Adonis Diaries

Are there levels of seriousness for rape? How many kinds of rapes are you aware of?

Suppose you are in a party with a boyfriend and he decides to take you by force in front of the people around. You are screeming: No, No…People are watching the raping unfold and refuse to intervene… Is that scene an individual problem or a community cultural problem? If this event affects the girl from further engaging in serious relationship, how serious was the raping episod?

Suppose you are threatened to be raped (regardless of genders) or raping one of your family members if you refuse to divulge pieces of intelligence or follow orders…Is raping the mind and the spirit an act of rape?

Suppose you live in a society when raping with the “intention” of asking for marriage (indeed asking the girl in marriage afterward) is absolved, what message this custom sends? If I want to marry a girl and she refuses, then I might as well rape her…?

Suppose you were gang raped:

1. By a group you are familiar with and hang out with

2. A group you don’t know

3. By police force as you step out of your home

4. By police force inside your home

5. By police force while in prison

Is being gang raped much worse than being raped by a single person?

Is raping closely associated with the consequences in a given community customs?

1. Being forced to commit suicide in order to “save” the community “honor”

2. Being asked to vacate the family premises and be exiled to other location

3. Forced to marry the rapist

4. Be banished from the community for the remaining of your life…

Is rape a personal matter, and if no one in the party lodge a legal complaint, then should the case be dismissed?

If statistics reveil that 90% of girls are raped in a particular society at one time during their lifetime, should the legal system be comprehensive and lenient on rape cases?

If it is demonstrated that more adolescent boys have been raped throughout history than grown up women…?

Should every case of rape have its proper term in the vocabulary? Why having a language if it fails to develop and demonstrate the progress, seriousness of behaviors, and interest in social and custom development…?

Dalia, Emma, Alaphia, Ricken, Laura, Antonia and the rest of the Avaaz team published this appeal:

“18 year-old Lal Bibi was kidnapped, raped, tortured and chained to a wall for five days by a gang of powerful Afghan police officers. But she stood up to do what women in Afghanistan are told not to: Lal is fighting back.

Local custom in some parts of Afghanistan dictates that women are shamed by rape and must kill themselves to restore their family’s honour for generations to come.  Lal Bibi and her family courageously are seeking to save her life by insisting on the prosecution of her torturers and shifting the blame to the perpetrators, in society’s eyes.

According to deep cultural mandates, as a raped woman, Lal Bibi has been “dishonoured” and will kill herself — and she publicly says she must, unless her rapists are brought to justice to restore her honour and dignity.

There are hundreds of women and girls all across Afghanistan who are subject to the “tribal justice” meted out to Lal Bibi. Thousands more are watching carefully to see how the Afghan government and the world will respond to the girl who is fighting back and refuses to die quietly

Afghanistan’s justice system routinely fails to pursue these cases, and so far the chief suspects in Lal Bibi’s case have not been prosecuted.  Every day that passes without an arrest pushes Lal Bibi closer to suicide …

This weekend, the US, UK, Japan and other major donors are expected to pledge 4 billion dollars to Afghanistan.  A big portion of this money will pay for the very police forces responsible for Lal Bibi’s rape.

An international outcry might shame donor countries into action, conditioning their aid on real action to fight rape and protect women.

The Afghan police force responsible for the rape depends heavily on foreign funding that will be pledged this weekend, when all of Afghanistan’s major donors gather in Tokyo.

Donor countries can and should require that funds are not spent to grow a police force that acts with appalling impunity and that police officers work to protect women, not attack them!

The global war on women is relentless. But time and time again our community joins together to win. We helped stop the illegal stoning of Sakineh Ashtiani in Iran, and fought for justice for rape survivors in Libya, Morocco and Honduras. With hope and determination.

Save Lal Bibi’s life and sign this petition that will be delivered right into the donor conference in Tokyo:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/justice_for_lal_bibi_c/?bFAfecb&v=15774

P.S. Avaaz has launched Community Petitions, an exciting new platform where it’s quick and easy to create a campaign on any issue you care strongly about. Start your own by clicking here: http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/start_a_petition/?do.ps.lal_bibi