Stop blaming rape victims, says NGO

‘Choice of dressing, intimate behaviour not consent for sexual activity’

PETALING JAYA: A woman will never ask to be raped and to blame her for the crime is a most despicable act, said the Women’s Centre for Change (WCC).

Blaming victims for the crime only perpetuates silence, injustice and promotes rape culture, WCC said yesterday in response to Mara Junior Science College Baling teacher Norazizi Samsudain’s views on rape, recently expressed on Instagram.

Norazizi, in his now-deleted video, disputed an infographic which WCC had posted earlier on social media.

The infographic stated that rapists are the only ones to be blamed for the crime.

But Norazizi blamed the victims for causing rape through their clothing and behaviour, and said a majority of cases involved consensual sexual encounters where women turned around and later accused men of rape.

The video has since garnered over 26,000 signatures for action against him and drew massive online backlash.

WCC programme director Karen Lai said such views were patriarchal in nature and were due in part to a belief in an ideal woman.

“This goes back to ideals that women have to be covered up and so on. It’s stereotypical and patriarchal.

“We have dealt with many real-life victims where even their families blame them by asking them if they had been lustful and seduced the man.

“This kind of stigma compels many victims to suffer in silence instead of reporting the crime,” she told theSun yesterday.

Lai said a woman’s choice of dressing or intimate behaviour was not consent for sexual activity.

“Consent needs to be enthusiastically given. A woman’s dressing or her being friendly is not an act of consent (for sex).

“A woman may also consent to a certain level of intimacy, but this is not an invitation for sexual intercourse,” she said.

WCC pointed out that police statistics consistently indicates that about 80% of rape victims in Malaysia were female children below the age of 18.

“As of 2018, nearly 65% of child rape victims and almost 80% of incest victims were below 15 years old.

“Over 90% of child rapes are committed by trusted family members or friends. Toddlers and babies are not spared. Is it their fault they are raped?”

Lai urged victims to immediately report such cases to the police or at a One-Stop Crisis Centre, a service provided at all government general hospitals in the county.

“Non-governmental organisations such as WCC also provide victims with legal representation all the way up to the courts,” she added.

Lai concluded by saying victims were in need of support and were not to be blamed by people such as Norazizi.

“No woman deserves to be forced or coerced into sex without her consent.”