Say No To Rape!

WE ACT NOW.

TRIGGER WARNING!
The information given and discussed below may be triggering and harmful especially for victims of rape and sexual assault or harassment.

What is STREET HARASSMENT?

Street harassment is the unwanted comments, gestures, and actions forced on someone in a public place without that person’s consent. It is often done by strangers - usually men.

This includes if the person:

whistled or catcalled at you;
made negative comments about your sex, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or sexual identity;
continued to ask for your name, phone number, or other personal information after you’ve said no;
Followed you or stalked you;
Showed you his or her private body parts (“flashing”);
masturbated in front of you;
physically touched you in private areas etc.

Street harassment often falls into the same category as Sexual Harassment.

What is SEXUAL HARASSMENT ?
Sexual harassment occurs when a person makes unwanted sexual advances towards another person or asks that person for sexual favours. It can be physical, verbal, written or visual.

What is SEXUAL ASSAULT ?
Sexual Assault does not only mean rape!
Sexual assault is when a person is coerced or physically forced to engage against their will, or when a person touches another person sexually without their consent.

This includes:
fondling or unwanted touching above or underneath clothing;
rape and attempted rape;
sexual contact with a child etc;


Sexual assault can also be verbal, visual, or non-contact.
It is anything that forces a person to join in unwanted sexual activities or attention. This includes harassment.

This includes:

forcing someone to pose for sexual pictures,
sending someone unwanted texts or “sexts",
voyeurism, or peeping (when someone watches
private sexual acts without consent) etc.

What is the difference between SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT ?
Sexual harassment is a broad term that includes many types of unwelcome verbal and physical sexual attention. Sexual assault refers to sexual contact or behaviour, often physical, that occurs without the consent of the victim. Sexual harassment generally violates civil laws meaning you have a right to work or learn without being harassed - but in many cases is not a criminal act, while sexual assault usually refers to acts that are criminal.

What is RAPE ?
The legal definition of rape is the 'penetration with a penis of the vagina, anus or mouth of another person without their consent'.

What is CONSENT ?
By law, sexual consent occurs when we agree by choice, and have the freedom and capacity to make that choice.

There is NO consent if:
the person is scared or threatened,
the person is asleep or unconscious,
the person has been manipulated,
the person is so intoxicated by alcohol/drugs that
they lack the capacity to consent,
the person is underage.

If the person changes their mind even during sexual intercourse, there is NO MORE CONSENT.
If the person does not fight back,
IT DOES NOT MEAN THERE IS CONSENT.
Just because the person is in a relationship with you,
DOES NOT MEAN THERE IS CONSENT.
What the person is wearing
HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THEIR CONSENT.
A person starting or engaging in a conversation with you
DOES NOT EQUATE THEIR CONSENT.
Just because a person is a sex worker
DOES NOT MEAN YOU CAN ASSUME THEIR CONSENT.
If you had to convince the person to have sex with you,
YOU DID NOT HAVE THEIR CONSENT.

Consent is a simple concept. You do not own anybody's body and you need THEIR PERMISSION to touch THEIR body.

ONLY YES MEANS YES!!

What is Victim Blaming?
Victim Blaming occurs when the burden is placed on the victim instead of the rapist. Victim blaming is disgusting to say the least. Rape is always the rapist's fault, NEVER the person who was raped.

Some examples:
"her skirt was too short"
"she sleeps around anyway"
"she should not have gotten that drunk"
"you should know better than walking alone at night"

STOP BEING A RAPE APOLOGIST.
Rape culture is so deeply rooted in society and victim blaming or making excuses for rapists is a big part of that culture. It must stop.

You are a rape apologist if you defend acts of rape, usually by claiming that rape is not a serious crime or that people do not need to give consent to sex.

AND/OR

You shift the focus from the rapist to the victim through victim blaming.

STOP ENABLING RAPE CULTURE
Rape culture exists in a society or environment in which common social beliefs, attitudes and morals normalise sexual violence, encourage people to associate sex with violence, and minimise the seriousness of sexual violence (Wright, 2015). Within rape culture, sexual violence is accepted, justified and not challenged enough by society (Field, 2004).

The rape culture in Nigeria is evident in every section of our society - our music industry, Nollywood, in our educational system, in our workplaces, in our places of worship etc.
From that entitled man on the side of the road to the forced child marriages, rape culture has been normalized in our society.
.
One in every 4 girls and one in every 6 boys will be sexually assaulted by the age of 18.

Every woman knows someone that has been sexually harassed or assaulted but men claim not to know any rapists or assaulters ? It does not add up. It is not enough to post about it. You must also call your friends out, call strangers out, stop protecting them. You must be actively against rape culture.

Silence is compliance!

THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR RAPE.
THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR EXCUSING RAPE.

UWA.
Her name is Vera Uwaila Omozuwa. She was a 22 year old Microbiology student at the University of Benin. She was raped, assaulted with a fire extinguisher and murdered in her church.

JENNIFER.
Her name is Jennifer. She was 18. A gang of five men raped and murdered her in Kaduna State.

BARAKAT.
Her name is Barakat Bellow. She was 18. On June 2nd, she was raped and stabbed to death by armed robbers.

FARISHINA.
Her name is Farishina. She is 12. She was raped by eleven men.

ADA.
Her name is Ada. She is 13. She was raped by 33 year old man in Enugu North.

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SOURCES:
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/jun/02/and-of-student-in-church-sparks-outrage-across-nigeria
https://www.womenshealth.gov/relationships-and-safety/other-types/harassment
https://www.rainn.org/articles/sexual-harassment
https://rpe.co.nz/what-is-rape-culture/