Dipsolect.com

“At some point, it became OK to laugh about rape”, I claim, and am met with looks of horror. “What”, people will say, “the ever-loving god are you talking about”, they will continue.

It is true: Most people would agree that sexual assault is not a laughing matter. We all know, or are aware of people who have been subjected rape. In the US, more than 25% of college age women report having experienced a rape or rape attempt since age 14.

Rape is the most denigrating and one of the most cowardly of crimes: Committing a crime hideous of nature, that often takes the victim longer to get over than that the suspect spends in a jail cell – if they are ever actually convicted of their crime, that is.

Repeat after me: Rapes ruin lives. Rape is not funny.

Why is Prison rape OK?

And yet, when it comes to prison rape, the tune is very different. It appears that people are more accepting of it. “Don’t bend over to pick up the soap”, they’ll say. “He’ll be bunking with Bubba at Broadmoor”, or “He’ll be someone’s bitch soon enough”.

What in the world is going through your mind, people? The criminal justice system has a whole array of penalties – Fines, community service, prison sentences, mental facilities and (in some cases) capital punishment. There’s no civilised society that has “rape” on the menu as punishment for a crime.

Rape is rape. It doesn’t matter if it is committed in an upstairs bedroom at a party, a park after dark, or in a prison cell. It’s revolting, wrong, and should be strictly punished.

I don’t care what a person has done to land themselves in prison – there is no crime that is punishable by rape, and as a society, we cannot be standing idly by and ignoring that this is being done. The fact that in some prisons, rape is the rule, rather than the exception, makes it only more disgusting.

Rape is rape. Rape is not funny. Enough with the jokes about prison rape, already.