Zimbabwe First Lady’s rape stance defies logic
WOMEN are to blame for rape. That’s official. Pronounced thus by no less an authority than a First Lady whose husband wants to castrate supposedly innocent rapists and whose daughter was raped and lost her virginity (though not according to her mother).
"If you are raped, it’s your fault," said Zimbabwe’s First Lady, Grace Mugabe. "You walk around wearing miniskirts displaying your thighs and inviting men to drool over you, then you want to complain when you have been raped? It’s unfortunate because it will be your fault."
Her "disapproval of miniskirts" is reportedly "well-known". She castigated then vice-president Joice Mujuru for wearing a short skirt, thereby "trying to seduce a man".
"Wear clothes like Mai Mugabe or you can choose a trousers, but not those which are too tight. Those clothes are signs of moral decadence."
According to a retort by @Frozenbubblez in the Twittersphere firestorm unleashed by Grace, "Grandmothers are raped daily ... and they wear no miniskirts."
Grace’s pro-rape sympathies are thought to have encouraged a group of taxi rank touts who "attacked and stripped a young woman, accusing her of inappropriate dressing". By the grace of Grace Mugabe, temptation absolves criminals and victims cause crimes. By Grace’s disgraceful logic, being rich causes theft, being weak causes assault, being Muslim causes Islamophobia, being gay causes homophobia, being black causes racism, and being Jewish causes antisemitism.
Failure to support her political party is also said to legitimise rape. According to the Guardian "Rape is being used as a political weapon by ... President Robert Mugabe’s militia (who are) forcing young women to be their concubines with impunity." Human rights workers and church groups reported "allegations of politically motivated rape against opposition supporters" and say that "victims across Zimbabwe accuse the ruling party of sex crimes and torture".
Zimbabwe’s Human Rights Forum "reported seven cases of politically motivated rape in 2002, 58 murders and 1,061 cases of torture. But the reported rapes, verified by medical examinations and interviews, are just the tip of the iceberg."
Rape, how to minimise it and what to do when it happens, like every perversion, is a complex matter. According to social science feminist Camille Paglia, rape is an innate male impulse. Yet it was a capital crime carrying the death penalty in SA and still does elsewhere in the pre-feminist "male dominated" world. According to Paglia, the ever-expanding definition of rape — to include what used to be lesser crimes such as indecent assault and sexual harassment — trivialises extreme and violent penetrative rape. Regardless of its definition or what victims wear, rape is unconscionably criminal.
That women should be free to wear whatever they wish (short of common law public indecency) is not debatable among civilised people. That alone does not help risk-averse women decide what to wear. We are legally free to leave our homes unlocked, our keys in our unlocked cars, our valuables on restaurant tables and our cellphones on park benches. We are free to walk alone in dangerous alleys, swim in treacherous waters, play with deadly snakes, and leap from cliffs. La joie de vivre, living on the wild side and sailing close to the wind do not legitimise crime. As Women’s Legal Centre lawyer Sanja Bornman observes: "To blame a woman’s outfit ... is blaming the victim (and promotes) rape culture."
The reckless tempting of criminals does not make them innocent. It might, in extreme cases, allow mitigation of sentence. Regardless of real or alleged temptation, perpetrators, not victims, are blameworthy. Although that which is lawful is not always advisable, and freedom is our right to be wrong, justice and liberty entitle women, including Grace Mugabe, to wear what they wish.
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