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Recently, I read an article about how the age of rapists has decreased as of yet.
In the U.K., two ten year old boys were charged with raping and eight year old girl, an eight year old boy became the youngest person to be accused of committing rape, and six years ago a 12 year old boy became the "youngest-known rapist after he was convicted of attacking a nine-year-old girl". He was 11 when he committed the crime.
So what is so wrong that these kids, who probably don't even understand what rape or sex is, that they would rape young girls?
The sad reality is, we live in a society that's messed up the meaning of rape. It's common place to hear kids in my highschool joke about "raping" someone last night or something along those lines.
Further, a recent Cosmopolitan artice featured the issue of "gray rape", the supposed "New Kind of Date Rape". The article tells the story of a girl who was date raped, but isn't sure if anyone else would call it that. Despite her saying "no" (apparently too softly) and having the reaction of a rape victim.
Of course, the only thing that could possibly categorize this as the supposed "gray rape" would be the fact that the woman who was raped felt that she was too empowered to be a victim.
As Jessica Valenti points out in her book The Purity Myth,
There are probably many more instances rape being misinterpreted and misunderstood, and that just furthers the point that the society we live in doesn't truly understand the gravity of how rape affects a person, and what it truly is. It isn't about sex, it isn't a thing that can have a gray area, rape is something that doesn't just violate the body, but the very soul of a person.Of course, many women don't call their assaults rape, for myriad reasons -- pehaps because of the shame and stigma attached to sexua assault, or maybe they shy away from the word because they don't want to admit something so awful happened to them. But whatever the reason, it doesn't change the reality of what happened-- it doesn't change the fact that someone raped them.
So what can the generation of today do about this? How can we stop ten year olds from assaulting young girls? (That's not to say that society is completely to blame for the rapes, but it is a contributing factor.)
Well, first off, comprehensive sex ed is necessary in schools so that kids can be taught how to identify rape, and how to say no. Most importantly, though, an understanding of rape needs to be reached, so people can know that joking about "raping" your friend last night is not funny nor okay.
The younger generations can accomplish this, and hopefully within the new decade.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/dec/16/boys-charged-rape-london
http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/tips-moves/new-kind-of-date-rape
