On rape victims

On rape victims

In a letter you published on July 15 under the insensitive
title 'Rape victims have no future', Mrs. Soeparman suggested that
the women who had been raped in the recent riots "will be
engulfed by a feeling of shame for the rest of their lives, will
feel inferior... [and] will be reluctant to get married, being
shameful of having lost their virginity."

As a woman and as a member of the House of Representatives,
Mrs. Soeparman should be wiser about just who should shoulder the
shame. Let's be clear about this: There is no sexuality involved
in rape -- no attraction, no illicit sensuality. This is
certainly true for the victims, but also true for the rapists:
Otherwise, why would the men have repeatedly told their victims,
"You are ugly!".

Rape, though based on the sex act, is at its core a brutal
attack, meant to physically and psychologically destroy the
victim. If a man is cruelly beaten with clubs by a band of
muggers, is he ashamed or does society see him as an object of
shame? No. Similarly, the women who have been systematically
raped should not be ashamed, nor should they be made to feel
ashamed.

The 152 women who were raped in the past two months (and those
are only the ones who have reported the attacks) should be
comforted, aided and supported in every physical and
psychological way possible. Friends, family, the entire society
should help them get through this difficult period and then look
forward to the future. Certainly the prayers of Mrs. Soeparman
and others will give some comfort.

But barbarous acts such as rape require temporal action as
well. The public must demand that the attackers be apprehended,
tried, convicted and incarcerated for their crimes -- and
continue to pressure the authorities until the rapists are
identified and punished, under law. Law enforcement agencies --
in addition to vigorously investigating the rape cases -- must
review their policies regarding victims of sexual attacks and
find ways in which they can aid the victims, not traumatize them
further.

Legislators must revise the laws so that in the future the
courts can deal with such heinous acts in a swift, decisive and
severe manner. The President must put the full weight of his
office behind investigations into charges, made by women's groups
counseling rape victims, that the rapes were part of an organized
plan to terrorize society. If true, not only the rapists, but
those who laid the plans must be tried, convicted and severely
punished. Above all, the government and particularly the
President, must make it clear to all that, in a civil society,
such acts will not be tolerated.

Yes, there is plenty of shame in rape, but it must be properly
assigned: The shame belongs to the rapists who commit such
bestialities; to the authorities who failed, and continue to
fail, in their duties; and finally, the shame belongs to an
apathetic public that allows such crimes to take place and then
passes the blame on to innocent victims.

Until Mrs. Soeparman, the editors of the Post, and other
Indonesians realize this, it is not the rape victims who have no
future -- it is the entire society.

SUZANNE CHARLE

New York