The scale of rape in the UK, as in the world, is the tip of an ugly iceberg of violence. Rape often comes as part of a package of abuse. Institutional abuse, cultural abuse, domestic abuse. Rape is violence, rape is a tool of warfare, rape is the sick subjugation of the abused by the oppressor and it is not to be tolerated for even one single moment, under any circumstances whatsoever, by any individual, institution or government.
The figures below represent a holocaust. A women's holocaust without end.
- 1 out of every 3 women in the world has been raped, beaten or abused
- 30% of people in the UK think that violence against women is OK.
- 50% think it should be kept behind closed doors
- More than 100 million women are missing from the world's population - a result of discrimination and female infanticide.
- Two thirds of the 774 million adult illiterates worldwide are female
- At least 60 million girls worldwide are forced into marriage before the age of 18.
- An estimated 3 million girls are estimated to be at risk of female genital mutilation each year.
- A third of teenage girls in a relationship suffer an unwanted sexual act.
- A quarter of girls suffer physical violence, such as being slapped, punched or beaten by their boyfriend.
- 1 girl in 16 is raped
- 64% of students know women whose boyfriends or partners have hit them
- 25,000 men in England and Wales move from one relationship to another, serially abusing their partners
Everyone in society is responsible for these figures (from Amnesty International) by either looking away, or feigning blindness. And society will not change until each one of us changes. True equality means real respect. You do not beat or rape a person you respect, and you respect your equals.
We must remove the shame and stigma from rape victims and honour those who are raped. Only by applauding the bravery and resolve of the abused can we turn the tables on these cowardly oppressors.
Rape is the ultimate crime of an unequal world.
Against Violence and Abuse
http://www.avaproject.org.uk/our-resources/statistics/society%E2%80%99s-attitudes-to-violence-against-women.aspx