Women and young girls constitute the highest number of sexual abuse victims.
Men are the main culprits of sexual violence against women, the weaker sex, but Special Correspondent Henry Oduah distills the other view that women can attract unwanted attention by dressing half naked. He also supplies answers to frequently asked questions about sexual violence.
Anna Simpson is busy preparing lunch for her family with a five-month-old baby strapped to her back. Beside her is her curious four-year-old daughter who is being mischievous.
In walks Raymond Nwosu, her neighbour. He politely asks to help take care of the disturbing child to allow her mother finish her cooking.
Nwosu leads the child to his room like a lamb led to the slaughterer. Quickly he unzips his trousers and slots his penis into the little girl’s mouth. He gives her some sweets and warns her not to say a word to anyone about it. Before the child clocked five, he had defiled her.
This is a true life incident which happened in Lagos. But the names are pseudonyms.
The story was recounted by Josephine Effah-Chukwuma, the Executive Director of Project Alert, a non-governmental organisation (NGO). Her name is not a pseudonym.
Understanding sexual violence
Sexual violence is any attempt to obtain a sexual act, unwanted sexual comments or advances or acts to traffic or otherwise directed against a person’s sexuality using coercion by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim in any setting, including but not limited to home and work.
This is how the World Health Organisation (WHO) explains it.
It is considered violent because in most cases the consent of the victim is not sought, much less if the victim is a minor, someone below 18 years, who cannot by law give consent.
In recent times, people have canvassed for the legal recognition of paedophiles: adults who have sexual interest in children. But human rights organisations frown at it as child sexual abuse.
Human rights organisations argue that child sexual abuse is not limited to physical contact and penetration, it could also be unpleasant sexual verbal remarks or exposing a child to pornographic materials.
Effah-Chukwuma lamented that “schools (primary, secondary and tertiary institutions) and homes (orphanages, motherless babies) have become a breeding ground for paedophiles, who sexually abuse children and young persons.
“As an organisation, we have had cause in the past four years to fight some schools and homes where sexual abuse of children was reported.”
While decent human activities are called different names, sexual violence can be clothed as rape, forceful oral sex, forcible object penetration, defilement of a minor, incest, child pornography, and indecent exposure of private parts and forcing someone to touch them.
But rape seems to be the most common.
Reality of sexual violence
Studies show that the perpetrators of sexual abuse are often known to the victims. They are usually people they know, not ghosts or masked strangers.
Assailants are often people the victims know, love, and trust. Sometimes they are even blood relations – father, brother, uncle, cousin. Sometimes they are religious leaders, friends, associates.
Children who have attained the age of 12 used to be the target of rapists but recent surveys prove that children as young as five are being abused. Worse still is that sexual violence acts are performed on infants barely a year old.
According to a recent study, over 95 per cent of sexual abuse cases involving children and young persons are carried out by people known to them.
Female students in Nigerian universities deal with sexual harassment from lecturers, unknown men; and in rare cases, from their own friends.
Males too are sexually abused
Men are not exempted as victims of sexual abuse, although the rate of sexual abuse against males is not as incredibly high as that against females.
About one in every 50 males is sexually abused. Men have narrated stories of having had sex unconsciously with women who drugged them; a trick the two daughters of Lot played by making him sleep with them after getting him drunk (Genesis 19:30-38).
What the statistics are saying
Cleen Foundation reported that in 1999 there were 2,241 cases of rape and indecent assault in Nigeria. Over 1,500 cases were reported in 2000; it skyrocketed to 2,284 in 2001.
In 2002, the figure dropped to 2,084 cases, but rose to 2,250 in 2003. Then in 2004, it dropped again to 1,626; and in 2005 increased to 1,835.
An analysis of 155 cases conducted by Project Alert in 2012/2013 showed that 70 per cent of victims of sexual abuse in Nigeria are children and young persons below 18.
In 2013, Nigeria recorded about 207 rape cases, out of which Lagos State was credited with 132 and Edo State 80. Most of the victims were between ages 12 and 17.
Research conducted by the United States Department of Justice on National Crime Victimisation between 2009 to 2013 showed that about two-thirds of sexual assaults are committed by someone known to the victim. And 38 per cent of rapists are a friend or acquaintance.
It also showed that an American is sexually abused every 107 seconds resulting in 293,000 victims every year.
Likely causes of sexual violence
Indecent dressing by women could lead men to rape. However, some men still attack women who are fully dressed.
There is an advocacy that women have the right to dress in a manner that suits them without fear of being abused.
In November 2014, about 1,000 demonstrators, mostly women, rallied in Nairobi, Kenya demanding that their clothing choices be respected. The women expressed support for the victim of a mob attack who was stripped due to clothing her assailants deemed provocative.
“My dress, my choice,” read one of their banners.
Effah-Chukwuma insisted that indecent dressing should not be an excuse for sexual violence. She said women have the right to dress the way they choose, just like men, and their dress should not be seen as provocative.
According to her, Nigeria is in an era where what is worn is not what should count but how best to sensitise women and girls to be alert and sensitive to actions tending towards sexual abuse.
But it remains a natural law that a man gets sexually aroused when he sees a woman who exposes her body. It does not change the fact that some men get aroused even when a woman is all covered.
In the Bible, David already had at least seven wives when he saw Bathsheba bathing naked. She was married to Uriah. Yet David lusted and committed adultery with her (2 Samuel 11:1-27).
It is honourable for a woman to dress up to prevent unwanted attention from men.
Sexual composition of men and women
Sex is wired into men and women, but some control the desire better than others.
A man is first moved by what he “sees” in a woman’s physical appearance. He draws closer when he “sees” her good conduct.
Sex is not far from the thoughts of most men. And sexual desire (or sexual calculation) often plays up in a man’s head when he sees a woman not related to him and who is not too old.
When a man is sexually aroused by woman A but cannot satisfy the desire with her, he may transfer it to woman B. The same thing happens when a man comes in contact with pornography in any form, or sees a woman flesh and blood who exposes her body.
In most cases, when sexual desire builds up in a man he looks for a woman to gratify it.
The consequence is that when woman A arouses a man, he takes it out on her or on woman B. This means that the sexual attack by a man on one woman may be the result of the arousal he got from another woman.
A woman is first moved by what she “hears” from a man. She wants to “hear” what he thinks and feels about her. She draws closer when he “cares” for her.
A woman may not get instantly attracted to a man sexually. Even when she does, she may not express it openly in words – as most men do. Or express it in violent action – as some men do.
A woman speaks with all parts of her body. When she desires sex, or mere attention from men without going the whole hog, she may portray it in her dressing, to get gratification from men ogling her.
In any setting, the more the number of women who expose their bodies to men, the more the number of men whose sexual desire build up, and the more the number of men who want to satisfy that urge by all means, lawful and unlawful.
Part of the reason the rape of female students by male students is rampant on all university campuses in the United States is because female students appear in different degrees of undress, even at lectures.
Some men will rape even when not tempted by women. But an awareness of the sexual composition of men and women, and taking precaution against it, will help everyone to stay away from trouble.
The bottom line, though, is that rape is a criminal offence. Rapists should be tried in court and sent to jail.
Defence against sexual abuse
Some schools teach young girls to defend themselves when they notice signs of sexual abuse. They engage the girls in Taekwondo or boxing classes, although this is open to only those whose bones are mature enough.
A five-year study of cases of sexual assault at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) between January 2008 and December 2012 showed that students accounted for 74.2 per cent.
Up to 88.9 per cent of victims were less than 19 years. Children aged 10 years and below contributed almost 40 per cent of the vulnerable age group in the study.
Effect on victims
Before the dawn of the millennium, the concern of relatives of rape victims was preventing unplanned pregnancy. Now it is preventing sexually-transmitted diseases, bleeding, abortion, or even death.
Health specialists say victims have a high risk of being infected if not properly cared for medically 48 hours after the abuse.
In a study of 652 HIV positive pregnant women in Lagos, 429 reported being victims of violence. Some 74 per cent of the respondents said the abuse occurred after the disclosure of their HIV status.
Emotional and psychological effects also come into play. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) includes loss of concentration, reduced self-esteem, panic, guilt, shame, hatred, vengeance, isolation, fear of company, sense of vulnerability, depression, drug abuse, suicidal attempts and many more.
Female victims are usually apprehensive about men. Some end up distrusting men for the rest of their lives. Those abused by blood relatives like their father are left thinking that all men are dogs and lack respect for women.
This partly explains why some of them prefer raising children on their own without committing to a man in marriage.
Blame game
When three children of Lere Orekoya’s family were abducted in Lagos last month, many blamed their mother instead of treating the matter with the urgency it required.
But at a seminar for public school counsellors in Lagos recently, Project Alert argued that victims should not be blamed but comforted and treated with care even if they instigated the “fire” that burned them.
Police in the picture
Police in Lagos have organised a workshop to sensitise officers on the Women Reproductive Health and Rights and the Violence Against Persons’ Prohibition (VAPP) Bill.
International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) President, Hauwa Shekarau, told the audience that “when a woman approaches the police station to complain of verbal harassment, either by her spouse or neighbour or even colleague, policeman on the counter at the station should not dismiss the report as a mere domestic threat, but should follow up on the matter to prevent it advancing to a crime.”
Commissioner of Police, Kayode Aderanti, represented by Yaba Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Akin Adamu, reiterated that the universal recognition that human rights are fundamental to existence places the police on the spot to be regularly updated on what constitutes violation of human rights.
What to do after abuse
Doctors recommend that medical attention is topmost for a victim of sexual violence. Within 48 hours, the victim must be taken to a health centre for Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP).
This is any preventive medical treatment started immediately after exposure to a pathogen (such as a disease-causing virus), in order to prevent infection by the pathogen and the development of disease.
The victim can then be taken to centres with specialisation in such cases – like Project Alert on Violence Against Women, Ojodu Berger, Lagos; Mirabel Centre, LASUTH; Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Ikeja, Lagos; or the nearest police station.