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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
Dear Editor,
A local online tabloid recently uploaded an exclusive audio clip,
"The Girl Who Cried Wolf" - Freshly "Kidnapped" Girl. How the tabloid came into possession of what sounds like a private conversation between an apparent high school aged girl and her older sister, I do not know. What I do know is that there is a distinct possibility that the girl in the recording had engaged in sexual intercourse with an older man, and may have been physically assaulted by her older sister for doing so.
Statutory rape and physical abuse of minors are both very serious crimes that take place in The Bahamas and go unpunished far too frequently.A child is defined as any person under the age of 18.The Child Protection Act of 2006 outlines the rights of children and the penalties for those who breach these rights. Ill treatment and cruelty to children is a punishable offence. By law, it is illegal for someone over the age of 21 to engage in sexual intercourse with someone under the age of 18, even though 16 is the age of consent.
Because most of us are "good Christians", we encourage girls to avoid compromising situations by dressing appropriately, behaving like ladies and being well-behaved. If not, said young ladies could end up pregnant, with a sexually transmitted disease, or worse. As a former young girl, thanks for the advice, but what exactly are you saying to boys and men about this, if anything at all (other than, "Boys will be boys")?
How could we have gotten to the place where it's ok for the majority of our nation to make light of a possible crime against a school-age girl? To answer that, let's take a closer look at a seem-ably harmless daily occurrence in Nassau - street harassment. Those women and girls fortunate enough to own a car, or that never go on leisurely walks in certain Nassau neighbourhoods perhaps cannot relate to what those that don't have this luxury experience sometimes on a daily basis. Men and boys catcall, hoot, holler and sometimes follow, touch, or threaten women and girls as they walk or are in-transit.It does not matter what a target wears, even if it's a school uniform, the unwanted interaction will happen and,"That's just the way it is," we like to say. If this is acceptable on such a base level, and so many men (mostly) feel they are entitled to demanding interaction with women and girls passers-by in public, then just imagine what else we have been conditioned to find acceptable.
We're quick to say that these girls "too hot, slack or greedy," without realising that some of them had a teenage mother, who too was a victim of statuary rape. They themselves may even be children born to a mother in such an instance. These are one segment of society we look down upon and criminalise, even though they are, in fact, the victims of a crime.I find it unfortunate that the older sister is being heralded as a hero in some circles, for "cut-hip" she put on her younger sister.Ii is unfortunate that someone chose to send the, "The Girl Who Cried Wolf" - Freshly "Kidnapped" Girl audio to the tabloid, and that the tabloid decided to exploit this incident to "entertain" the masses.
If anyone reading this knows the young lady in this audio, please ask her to contact the Bahamas Crisis Center's 24 hr hotline (242-328-0922) and / or go in to the local authorities. What might have been intended for laughs, could have, in some unconscious way, been a plea for help or attention.
Terneille Burrows,
Bahamas Against Sexual Violence & Child Abuse
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