[afro-nets] Is 'Rape' an uncomfortable word for acts on minors?

[A. Odutola <chpss_abo2@yahoo.com>]

Is 'Rape' an uncomfortable word for acts on minors?
---------------------------------------------------

The following observation is purely anecdotal, but may be worthy
of scientific analysis.

In much of my many reviews of African media reports of rape of
minors, usually girls, from Abidjan to Zulu land; the words
'Rape' and 'Rapist' are hardly used to describe the heinous ac-
tion of individuals, usually men, who force, coerce and have un-
acceptable sex with minors. More comfortable words like 'De-
file', 'Defiler', 'Defilement' and 'Defiling' are readily used
(see story below for illustration).

The words 'Rape' and 'Rapist' however seem more commonly used in
African media reports on forced, coerced and unwanted sex by
adult men with adult women.

Such deliberate and selective filtration of the word "rape" in
news reports on rape of minors in Africa, appears to "soften"
this atrocious acts and make them less of a focus for public
outrage and policy action.

Does this say anything of the psychosocial mindset of media
practitioners in Africa to the rape of minors?

Comments are welcome.

A. Odutola
mailto:chpss_abo2@yahoo.com


--
Defiler says girl, 8, had "irresistible crush on him"

Source: The Standard (Nairobi, Kenya)
By Moses Njagi

Published: 03/05/05
Copied as "fair use"


A middle-aged man, who claimed that an eight-year-old girl had
an "irresistible crush" on him and demanded that he has sex with
her, was yesterday jailed for 20 years.

Joseph Nyambari, 45, was handed the hefty sentence by Nyeri
Principal Magistrate Margaret Gitonga. Nyambari had earlier de-
nied defiling the girl, but no sooner had the minor started tes-
tifying than he changed his mind and confessed that he committed
the offence.

He stunned the court when he claimed that the Class Four pupil
had demanded that he sleeps with her. Nyambari claimed that on
the day in question, he was resting in his house when the vic-
tim, who had come to visit her grandmother, who was his
neighbour, approached him and demanded that he sleeps with her.
He claimed that the girl had told him that she was used to
sleeping with men and wanted him too.

Due to the insistence of the young girl and considering that his
wife had abandoned him, said Nyambari, he took the girl to his
bedroom where he "gave in to her demands".

However, the minor told the court that the man had lured her
with a piece of sugarcane before he severally raped her. She
said she was at her grandmother's compound together with her
elder sister, when the man called her over to his house.

The girl said on reaching his compound, the man went into his
house and told her to follow him so that he could give her the
sugarcane.

But once she was inside, Nyambari dragged her into his bedroom
where he threw her on the bed and defiled her.

Nyambari committed the offence last December 13, 2004 at Karundu
village, in Nyeri District. He faced an alternative charge of
indecently assaulting the minor.

Source:
http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=14665