EDITOR, The Tribune.
Senator Michaela Barnet-Ellis’ renewal of calls to “act now to protect women and children” in The Tribune on May 5, 2022 continues to expose issues of sexual violence in the Bahamas, but are echoed across the globe.
While the examples of sexual offences offered by the Senator speak specifically to women and children, our society ought not dismiss the range of sexual offences committed against men in our country.
Although sexual violence statistics are difficult to obtain in The Bahamas, global proxies still speak to what is likely happening in our country.
For example, RAINN (an anti-sexual violence organisation in the United States) finds that younger people (males and females) age 18-34 are most at risk for sexual assault.
In fact, 54% of sexual assault victims fall in this age group.
Moreover, while society tends to profile the victim of sexual assault as female, RAINN finds that one out of every 10 rape victims is male; and males become five times more likely to experience sexual assault in college than their non-college counterparts.
These statistics are echoed elsewhere.
What is most troubling about the statistics, is that because male rape victims significantly under-report the incidents, the true numbers are likely much higher than the statistics suggest.
The larger point here is that while the Senator calls, narrowly, to “act now to protect women and children”, should we not be calling more broadly to act now to protect everyone?
Realising that these issues are not gender-confined, the Bahamas Crisis Centre, a non-governmental organisation, offers a fantastic programme for men, women, and children who are victims of sexual and domestic violence. Let us call for legislation that protects everyone.
DORIAN D ROLLE
Nassau,
May 5, 2022.
Comments
sheeprunner12 1 year, 11 months ago
One out of ten rape victims are male ....... Can you see why there is a blind spot by everyone??
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