It has to be unacceptable EVERYWHERE!

Anyone in NC has likely heard, in some part, the story of little 3-year old Shaniya Davis.  Her mother admitted handing her over to a grown man for the purpose of sexual abuse in return for paying off a drug debt.  Now the man is being prosecuted for kidnapping, rape, and her murder.  [Now...I'm all for "innocent until proven guilty," but given that the mother has admitted that she knowingly provided her daughter to this man for sexual servitude...little is left to convince me that he's otherwise guilty of at LEAST the rape accusation.]

Rape is a problem in our society. I'm not denying it and I'm not saying our laws or judicial system have handled every case perfectly or that there aren't loopholes that have gotten people out of trouble.  There are women (& men) who battle incestual rape/molestation, marital rape, other domestic violence, etc.  Our culture doesn't have this travesty banished from society.  However, I do believe I can say that the MAJORITY of our society condemns a grown man raping a 3 year old little girl.  And the fact that her own mother handed her over for such a purpose (child-prostitution) is just as much a tragedy.

That's WHY this story is making headlines.  Because it's deemed unacceptable in our society.  It's not only NOT the norm, but it's considered an absolutely despicable crime.

How lucky are we that we live in such a society that actually views this as a crime...a crime important enough to bring to the news?  How sad is it that, even in societies where it might considered horrible, these things happen to women and children regularly and it doesn't make the news?  Such a crime may never even get reported, let alone make it to a courtroom. 

I've been doing reading lately and am far from an expert.  But I want to relate two types of stories I continue to read about.  The first is rape as a war crime.  The second is rape as an intimidation to force young girls into marriage.

There are areas in the world that are experiencing civil wars that make little national news in America.  However, in these countries many local war-parties are turning to rape as war intimidation.  Why fight the men when they can traumatize the women and children and force cooperation?  Women, young girls, and children of ALL ages and of BOTH genders are more fearful of leaving their villages than the men because death might become the men, but worse could befall the rest.  Some of the victims of these villages are no older than little Shaniya Davis, but have we heard their stories?  Do they make their own local or national news?

The other very disturbing type of story is of the male who wishes to marry the virgin female who has refused (or her family has refused) the proposal.  Regardless of the reason why the male wishes to marry or why there is a refusal, refusals are not always taken with acceptance.  Instead, some young women are being kidnapped and raped by the male (maybe gang-raped by his friends/family members also) to show his dominance.  Now that the girl's virginity has been stolen she is shamed along with her family.  The one "acceptable" way to fix the situation is to finally permit marriage between the male and female.

The backgrounds of these people vary, so I'm not calling out any specific culture - the truth is that it's happening too often in too many places.  Even if it's deemed "a crime," or "unacceptable"...somehow it's still EXCUSABLE. There's always one reason or another for it to go without punishment.

Again...not saying that every case in America is handled with such care or attention, but at least when in does get attention you know that there are people out there fighting for the issue to be raised and fighting for the rights of the victims.  Maybe others will disagree, but I believe that at least our laws, judicial system, and the majority of our society see these crimes as inexcusable.

There are people, men and women, fighting these crimes - locally and nationally.  There are organizations trying to bring these situations to the attention of the world.  I'm not saying that we should take attention from the needs and concerns of our own culture...I'm simply suggesting that this CRIME is inexcusable for ALL cultures and if the issue is going to be raised, then be a voice for the victims of the world.