Disturbing realisations

Recently I have read some articles of the sexual abuse that occurs in countries around the world. In particular, the abuse women deal with on a daily basis in South Africa. In South Africa there were 52,617 reported rapes compared to the 18,807 reported rapes in Australia. A daunting figure as it is, imagine the amount of rapes that go unreported for those victims that do not have the opportunity to report the abuse that has been grossly conveyed on them. In a disturbing report it states that in South Africa, a women or girl is raped every 26 seconds and only one in 35 of these rapes are reported. Sexual abuse has long been an issue that is buried within a society and is definitely poorly reported on by the media. I think a change is needed in that area.

By being a journalist I think that it gives me a prime opportunity to report on issues such as this and possibly make an impact onto the way the world views sexual abuse. I believe that in South Africa abuse against women is used as a power tool by men, which needs to addressed and changed. Words have the power to change what a society once viewed as culturally acceptable into an issue that society will reject and hopefully make a positive change. In third-world countries such as these, women are at the bottom of the food chain, even though society has tried to equalize the gap between men and women for centuries. Living in Australia we do not see as much of this, however, it still very much exists and occurs.

Sonnet Ehlers, a 61 year old woman has worked in the medical profession for most of her life and has seen and witnessed the rape epidemic in South Africa. Through advanced technology she has invented a "penis flytrap" which is inserted like a tampon into the woman and he who attacks will be pierced with a set of sharp spines inside the condom. The attacker cannot urinate unless he has it removed by a doctor where he is then identified as a rapist. I think this invention is beyond brilliant and certainly necessary in a culture so plagued by sexual abuse. It gives hope to women and a chance to fight back to those who perpetuate violence upon them.

Heavy as it may seem, it's definitely a issue that I ponder about regularly and leaves me feeling angry and helpless as to what I can do about it. However, I do believe that sharing it with others is the first step into identifying the issue by making people aware of it.

Enjoy your Saturday

Tania xx