his sexual desire.” The author has six such psychological reasons such as, “Dealing with rejection”, “Feeling superior to women”, “Expression of power”, “Revenge”, “Compensation”, “Regaining control”.

 According to these theory, a man could become a rapist if he sees another girl who is similar in character to the girl who rejected him so to take the revenge or if he has a boss who is comparatively more commanding and professional, happen to be a woman and makes him feel inferior so in order to satisfy himself or prove his superiority or just to prove his manhood. Well these reasons do not make sense to me at all, but it makes me feel that the rapist is a mentally sick person. If it’s a mental problem then there should be solution such as counselling, therapy, a prevention. We could not just make an excuse that he is sick and let him rape. 

But wait, what does the rapist had to say about their action. “Rapist Explain Themselves on Reddit, and We Should Listen.” (Baker):

 “She ran to my bed and didn’t want me to touch her. I didn’t understand what had happened.” 

 “Most girls don’t really understand how horny guys are, how much stronger guys are, how guys will rationalize what they do. I see feminists and women on the Internet saying that no means no and women should be able to get as drunk as they want and not be sexually assaulted, and I couldn’t agree me. But the reality of the situation is that women needs to be careful because guys are one way when they’re hanging out and another when they’re horny or worse drunk and horny. That doesn’t make what happened okay, but it is what it is.”

 “I’m a good man. …..If I hadn’t looked up at her face and seen what she was feeling, I might have continued. In my mind, at the time, she wanted it. … It was then I looked at her face. She was petrified. I at that point pulled myself together, rolled off her and apologized. My hormones were RAGING. I asked her why she didn’t want to. I told her what I thought. She started to cry.” 

These explanations just scare me. Nothing can be implied. How can somebody say she wanted it just by looking at her dress, behavior, or what she talks about! Doesn’t it bring to the same old conclusion that it’s the responsibility of women that they don’t provoke men? Are just women responsible for their safety? How are we supposed to know what provokes men, again, isn’t that restricting women from doing what they want to do? Doesn’t it question the right to equality between men and women?” And I believe that it’s not just the women who are the victims of sexual assault or rape. Men are also the victims but because of the shame, the news of them being victimized is very less known to the people. 

So, what could abolish this problem from the root? Could it be the social norms and values that would teach a guy to respect women’s decision and vice versa? Could a death penalty help stop this problem? Or should there be some proper counselling sessions for people who have such intentions or for everyone, as it seems like a misconception too. Self-defense lessons could just stop one person from attacking but I think a proper guidance, awareness and training in the early age regarding rape, sex abuse, respecting other decisions would prevent a lot of other crimes from happening and also aware people of their activity. I would rather say “Act Responsibly” for both men and women. I don’t want to restrict women from doing what they want to do but they should be aware of the situation. The change takes time, but it would be inviting danger to say I would act as I want to in place where people still consider women as a child producing machine. Also, for men just because she is available does not mean it’s a yes. 

I believe, Rape has a lot to do with un-education, un-awareness, misconception and much more. So, the better way to solve this problem is through proper education where it’s not that its taught in general but explained well about “what is it?”, “why is it wrong?”, “how to control such situation?”, “how to communicate well?” so that people don’t have such misconception. Many of times like in my country Nepal, because it’s such a sensitive issue, even though they give us education, the information is kind of vague or not clear. People don’t talk about these issues openly and as a result many of times they are either unaware that they are doing wrong or un aware that they are being treated wrong. I believe many of times even educated people get involved in such crimes because they don’t realize that it’s wrong. 

“Prevention is better than cure”, A strong punishment or penalty could lessen the crime but an awaken mind could stop him/her from doing wrong.   

Work Citation 

Baker, Katie J.M. “Rapist Explain Themselves on Reddit, and We Should Listen.” Jezebel. July 27, 2012. Web. February 17, 2016. 

“Eight-year-old raped.” First Post India. February 17, 2016. Web. February 17, 2016. 

Lynch, Andrew, and Townsend, Robert. “Former Kearney teacher sentenced to 9 years in prison for having sex with student.” Fox 4 News. January 29, 2016. Web. February 17, 2016.

Odhiambo, Agnes. “Gang-Raped and Nowhere to Turn.” Inter Press Service, News Agency. February 16, 2016. Web. February 17, 2016. 

Radwan, M. Farouk. “Why Do Men Rape Women” 2 Know Myself. Web. February 17, 2016. 

Sapkota, Chetan “Nepali Girl who was raped by her dad Pooja Karki.” Youtube. October 1, 2014. Web. January 29, 2016. 

Shrestha, Hari Kumar. “Pokhara Girl Murdered for Sex Denial.” Nepal Mountain News. February 8, 2016. Web February 17, 2016. 

UNK Alert. “A possible sexual assault was reported to UNK Police.” Message to UNK students. January 24, 2016. E-mail and Text Message. 

When I was doing this topic, I felt this topic very important and sensitive, so I wanted to do research in it and get a lot of information. But this topic is so vast that, I felt it would be very difficult for me to bring so much of information and limit them within 4-5 pages. I tried to highlight as many informations as I could, but it was little difficult to bring so much of information, analyze them and have an opinion to those research. Hence after the first draft I thought of limiting the topics to be covered.


This was my assignment but at the same time I worked hard to do the research. And these research and articles had put an impact on my head. The rapist we call, the criminals we call were not so until they commited the crime! Which mean those action could have been prevented! Their lack of consciousness to take right action at right time lead them to being criminals. All issues on earth could be prevented if there is right flow of information. Right actions taken at right time.

We all are in dilemma, confusion, or in situations where we have no idea what we are doing and one wrong step in such state and our life changes forever! While some of our mistakes are not life threatening to people , there are some of those which are life threatening. If at those state those motives to harm someone were known, if in those situations those plans and ideas to do something wrong to someone were revealed may be the person dealing with those ideas could have been counseled or explained why it is wrong and maybe he could have been saved from being a criminal.
Can we save someone from being a criminal or committing a crime ?