New Zealand Urged to Revise Rape Law; Women Could Also be Sexual Predators, Rapists
Advocates for the welfare of children are urging legislators in New Zealand to revise the country's rape law, citing women are also very much possible sexual predators after reports exploded over the weekend of a pre-teen boy fathering a child from a 36-year old woman.
While many people, if not most, believe rape only happens to women, there is an existing yet silent grim reality that men and boys are likewise being coerced into sex or abused by women.
"Not all rape victims are women. They can be men or women," John Althouse Cohen, a Senior Appellate Court Attorney from the New York State Supreme Court wrote in his blog.
The only thing is, men or boys don't report the incident for fear of being laughed at.
In the case of the now 12-year old New Zealand boy, perhaps he couldn't anymore bear whatever grinding thoughts were barreling down his conscience that's why he was finally able to relay the existence of his child and the ordeal that he went through to his school principal.
The woman, who allegedly coerced the child into sex when he was only 11 years old, is now facing criminal charges lodged by New Zealand's Child, Youth and Family Services.
If the woman is proven guilty, the organization Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse urged legislators that it is about time to revise the country's prevailing rape statute. Under New Zealand law, rape only applies to men, with a maximum jail sentence of 20 years.
But for women found guilty of forcing a male to have sex, they are only slapped with a charge of sexual violation, the maximum sentence of which is 14 years.
But Rape Crisis (England & Wales) strongly clarified rape is an act not of sexual gratification, but of violence. "Rapists, be it men or women, rape or sexually assault to dominate, violate and control."
"Rape is about power and power can be used by men against women, but it can also be used by women against men," Dr Helen Smith, a psychologist specializing in forensic issues in Knoxville, Tennessee, wrote in her blog.
"Although men are by far stronger than women, sexual assaults or rape is not about physical strength but about the will and desire to have power and dominate and/or manipulate others. This desire is a human trait, not just a male one."
She also wrote that given the current legal and political climate, women have also evolved and as such have likewise developed the psychological and legal power against men in the present society.
"Blackmail is very easy. Women know that men and boys have no or little legal recourse against them and use this to their advantage to get what they want."