The intersection of sexual violence and assault against elders has been largely ignored

Feb 25, 2021 Letters

Dear Editor,

On reading of the most horrible crime to be perpetrated on any female, let alone a nonagenarian, forced my innermost being to once again cry out for a return of the death penalty. Yes, you have read correctly, and needless to say over the years I have paid attention to the plethora of excuses proffered for its non-return. I feel it is strongly needed, especially in this case.
Granted this elderly female perhaps should not have been residing on her own, but I am certain that her level of autonomy and mental cognition, among other things assured all responsible parties that such a situation presented no immediate danger. The perpetrators of such a dastardly act, on a helpless aged female, should receive punishment that serves as a lasting deterrent to all likely others.
In December 2012, a 23 year old physiotherapy student was gang raped on a moving bus in Delhi, India. She died a few days later from injuries sustained during the assault. Last March four of the accused were hanged. Following the global outcry over the brutality of the bus rape, India introduced tough new rape laws, including the death penalty in especially horrific cases.
In Guyana, protecting women and girls should top the list of government priorities. Granted there is no magic wand, no one thing that will make the problem of gender violence disappear overnight. A lot need to change and quickly—police, judicial reform and greater sensitization of police and lawyers. However, what is needed most of all is gender awareness, the male mindset need to be changed to prevent such atrocities from taking place in the first instance. Sad but nevertheless true, parents need assistance and cooperation in learning how to raise better sons. A certainly daunting task.
The intersection of sexual violence and assault against elders has been largely ignored. Campaigns continue to reflect and possibly reinforce the real rape stereotype involving young women, strangers and acquaintances, alcohol and sexual desirability. Older rape victims do not fall into this stereotype, as they are routinely regarded as asexual and undesirable. Additionally, the real-rape stereotype postulates that rape occurs late at night in public, a time when older people are less likely to be in public spaces. . In this context, rape against older women is seen as different from, and worse than, that of younger women, less easy to understand and inherently more humiliating for the older victim who is no longer sexually active .
On another level this case reveals yet another aspect of the social morass in which the country
finds itself. Is gerontophilia on the rise? Perpetrators are routinely argued to be gerontophilic, a psychological term used to describe younger people with a sexual preference for the elderly.
Can the nation afford, let alone cope with another criminal vice added to its already beleaguered state. This horrific assault by sexual predators who targeted one of the most vulnerable member of society, is further made more distressing by the fact that the offence occurred in her home—where she should have felt safe.
There is a proliferating tendency to re-frame sexual violence against older people as “elder abuse”, a term which seemingly is more comfortable for society to accept. It is time to recognize and include rape against older people, not as elder abuse, but as a form of violence against women.
Consequently, the current Guyanese government, and by extension the judicial system and appropriate law and social authorities is hereby called upon to become deeply involved in this matter that not only deals a black eye to the face of the nation but would further lend truth to the words of Mahatma Mohandas Gandhi,– The greatness of a nation is found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.
Any punishment given should serve as a benchmark example, otherwise the nation should hang its head in collective shame.

Yours truly,
Y. Sam

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