There was a chilling story on Checkpoint tonight (hopefully up in podcast form here sometime soon) about the sentencing of a man found guilty of raping a 12 year old girl. She and a friend had posed as prostitutes, got into this man's car, and then tried to escape. One did, the other didn't. Both their lives were ruined as a result.
I don't want to go into too much detail, because I'm aware that this kind of thing can be triggering. You can read the Herald article about the sentencing judge's comments if you want more detail.
I was impressed that in the Checkpoint interview they looked not only at the actions, both prior and subsequent, of the victim, but also detailed the total lack of remorse from the rapist, and spoke to spokespeople from both ECPAT and Rape Crisis (aka Rape Prevention Education). They talked about the need to end the demand for sex with children, rather than falling into the trap of asking why the child was on the street, where were the parents, why did the Government legalise prostitution etc.
Because ultimately those who should take responsiblity for the rape of children, whether they are posing as prostitutes or not, are the rapists; the people who want to have sex with children, and the people who want to have sex regardless of whether the other person is consenting or not. Children are simply not capable of consent, whether they are sex workers or otherwise. They should be absolutely and without exception sexually off limits in the mind of any adult.
No one asks for rape, ever.
1 comment:
This is a horror story. What kind of man rapes a 12 year old girl(let alone a woman of any age I should add, although there is something especially sickening about her age)?
What I found even more horrific were the comments on Kiwiblog about this, along the lines of "where were the parents?", "kids need discipline" and "the Prostitution Law Reform Act is responsible". It was the whole blame the victim mentality, as if the breakdown of "family morals" was responsible for someone's violent perversion.
I find the profound ignorance and prejudice really disturbing.
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