Sexual Assault and Abuse of Power
Every day, it seems, there is yet another news story about victims of rape. All rape stories are shocking, but particularly disturbing are stories about rapes committed by people in positions of power, or who are protected by people with power.
Our roles in society are determined by the amount of power we have. Rape, as recent case in France, Australia, Ecuador, and the United States illustrate, is often an abuse of power.
Last week, there were protests in France after a cop was charged with raping a young man with a police baton. The incident, which occurred in a suburb north of Paris, exposed the reality of police brutality in France, which seems to happen more with Africans and ethnic minorities. The sexual assault occurred while police were conducting an ID checks in the area. According to France 24, the 22-year-old victim, called Théo, suffered of a "longitudinal wound" in the sphincter muscle and anal canal. French President François Hollande, visited Théo in the hospital to show his government's respect and support.
After learning about this incident, I kept asking myself why a police officer would commit such an act. The only plausible answer was, well, because he can. He was wearing a uniform that put him on a position of power. Police brutality is common in every corner of the world. The police have the power to arrest people who break the law, and they've taken advantage. They feel entitled, whether dealing with the guilty or innocent. Which is exactly what happened with young Théo, who today suffers from severe physical and obviously psychological trauma.
Last week the BBC reported that over 4.000 people alleged to have been raped by priests in Australia between 1980 and 2015. An investigation revealed that 7% of Catholic priests in Australia had allegedly raped children between 1950 and 2010. The investigation also revealed that some 1,880 priests and Christian Brothers are accused as perpetrators. The victims said that whenever they spoke out about what was happening, people refused to believe them. "I did try to tell my mum once and she said it was absolute rubbish and a man of God would never do such a thing," one said to the BBC, which reported that victims had received monetary compensation from the Church.
Like police brutality, when Catholic priests sexually abusing minors it is a horrific abuse of power. A priest is supposed to represent Christianity. Millions are devoted to the Christian religion and put their faith and trust in the Church. It is shocking that, after so many cases like this have been brought to light, it continues to happen. It is even sadder to see that people continue to side with sexually abusive priests. If there are 4,000 victims in Australia, one shudders to think how many victims there are worldwide. These numbers will never stop going up because priesst will always be regarded as authority figures over innocent children who look up to them.
In Ecuador this past November, a teacher from a private school was found guilty of abusing one of his students and sentenced to twenty-two years in prison. His attorney, Caupolicán Ochoa, who happens to be the attorney of the Ecuardor's president Rafael Correa, appealed the case, declaring that the accused is still under presumption of innocence. The private school argued that the children are never left alone in the school so an incident like this would be highly unlikely on the school grounds. A group of ex-students, parents of children attending the school, and teachers issued a press release defending the accused man. The wife of Ecuador's president attended protests defending him. There was a protest in the capital claiming "justice for the "Little Prince", thus connecting the young victim with the famous character in Little Prince, a book that talks about the loss of innocence.
This scandal has left me in utter shock. The teacher had a position of power over the child. A teacher will always be an authority figure. This teacher took advantage of his title to abuse an innocent child. Aside from his power as a teacher, the accused man also knows people who have political power. Now the personal lawyer of the President Correa is appealing his case and the school is defending the fact that this case has stained an honorable man's life.
Why is it that the president's lawyer is helping him after the judges found him guilty in November? Why did the school publish a long letter where they hardly mentioned the victim but continuously defended the accused? Unfortunately, I don't have the answer. All I know is that most likely they will get away with it. It is all part of the twisted, power-oriented world we live in.
News headline reads "Protests in favor and against accused professor". Image Credit: El Comercio
The United States has constantly been torn apart by protests over similar situations of abuse of power. Remember the case of former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner, which was reported internationally. This young man was accused of abusing an unconscious woman outside a frat house. He was found guilty and sentenced to only six months in jail. After completing three months, he got released for "good behavior". The case brought controversy and many protested his release. His father defended him saying that his son shouldn't go to prison for "twenty minutes of action." The school also sparked controversy after declaring that alcohol was banned from campus parties to prevent "high-risk behavior."
In this case, people in positions of power weren't policeman, priests, government or teachers. The power was Brock Turner's privileged social status. Turner was a white male and all-American swim champion at a prestigious American university. His victim was an intoxicated and unconscious 22-year-old woman. Sentencing him for just six months was outrageous. The victim has been traumatized for life yet all Turner got was a few months in jail. If he'd been black or from an ethnic minority, or had less powerful parents, would the sentence have been so light?
