It seems to me, that we only cherish such an imperishable ideal – Justice – only when we need it ourselves, only when our tears are being described as lies, only when our wails cannot reach the ears of a society which appears to be deaf.
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Rape Myths: Why rape allegations by Shatta Wale and Burnaboy didn't shock us (Pulse Contributor)
Sometimes one wonders if the Ghanaian society cares about justice. It’s very hard to say we do, per the evidence. It seems we will maim, kill and destroy based on all sorts of creeds rather than empathize.
Shatta Wale and Burnaboy
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What I mean by “us” in the heading is the entire Ghanaian society. But within the mass are individuals, some whose pulse may have jolted and shook their heads because of the crass and callous utterances surrounding the incredible revelations by two powerful artistes.
I do not use the word powerful merely.
Shatta Wale didn’t scream Mahama Paper on a political platform in 2016 for nothing. It was not for nothing that this same person was invited to the Jubilee House by President Akufo-Addo eleven months after he won the 2016 elections. No matter what anybody may take him for, Shatta Wale has people who can momentarily be blind and deaf to all reasonable values and ideals that undergirds a cohesive society. Burnaboy, his Nigerian counterpart, whom he traded insults and rape allegations with is even more influential. For such individuals to not just allege but call out names of perpetrators and victims of rape, shows how dire the situation is.
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But days after these two artistes dominated not just social media feeds but mainstream news websites, as usual, their serious allegations are dying off like embers in damp earth.
Only the naïve will be surprised. Every society has hidden myths and assumptions which, most often, derail its humane progress. Our unbending reliance on myths as a society may have stretched a bit too far. Rape myths, which are prejudicial, stereotyped, and false beliefs about sexual assaults, rapists, and rape victims, have prevented many rape victims from seeking justice not to talk of gaining justice. These myths often serve to excuse sexual aggression, create hostility toward victims, and bias criminal prosecution.
There is no intention here to tolerate bias criminal prosecution in any way, not at all, but most rape victims in our society may even relish having their day in court and being biased against. This is a terrible truth because most women, who are sexually assaulted do not have the courage to report their ordeal as a result of the pervasive, sticky, and inhumane influence of these myths on our collective psyche.
These victims will rather open up their traumatic wounds to people close to them instead of reporting it to the police. Why should they avail themselves to ridicule and pain when there is a very slim chance of being heard, a very slim chance of their case being investigated?
The police officer who blames a rape victim, therefore, dismissing the case against the perpetrator because he thinks the victim encouraged her assault, has mythicized the situation and, therefore, cannot be able to deal with the situation rationally.
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Anyone who will allow his heart to cringe, upon hearing a rape case, will be horrified and terrified of a police officer who will instruct a rape victim to rather be aware of the male propensity to cause trauma to the female through rape, than to use all the available resources disposed to him or her to solve such a damaging occurrence. However, to the dismay of many individuals in the mass of our population, these instances are far too many, slanting the scales of justice in favour of criminals.
When no mean a person, but a Minister for Gender and Social Protection attributes rape cases to girls who “wear a short dress,” then you know there is an enormous task ahead to wash up these myths used to explain away the ordeal of rape victims.
When institutions and influential people in a society hold such views, one cannot be romantic about the level of injustice that may be shrouded in the dark. It makes clear why a well-known artiste can laugh away the issue of rape. It explains why the Ghana Police Service has not made a whiff of such an incident. And even makes it abundantly explicit why we are not shaken.
Even though one of the hardest things for anyone, any society, to do, is to analyze and critique itself, if we don’t reassess these myths and assumptions which, largely, have no basis, lives will continue to be destroyed because of this heinous act.
We may not be able to eradicate rape from our society but it can be limited when we thoroughly investigate such issues and not act as if because the perpetrator is a family member of the victim, it is less upsetting; or because we, wrongfully, allow our patriarchal inclinations to blind our humane senses. The shame of a family is not more detrimental than the shame of an individual; the individual makes up the family. If we continue to sacrifice the happiness, peace and tranquility of the individual mind, the family is doomed.
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I still wonder; is 2017 that long a time? Have we forgotten Harvey Weinstein, a former Hollywood producer, is still facing criminal prosecution because of the #MeToo movement?
After 201 men in American Society and many more around the world were brought down as a result of this movement against sexual abuse and harassment, how can we act as if nothing untoward has occurred after the utterances of these two influential artistes?
It is not the intention of the writer to bring anybody down. However, he has every intention to awaken and heighten our dull, blind - whether willful or otherwise - senses towards rape events and victims.
Under the thickset of advocacy and backlash that characterized the #MeToo movement in 2017, American actress Alyssa Milano on October 15, of that year posted on Twitter that, "If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote 'Me too' as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.”
Most men, because of the patriarchal structures they grow under, act in ways that undermine their fellow women. Unless these assumptions are attacked, revealed and dealt with, the problem will persist.
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This essay has been written largely under the assumption of the conventional understanding of the sexes. But as the writer writes, right now, he has randomly read two stories of sexual assault today; one involving a woman who expressed delight after a man who allegedly raped her in 2020 was hacked down. She felt that the justice she never got had been finally served, albeit in a horrendous manner. The other was a boy of 15 who got raped by a man.
No matter our refusal to assess what we were taught about the sexes, about life, which will require a lengthier essay to deal with, (and may even be futile), our society will be more humane, more empathetic, if we evaluate what we think is right, especially when all indications prove that it will serve us best to rethink.
Therefore, it’s crucial for us to reexamine numerous unquestioned rape myths because they significantly influence several individuals in charge of dispensing justice in our courts. The perspectives of jurors, investigative agencies, judges, perpetrators, and victims are affected by these myths. False views about rape leads to victim shaming, blaming, questioning of the victim’s honesty. Determination of the guilt of the accused, and sentencing for sexual crimes, are also influenced by these beliefs.
Isn’t there a deeper and broader problem of us living in a society where the powerful are clearly outside the ambit of the law? How are we living in a democracy when rules apply, largely, and most times, only, to the powerless and marginalized? It’s time this society became a true democracy.
By: Kofi Boateng
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