by Danielle Greer, GrenCHAP
The narrative presented in a recently published newspaper article “A crisis of homosexuality among people in Grenada” does not address the underlying issues of the case. Instead, it perpetuates misinformation and misunderstanding about an already demonised community.
The article suggested that the individual in question, triggered by the sight of the man who had assaulted him years ago, was prompted to rape a 2-year-old boy. The article cited this incident’s deep psychological wounds as the catalyst for the defendant’s behaviour and insists the root cause be addressed.
Root causes must be discussed and adequately looked at, but to suggest that the problem is homosexuality is a brief and shallow evaluation of the situation. Regardless of sexual orientation, a predator is a predator. If the perpetrator was a woman, would it then be a crisis of heterosexuality?
How we deal with predators and sexual assault is a bigger issue than we have been willing to discuss. The narrative of homophobic blame and the shame due to rampant homophobia breeds fear in those who may be victims and allows predators to express their power ovier those they come into contact with.
As a result, individuals who experience these emotional scars go untreated, weighed down by the shame and fear of the stigma attached to them — and those who seek assistance may not get what they need because of the issues our society has with homophobic stigma and the prevalence of sexual assault and rape in our small country.
According to the Caribbean Development Bank’s analysis on gender-based violence in the Caribbean, 1 in 3 women in Grenada has experienced some form of sexual assault. The number goes down to 1 in 10 people when factoring in individuals of other genders. The research indicates that because of the cultural dictations of what a man should be, men hardly report assault, be it heterosexual or homosexual-related. Our inability to deal with sexual assault issues that happen with our women, and the exacerbation of that shame and stigma on men, is what we should be talking about. The lack of training and tact in addressing these issues and getting individuals the help they need is what we should be talking about.
Let us stop trying to hide behind other topics, and address the situations of rape, sexual assault, the breeding ground we have made for predators, and how societies continue to enable them and their actions. We need to protect our children and other vulnerable individuals, even if that means having uncomfortable conversations, and hand over the predators that communities have been inadvertently protecting.
Sexual predation is not about sexual orientation. It is about the control and power that predators feel over their victims.
Probably if women dress properly and stop exposing them selves there wouldnt be a need for men to pull what they have out of their pants. People also need to be educated on how to protect themselves from sexual violence because in most cases those who are unable to defend themselves are most vulnerable to the circumstances. Women also need to use their voice and say no if they disagree with sexual activity.
If we need to examine root causes, this mindset is a perfect place to start.
It’s these attitudes that need to be examined as part of the root causes of sexual abuse and assault. Shameful.
Yeah! Now blame the women…
This needed to be said; imagine a member of our legal fraternity espousing such bigotry. Root causes of sexual abuse can and should be addressed but attaching it to sexual orientation is just plain wrong.
Fantastic article… I agree totally. Time to come out of the dark ages and have acceptance for LBGTQ and other marginalized groups. As well as addressing the sexual assaults in general… keep the small, beautiful island SAFE!!
Bring back the “cat-o-nine tails” and re-commence Public Floggings in the Market Square at Noon for every convicted offender. Problem will disappear pronto.
Grate article, it straight to the grim situation going on in our lovely
island for so many years. Its time for real action.
Because radical feminism has become a powerful ideology in North America and western Europe, the definition of “sexual assault” has become increasingly elastic, and now covers everything from (a) violent rape by a total stranger to (b) routine sex that a woman later regrets, to (c) clumsy use of a finger by an inexperienced boy “fooling around” with the girl-next-door.
But if one in three Grenadian women has experienced some form of “sexual assault”, that would represent a level of criminality rarely seen in any modern society. Even taking into account the loose definition of the term in question, we should closely examine the methods used by the Caribbean Development Bank to estimate such a statistic. Until and unless we know exactly how this ratio was calculated, we should not assume that it is a valid number.
Chad, you are correct to observe that the numbers of sexual assaults are grossly inaccurate and CDB must reexamine its conclusion that Grenada is some darkly perverse place. The Write of the article also suggests that a crisis looms among our youth in sexual assault. I totally reject that premise: teens are engaging in sexual frolic on a scale that is worrying globally. We see the crisis in places like Grenada where religion has such a grip on citizens’ freedom to think and act in the best interest of society. In today’s bold new world, pornography and lewd sexual images are available to children of all ages at the click of their mobile phones. I have called for parents to put a block on their children telephones and for a special jurisdiction court to hear complaints of sexual contact among teens. Neither GrenCHAP or Social Services or CPA has responded constructively. Here is news for everyone: Teenagers are having plenty sex! That is not a crime; if you as a teenager did not do plenty of sexual experimentation then its not unfair to say that your childhood was quite boring.. What is criminal is that against the backdrop of raging porn sites on the internet, lewd lyrics and conduct in our social relations between men and women (who teens learn from and observe) that our schools are teaching sex education as biology instead of pulling out a nice hard green banana, a tube of vaseline, a condom and a juicy soursop and keeping it real.
Our courts have seen too many cases of young men being hurt through homosexual rape either by their peers or by adults. If I say its a crisis its likely because there cases in the courts which prove the point. However, the real issue is that we MUST reform the law so that young people who like all youth through the ages of time, should never be prosecuted for engaging in consensual sex despite their tender years.
Oh man, you funny I say… (a), (b), (c) when I got to (c) I laughing too hard!
Shenyque is wise, to arrest good people for weed is simply foolish I tell you. Rapists, robbers, violent ones hide in the shadows. Drag them from the dark into the light and deal harshly with them.
Grenada weed is so weak it like smoking banana leaves. Why it is illegal I have no idea. Ganja is a good medicine, we all know this to be true.
Great Article! Grenada system is outdated, and new laws needs to be put in place to address these issues. Firstly, religion/churches hides and protect these sexual predators and no justice is serve for the victims. Secondly, less time busting communities for weed and more investigation and harsher criminal charges for the sexual predators.
Indeed…we need to address this holistically. Great article.
Very well said, enough with excuses!
