We have heard it before. How a woman can suffer the most disgusting and horrifying thing. And how the men who commit the acts get off scot-free. The woman is the one who is punished – with the shame.
Rape is used as a tool during wars. A bullet wound to the leg or shoulder create (awful) physical marks but the psychological damage which rape creates is more effective for the culprit. The evil takes root in the soul and destroys the person from within.
– Rape is neither cultural nor sexual. It is criminal, said Margot Wallström during The Swedish Forum for Human Rights at Kulturhuset in Stockholm, Tuesday 15/11.
Wallström held a lecture together with representatives from Sida and UN Women, about how women and children are treated during a war. During the lecture, they say that the men who commit these crimes should be brought to justice, a difficult thing to accomplish as there is rarely any proof. This means they can systematically violate others without fear of punishment. They also noted that it is important to work with the men, something I agree with.
Work with the men who do commit rape but also the large majority who doesn’t. Men are sometimes forgotten, those who don’t commit crimes. Men are lumped together as “the evil ones” in war torn areas. Places us Swedes don’t have any contact with.
I think it’s much more important to bring forth role models and publicly work with the matter. This goes for warring countries as well as Sweden and it’s much more important than lumping the masses together.
Elizabeth Granqvist for RealStars