THE EVIL CALLED RAPE AND HOW TO PREVENT IT

Rape is one of the social vices that we have to deal with today. It is not in any way new but lately it has been on the rise. The victims of rape being mostly teenage girls, closely followed by young adults and then children. Rape has varied reactions across different countries and the causes of rape has been constantly argued, postulated and updated. In the United States, where the recorded cases of rape are the highest, rape has been attributed to drugs, alcohol consumption, over exposure to pornography and sexually explicit materials, the act of masochism, sexual exposure and pop culture. While in a country like South Africa which also ranks high in reported cases vis a vis unreported cases, rape or jack rolling (gang rape ) has been attributed to societal beliefs, recreational amusements, peer pressure, poor law enforcement and punishments for culprits and a watered down legal definition of rape in Sweden. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, it is used as a weapon of war, to psychologically damage and pique unworthiness and self loathe. Societal and religious pressures has been cited as the major case in India, where pre-marital sex is frowned upon. Whatever the case, a victim would most likely not be concerned about the cause of a potential rape but would be more concerned about how to protect one’s self from it and how to come up out of it.

Nevertheless, it is pertinent to note that there are three kinds of rapist.
1. The anger rapist; who wants to inflict pain, cause harm and punish the victim using rape.
2. The power rapist; who derives a kind of self validation similar to bullies in rape, he sees the oppression and control of the victim as a kind of reassurance of dominion , strength, vigour, mastery and authority and,
3. The sadist rapist, who has been wired mostly by pornographic materials, abuse and other internal influences to derive sexual satisfaction from rape.

A single person may fall into this three categories at a time, as the rapist might have overlapping interests in rape. In a single act of rape, a rapist might move from one form to the other depending on the prevailing circumstances.
Also the greatest misconception about rape is that they are perpetuated by strangers. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics in the United States, 38% of victims were raped by a friend or acquaintance, 28% by "an intimate" i.e a lover and 7% by another relative, and 26% were committed by a stranger to the victim. About four out of ten rape incidences take place at the victim's own home.

Now the main question is how do you prevent yourself from being a victim of a rapist.

1. Mind Work.

You have to condition your mind to not be a victim. If the above write up scared the hell out of you or you live in an environment where you have been filled with the fear of rape. There is a high unstatistically proven chance that you would fall a victim. It just works like that, the things we fear are constantly in a state of strong attraction to us. You are not supposed to be in fear because of your knowledge, your knowledge is supposed to equip you , giving you a better chance of avoiding the incidence.

2. Setting boundaries:

Boundaries are to be set with the opposite sex and even same sex. Discussions on explicit sexual topics might send the wrong signals to potential rapist. Undue flirtatiousness might also not be taken casually but might be seen as a chance to take advantage. Knowing that 40% of rape cases are perpetuated in the victim’s home by people close to the victim, it is not advisable to be alone even in your home. A dog comes in handy here.

3. Awareness:

You have to be alert all times, don’t get distracted by technology such as iPods or phones. Distracted people are more often more likely to be taken advantage of than people who are seemly alert, walking along with confidence. When entering your house, room , be sure to ensure that no one is trailing you, as you can easily be pushed into your own room, or house and be raped. Make eye contacts with people who you believe are breaking into your personal space or are too close for comfort.

4. Understand the Environment:

The causes of rape vary from one environment to another, same as the manner of rape. Understanding the prevailing reasons and methods of sexual abuse would go a long way in protecting yourself in that environment. In areas where gang rape carried out by teenage boys are common , being alone or being lured by boys to meet with others should be greatly avoided, avoiding foot paths where such boys are more likely to operate would also be advisable. The cause and method of rape is peculiar to each environment, understanding this would go a long way in protecting one self from rape. For example there is a belief common in South Africa that sexual intercourse with a virgin will cure a man of HIV or AIDS, this automatically puts a young girl at risk in an environment where such fallacies are believed.

5. Trusting your gut instincts:

We all have an inner voice and instinct that tells us someone is lying or something is about to go wrong. Don’t ignore it, once it comes , get out of that area or space immediately until the gut instincts subsides. It is better for it to be a false alarm than for you to regret not doing anything about it.

6. Dressing:

The way and manner of one’s dressing might also make one susceptible to rape more often than none. Even when you are in your own home, wearing loose ,skin exposing materials might not go down well with the sexually, uncontrollable potential rapist living in the same house with you. Going out to deliver the trash with an overly exposed Pajamas might also be asking for trouble. Overly sexual outfits are usually worn by celebrities who have guards and entourage as against a single female. Dressing goes a long way in exposing you to rape. Another very crucial thing to note about dressing is to wear clothes that are very difficult to loosen, it is better to wear something that would not be easily taken off by an attacker.

7. Online hook ups:

This has led to the death of teen girls in recent times, the growing use of social media for hooking up and meeting has also increased the danger of rape, assault and abuse. It is 10 times easier for someone you met online to take advantage, as the fear of being caught , traced or punished is greatly reduced. Keep in mind that everything you read or are told about an online personality is unverifiable. He is neither even black, nor wears blue shirts or any shirts at all, he has a shovel though.

8. Being vigilant at parties:

If you are the type that attend late night parties, or any party where heavy drinking goes on, you should be sure to go with someone who would not be a fish like you or control your urges to gulp down enough alcohol to inhibit your senses and make you foolish. Alcohol is one of those things in life that is highly permissible after the attaining the age of eighteen but not beneficial. Most importantly you have to be avoid leaving your drinks unguarded as that might result in you being drugged or date raped. Drinking alcohol increases your chances of being raped. A study once revealed that in 47% of rapes, both the victim and the perpetrator had been drinking. In 17%, only the perpetrator had been. 7% of the time, only the victim had been drinking. Rapes where neither the victim nor the perpetrator had been drinking were 29% of all rapes .Once you discover that you are losing touch of reality and conscious while drinking , call someone who can help you quick or you would be gone.

9. Fight for live:

If you find yourself in a situation where you are about to be raped, fight for your live, bite, scream , throw things, fight back. Don’t be overpowered, it’s your life, fight for it.When a rapist puts his hands up to you, grab the first two fingers and bend them back as far as possible with as much pressure pushing down on them as possible till the fingers snap or the attacker falls on his knees.The elbow is the strongest point on your body. If you are close enough to use it, do it.Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping, eating, working, etc., and just sit (doing their checkbook, or making a list, etc.) DON'T DO THIS! The rapist will be watching you, and this is the perfect opportunity for him to get in on the passenger side, put a gun to your head, and tell you where to go. AS SOON AS YOU CLOSE the DOORS, LEAVE. If the attacker gets into the car with you and orders you to drive off, go ahead and drive into a tree or telephone pole, the rapist would surely flee after that.

10. Playing along:

If you find yourself in a situation where you are about to be raped, it is often advised to yell and scream. That might alert people but in some cases, it is better to act like you are playing along, act helpless and mask your fear. The rapist expects you to scream and fight back and chances are that he would be prepared for that, he might even hurt you in trying to calm you down, also if he is a sadist rapist, the screams would also help in arousing him and motivating him to get what he wants. In this case playing along would calm them down and in most cases serve as a disappointment. When they are calm , then you act. You can never go wrong with vital organs, the balls, the reproductive organ, eyes, nose. Aim to knock out the attacker, not to defend yourself. Get out of self defense, move into the realm of attack. Don’t hit once and run, because you would be chased and if you are caught the second time, it might be fatal. Instead let the attacker run away from you, while you leave physical assault evidences on them for future identification. Anything with you can be a weapon, a pen, a blade, a shoe, if it is well used. You have to be in a right state of mind here, devoid of all fear and seize your life back.One woman once used the underarm pinch on a guy who was trying to date rape her, she broke through the skin and tore out muscle strands ,the guy needed stitches.

11. Scouts:

Joining a scouts or alert group might also be helpful against rape, where you carry a whistle and other objects for defense against a rapist.

12. Rape Aggressive Defense:

Don't stop till a bone snaps. There are a lot of RAD coaching for youths out there, all you need to do is find one, if you live in a country where there is none, you can always go on YouTube and acquaint yourself of how to protect yourself from rape. Here is one.

13. Mind dribble:

This method involves telling the rapist that you either have a deadly disease like AIDS, have a demonic oppression transmittable by sex, that you are pregnant or are not a virgin in cases where people believe that virgins cure AIDS for example. The rapist may not believe but most times they withdraw to be on the safe side. Whatever you say, it must be believable

14. Rape Axe:

Desperate times calls for desperate measures and so civilization has finally caught up with rapist, as a woman in South Africa, a country with one of the highest rape statistics in the world has designed a device known as a Rape Axe. This device that looks just like a condom has internal spikes that would attach to the flesh of the rapist and can only be removed surgically. Talk about remarkable evidence. It goes further to say on the site that if men can use their bodies as a weapon of attack , it is time for women to do the same. This instrument however only tackles male- female rape , but it is still a remarkable development as male-female rape is the most common.

15. Society Harnessing Equipment (SHE):

This is yet another Technological invention by some Indian Engineering Undergraduates in India, another high risk state as far as rape is concerned to prevent Rape. This is though in it's testing stages and critics say it has a lot of pitfalls. This equipment is like a bra worn around the breasts which has pressure sensors which would then release a jolt (about 82 shocks) upon the application of pressure around the breasts. The wearer is however insulated from the jolts. The design however assumes that the woman would first be groped on her breasts. The source of the Electric shock however is still unclear.

STAY ALERT AND SAY NO TO MOLESTATION ALL!!!!!!! A REAL MAN HAS ZERO TOLERANCE FOR RAPE!!!!!