Warning: The entry below is not suitable for children under 12.
To make things a little better, here’s a picture of Shadow taken by my sister.
Many a time I’ve read about cases of abuse online, I sigh. Every single time a rape case, a sexual assault case, or even a child abuse case somewhere far away hits home, it’s always the abusers who have gotten away with some such punishment. I read a long article about an orphanage in Vermont where nuns abused the children. Later, the children who came forward to press charges were still told to take hush money, and their experiences were invalidated during the testimony. Most of all, since these children were grown up and elderly, none of their abusers could be held accountable and they had all passed on.
I have seen this happen with so many rape and assault cases. There was the Delhi rape case that opened up what consent was, and so many people have come forward with the #MeToo movement. Yet again, we still have to have conversations that show that the victim is not to blame, regardless of the violations done. And this is seen in the NUS case.
As much as I want to hide under a rock and pretend that this atrocity is not happening, it has happened and the poor victim, Monica Baey is traumatised by the harasser, Nicholas Lim Jun Kai, who filmed her in the shower. It is a truly perverse and disgusting act, only compounded with the university asking him to give a half-hearted apology and letting him off the hook. I am glad that Baey and her family are fighting. She and her family have pointed out that the sentence the perpetrator got was too lenient—first it was a suspension for a semester, and next it was a warning not to commit any gross violation for 12 months.
People have come forward telling the victim to keep quiet and it is disgusting. In any case where someone is violated, many people in society have enabled this abusive behaviour, and this helps uphold the systemic inequality that pervades this city. The type of justice that we mete out or don’t mete out further oppresses our victims, who are, more often than not, belong to groups of people who are oppressed. For a long time, men have gotten away with abusing women; figures in power have gotten away with abusing children, and of course, the members of the LGBTQIA get the short end of the stick.
By turning a blind eye to this, we should think about how as individuals we uphold certain power structures in society by keeping quiet. In this case, we have shown the whole world that we value a pervert’s life more than a woman’s just by telling her to keep quiet. His future should be null and void at this point because he chose to violate someone else, but no. Society still upholds this prejudice that it is the victim’s fault. This prejudices extends to the injustice that women have faced and will perpetuate the discrimination that women have experienced in the future. Instead of being preoccupied with the pervert, we should care about the victim and survival. We should help her get the justice she needs.
All around the world, people are being abused and violated in so many ways and when they finally do speak up, their claims are denied or diminished. The abusers get away with it because they have privileges or are in positions of power, or know people who are in positions of power. What does it say about a world that closes one eye to abuse in any form? It shows that abuse is allowed, sanctioned, and that you can get away with it if you have enough money or privilege. This should end.
I am sick and tired of reading about cases in which women or any other sort of victim is grossly abused or violated in some way. The world grows dark for victims, and we don’t need to make life even more difficult for them to get justice.