Trigger Warning: Rape, Sexual Assault, Slut-shaming
What is rape culture? A timely-updates news website, Women Against Violence Against Women (WAVAW) Rape Crisis Centre said,
“Rape culture is a term that was coined by feminists in the United States in the 1970’s. It was designed to show the ways in which society blamed victims of sexual assault and normalized male sexual violence.”
Rape is basically a sensitive topic to discuss in society. It may trigger some people who have bad “memories” related to rape and sexual assault. People who support women’s rights and feminists help the victims to survive. However, the victims have to survive and keep on moving, even they need to deal with their own traumatic experience.
In Indonesia itself, there are some people still think rape is not a serious thing, but it absolutely is. Feminists assume that they have lack of knowledge about how bad rape and sexual assault can affect its victims. In fact, rape and sexual assault can affect its victims physically and psychologically.
There are many short- and long-term effects of rape and sexual assault that affect victims’ mind, body and spirit. Many survivors unwillingly have to experience one or more of these effects. Some of them might get depression issues, such as prolonged sadness, feelings of hopelessness, unexplained crying, changes in appetite with significant weight loss or gain and loss of energy or loss of interest.
Physically, rape and sexual assault can affect the victims, such as bruising, bleeding (vaginal or anal), difficulty walking, soreness, broken or dislocated bones.
Rape and sexual assault can also affect victims’ psychology, such as anger, shock, numbness, loss of control, disorientation, helplessness, sense of vulnerability, fear, self-blame or guilt for “allowing” the crime to happen, and feeling that these reactions are a sign of weakness.
Indonesia has their own social issues related to rape, sexual assault and sexist joke that cannot be separated from its society. Even though there are many feminists in Indonesia who have been working so hard to support women’s rights and stand up for the victims who had terrible experience about it, but there are also some people who are blinded and keep saying that the victims did it coming.
Having lack of knowledge about rape and sexual assault might be the main reason why those people keep blaming the victims. Absolutely, victims did not “want” it coming, I repeat, they did not. Seriously, people need to stop objectifying women and start thinking that women are not an object who easily gets used to satisfy men sexually. Please keep in mind that women are free, independent and safe from getting raped or sexually abused.
Victim blaming in Indonesia is one of the most disgusting issues in the country. Some people assume, “if you don’t want to get raped, then get your entire body parts covered,” or “women who expose their breast cleavage are asking for it.”
In the country, calling someone “cabai-cabaian” (read: girls who are being slutty) is becoming a trend. I have no idea where this trend was started from, but a little thing I know is it’s never going to be okay to slut-shame women. Women have their rights to express themselves without being called as “bitch”, “slut”, or “whore” and you have no rights to judge them as long as they don’t interrupt your own rights. However, people need to stop throwing sexist jokes because those are not funny at all.
But not only women objectification and sexist jokes that have been frequently happened in Indonesia, there are still many rape cases and sexual violence cases exist in the country. According to the National Commission on Violence Against Women (KP), an average of 35 women are victims of sexual violence in Indonesia every day. “But much sexual violence goes unreported, often due to stigma, family and societal pressure. So this could just be the tip of the iceberg,” said Mia Olivia, a KP spokeswoman.
Based on an article from VOA News, rising levels of sexual violence have coincided with a general increase in violence against women, with 321,752 cases reported in 2015, up from 293,220 in 2014. In approximately 70 percent of these incidents, the perpetrator is the victim’s current or former partner.
By reading the data, we know that the number of rape cases and violence against women cases keeps increasing which is so tragic. In the end, Indonesia, those are issues that you are facing now.
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