EDITORIAL: Curbing The Menace Of Rape

The rising spate of rape in modern societies has virtually turned sexual harassment and molestation into a scourge. Animal instincts, which have tended to take the better of perpetrators, have crossed bounds and divides; such that victims and culprits belong to any age grade, social status, class and caste. Homes have lost their auspicious roles as place of safety. Schools are not spared, as they are now disasters-in-waiting; while religious centres have shed their symbolic spots as places of refuge. In all these places, and among all classes of people, the heinous crimes of rape, sexual molestation and harassment stink to high heavens.  

Psychoanalysis, as a special field in Psychology and Psychotherapy succinctly captures the theories of personality and the self concept within the framework of the connections among patient’s unconscious mental processes. That specialty, in Sigmund Freud’s perspective, views the working of the human mind, the instigators and elicitors of acts and behaviours in three dimensions: the Id, the Ego, and the Superego; where the same theory views ‘libido’ as the urge, drive or mental energy behind the instincts of behavior. The concept is not restricted in context to sexual urge. However, libidinal urge could be premeditated to have taken the better of the person who engages in sexual pervasiveness of any kind.

The rate at which sexual deviation takes toll on the society of today requires that some checks be put in place. Rampant incidence of sexual decadence suggests that most people today operate in the unconscious, being driven grossly by the impulsive component of their personality; hence, are dominated by the Id. The Ego sieves, mediates and rationalizes and attempts to justify whatever acts (moral or immoral); even the ones that are most socially unacceptable; while the Superego, which is the component of the mind that is supposed to moderate and put behaviours in check, appear to be grossly elusive.

Rampant cases of acts of sexual deviation call for proper checks in behaviours, appropriate guidance and modifications. In other words, aside punitive measures for offenders, set as deterrence to others, we require a body of laws, programmes in enlightenment as well as specific codified patterns of acceptable behaviours to be inculcated in youths in particular to stem the sad tide of sexual offences in our societies.

The events of rape and other cases witnessed today suggest that perpetrators are mostly mentally and emotionally deranged. However, most victims are equally guilty and culpable (if not more culpable) than the culprits. A young lady who dresses carelessly or indecently, exposes the erotic parts of her body or makes risky plunges into adventures with the opposite sex, has nominated herself as easy prey to sexual harassment or molestation.