How do I start this piece for the Llanelli Standard?
Well, let me see. I was one of five women who set up the very first Rape Crisis Centre in Britain when I lived in London. I am immensely proud of what we achieved and believe me, it was no mean feat. We had a lot of strife and struggle but we never gave up.
We did feel that men were listening to us then and that men were beginning to treat women with respect. I was a young woman then and I had hope for the safety of women.
I am now nearly 80 years old and that hope has gone. I look at our society and see what is happening and I weep in my soul.
There are such blatant examples now because men do not care about being found out because they know that they can get away with it. The problem is that men of every kind commit rape. There will be those of you who will be affronted by this: “I wouldn’t do that.”
Perhaps you wouldn’t do that but are you prepared to stand up and be counted to your male friends and denounce rape?
Prince Andrew had sex with minors and nothing has been done to him.
Matt Gaetz, an American former republican congressman, has engaged in sex trafficking and paid for sex with a minor, a little girl.
Gisele Pelicot, a Frenchwoman has been drugged by her husband who invited men to come and rape her. 50 men from all walks of life accepted the offer. She bravely has taken them to court and they have all been found guilty. She rejects shame, rightly so. If there is no consent, there is rape.
Abuse of Blake Lively the actress has come from the dark heart of the web. A man can do anything and get away with it but if a woman does a little wrong, people want to watch her burn.
In this country, in 2024 80 women were killed by a man. This amount is measured by three campaign groups, Counting Dead Women,Femicide Census and Killed Women.
These slain women are of all ages, from young to old.
I was at a women’s meeting many years ago where women were trying to gain equality in employment. There were some nuns there who wanted to be priests. There were some priests who broke into the meeting and were shouting, “Burn the heretics, burn the heretics.” It was hard enough fighting for women’s equality but that really pushed us back into the Middle Ages.
I have been on late night trains and heard lads talking about the girls in their schools in a most disrespectful manner and abusive language. I assume this is why girls in school suffer so much harassment. I have often intervened and have been called BITCH on many occasions. There was no sense of shame. It does not shock me anymore as I am used to that behaviour and I always hope that men will change but it doesn’t happen.
Women hatred continues. I have had to leave my Welsh class because male students have upset me and since they won’t change, the lecturer preferred that I leave, which I did. I felt sorry for him.
In the French case these men thought she had consented to be made unconscious and raped because her husband had consented to this happening. This goes back to medieval times when women were seen as their husband’s property.
Rape victims are often publicly and privately shamed at every stage after they have been raped, first by the rapist,then his lawyer,then the courts and then the police.
One of my clients was surrounded by the policemen and taunted, saying, you wanted this didn’t you. You had an orgasm, didn’t you and so on.
A judge told one of my clients that she was too tall to be raped and therefore that she was lying.
Their past sexual activities are brought up in court and what they were wearing bears on their character. So if they are out clubbing and get raped, the mini dress defines them as a whore.
They are blamed for not fighting back even when threatened with death.
“Oh brave new world, that has such creatures in it”
In the old days of rape, they were spontaneous actions, still disgraceful and disgusting. But now, young men go out with rape drugs. They plan to do it and spike the girls’ drinks. How much lower can they get.
As I have shown here no woman is immune from attack, whether it is verbal abuse, physical abuse or rape.
It is time that men stand beside women to bring this to an end. I live in hope but it is a small one.
This article is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Red Brand Media and the Llanelli Standard.
