Nothing says I love you like rape
In Cambodia women are not even allowed to hand an object to a monk because women are impure and might contaminate the holy man. They place the object on the table and only then does the monk pick it up. I'm surprised that they do not have to sterilise it first. That's just a little background info on the sexism is Cambodia before it horrible story that follows.
There is a story today in the Cambodia Daily that is utterly repellent. A monk raped a 13 year old girl, got her pregnant and threatened to kill her if she told anyone. Eventually the girl's father found out because of her pregnancy and reported the monk to the police. And as if all of that wasn't bad enough, the monk says he did it out of love
He was a monk. She was 13. He raped her because he loved her. Why did he threaten to kill her? Where is the logic there? Why is rape so acceptable in our society? Where is the outrage? Rape is a violent crime and not one you do to someone you love. Most of the time rape is about power and this girl was utterly powerless. How dare that monk say he loves her?
This makes me sick - what happened, the attitude towards women, the sick excuses and explanations and more importantly the utter acceptance of our rape culture. The more I read I think it was always like this. The media has pushed it out into the light of day, like a monstrous fault on our stained inhumanity. Why are we not shocked and appalled at such violence day after day?
There is a story today in the Cambodia Daily that is utterly repellent. A monk raped a 13 year old girl, got her pregnant and threatened to kill her if she told anyone. Eventually the girl's father found out because of her pregnancy and reported the monk to the police. And as if all of that wasn't bad enough, the monk says he did it out of love
He did confess to police, that he had raped the girl because he loved her. The victim is now 5 months pregnant. (Cambodia Daily 27/08/2007)
He was a monk. She was 13. He raped her because he loved her. Why did he threaten to kill her? Where is the logic there? Why is rape so acceptable in our society? Where is the outrage? Rape is a violent crime and not one you do to someone you love. Most of the time rape is about power and this girl was utterly powerless. How dare that monk say he loves her?
This makes me sick - what happened, the attitude towards women, the sick excuses and explanations and more importantly the utter acceptance of our rape culture. The more I read I think it was always like this. The media has pushed it out into the light of day, like a monstrous fault on our stained inhumanity. Why are we not shocked and appalled at such violence day after day?
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3 comments:
I agree with you, Punish rapes!!!!!! with severity, our society accepts this right now
wow, the "do not touch, impure" thing sounsd like Orthodox Judaism's prescription on touching strange women--she might be menstruating, you know, best not take a chance. it was good of a heretofore unknown distant cousin to take that precaution when shaking hands with my (secular) 75 year old grandmother, I felt
As far as I know, in Cambodia, women are always impure - not only during menstruation. Whether Buddhism itself is sexist or it has taken the cultural norms of where it has flourished, I don't know. But the situation of women in Cambodia and surrounding countries, is very poor indeed.
Just good old fashioned misogyny!
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