I read this most interesting but quite disturbing article in The Star this morning : "She was riped for the plucking".

1. Ironically, 82% of respondents (offenders) over the age of 50 raped girls aged 16 and below.
2. The majority grew up in rural areas, including Felda schemes (71.1%), and had low education levels. Most are married and reported good relationships with their mothers but not their fathers. Their views concerning females are, in general, degrading and humiliating. (So this implies that the parents who were the main educators of these victims seem to be blamed here.)
3. The rapists also blamed pornography and uncontrolled lust as the main factors which caused them to rape. (Blamed porn and uncontrolled lust? Hellooo ... ever heard of self-control? Whose choice was it to watch porn?)
4. Many of the men committed incest while their wives were in menopause, pregnant, or unavailable for sex. When the men couldn’t control their urges, they sought the easiest women they could find. (Ok, this is depressing. Makes it sound like sex is everything and without sex, these men can't seem to go about their daily lives.)
5. There is no conclusive research that pornography leads to rape, but a higher number of rapists tend to view it habitually so it is a contributing factor. (A friend once told me, the more you suppress someone, the more radical they become. So, if porn were easily available, does that mean there'll be less rape?)
6. They (victims) are trained from young to believe that they have to be gentle, sweet and submissive. A man rapes a woman as a way of putting her in her place. (So girls, remember to project yourselves as forceful independent women - presumably this makes you less rape-able.)

What the rapists say :

• Jika makanan sudah dihidang, kalau saya tak makan, lalat akan turun. Biar saya yang makan.
• Nak tidur, bantal pun sampai, kita pun tidurlah.
• “He said his stepdaughter is a ‘hot blooded teenager who needed to be taught the right way to enjoy sex’.”
• ‘she’s mine anyway’

Eurgh.

The article stressed that women were definitely not to blame for the occurrences of these rape incidences. Because "if a shoplifter is caught, do we blame the merchandise for looking too attractive?". Which makes a lot of sense.

But the world revolves in such a way that, a female has to be attractive in order to attract the opposite sex and henceforth, allow for procreation. To ensure the existence of humankind. Why does such a basic instinct have to be tainted with such impure acts? Who, in fact, is to be blamed? I can only think the perpetrator is the only person to be blamed, not the victim, not the family and definitely not society. Early education on self-restraint and heavier punishments (a life sentence) seem to be the only key at the moment.