Rape is not something we talk about face to face. It seems to be the number 1 taboo topic in cultures far and wide in the world, regardless of race or religion. With the awareness and sanctity of our bodies there is an unspoken expectation that others will be aware of it and respect it too, even though we know Life isn’t like that. The inherent inequality of power, both physical and societal, of men over women makes this the taboo that we face day after day. It took centuries to accept that rape can exist in marriage. Women, and sometimes men too, accept providing sexual favours in return of access to basic necessities such as water or even a job or a promotion. When these occurrences come to light, it is often the victim that is blamed, not the aggressor; likely acknowledging the power they used to commit the atrocity.
Religious texts struggle with the issue, and even in countries where there is legal protection against rape, the police are often ill-equipped to deal with the cases. The wrong questions are asked, uncovering evidence can be tricky and even when there is plenty, the judicial system tends to go easy on the rapist, depending on their cultural background. With the recent revival of feminism and feminist values the scales occasionally tipped in favour of the victim but even news outlets tend to treat such victims as signs of a society that is too lenient towards women, painting the females as aggressors and the aggressors as victims. Needless to say neither of these serve a good purpose and a quality outcome. Against such a background where public opinion is either dismissive or hostile to the idea of rape, where the executive branch of the government is incapable of professionally dealing with the fact of rape, the legislative branch is wishy-washy about creating effective laws and the judiciary fails to fairly deal with it, it’s no surprise that we cannot have constructive conversations about the issue. Neither rape itself nor the false accusations.
Such a systemic failure has just been brought to light with the case of Liam Allan, where the police failed to disclose evidence that supported Allan’s case against a false accusation. It could have easily sent an innocent man to prison for 12 years, right at the beginning of his life after which he would have had very little hope of rebuilding it. The failed case meant that the Crown Prosecution Service has been forced to drop hundreds of rape cases because of failure of disclosure. This will admittedly save many men but will also delay justice for many more women. The CPS insists that the justice system is working but I find that very hard to believe against all the evidence.
ansteall 