Rape as a Social Problem

The visual images below tell the horrific tales of rape victims. These images were obtained from the internet and explain the social menace of rape in society.

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Figure 1. (Raiola, 2016)

This image shows that rape can happen to anyone. As shown in the picture, a woman is sexually assaulted by her boyfriend. Based on her account, she explains that it was on prom night when she got raped. She was tired and wanted to go home, but her boyfriend kept insisting that they mess around for that was the whole point of the prom night, and it was her obligation to submit to her. However, she felt manipulated, and she had to give in out of no option.

Figure 2. (Raiola, 2016)

Most people believe that rape only happens to women. But this image shows that even men are vulnerable. As shown, the man was harassed in the locker room by his friend who after that threatened him of untold consequences if he ever told anyone of what happened. The image also shows that rape victims are intimidated and threatened to ensure that the culprits remain silent.

Figure 3. (Raiola, 2016)

The picture shows that rape can happen anywhere. Contrary to popular belief that people are more venerable to rape in some areas than others, sexual assault can occur at any place and time. In this picture, the rape victim explains that she lost her virginity when she was in middle school. She was given drinks, and after that, she could not comprehend what happened. However, based on pieces of what she can remember she was forced to have sex by the friend.

Figure 4. (Raiola, 2016)

The image shows that rape can occur when we least expect it. The picture shows a rape victim who got assaulted on her way from work. She was walking late at night when a gang of men approached her, they threw her on the ground, took off her clothes and raped her repeatedly.

Figure 5. (Raiola, 2016)

The image tells the story of the unwillingness of the victim to participate in sexual activities. For a sexual encounter to qualify as rape, the victim must be unwilling. On the other hand, rape can happen to people of the same sexuality as opposed to popular belief that it must be a person assaulting someone from the opposite sex.

From the above analysis, I have learned that rape is an unfortunate event that makes the victim feel used and worthless. It is psychologically depressing to the survivor as they do face painful emotions. I have also learned that people respond to trauma differently, and the effects of rape can have a short or long term impact depending on the victim, and thus physical and emotional support is vital to help the survivors cope and move on with their lives. The physical effects of rape include painful penetration, sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancy and fibroids. Similarly, the psychological effects include post-traumatic stress disorder, changes in trusting people, depression, sleep disorders, guilt, creates a feeling of being powerless and suicidal thoughts (Clark, 2017). In this analysis, I have learnt that during the trial, the rape survivors are denied privacy and their credibility may be challenged. The society also has a fair share of the blame as the people tend to isolate the victims and limit the interaction that they have with them. When conducting this research, I was able to obtain a vast database of rape stories from credible academic sources, and I decided to present my visual narrative from an educational point of view rather than displaying horrifying images of the act that would only advance terror. Therefore, these images serve to educate the people on how rape happens and the events that surround the assault. Selecting these images was not an easy task as the internet is full of rape images, some which are too graphical to share with people. I had to exercise caution to filter the content that I felt was appropriate from which I felt would violate the privacy of the survivors.

References

Clark, J. N. (2017). The long-term effects of rape and sexual violence. Rape, Sexual Violence and Transitional Justice Challenges, 51-74. doi:10.4324/9781315180182-3

Raiola, A. (2016, September 7). It happens [Photographs]. Retrieved from https://greatist.com/live/powerful-photo-project-captures-stories-of-sexual-assault-survivors