Thursday, March 22, 2007

Offline/Online Rape

Call me outmoded, outdated or out of sync, but i was quite alarmed to see this article in The New Paper three weeks ago.

(Click on image to zoom in)

I was never an avid online gamer; I am not against playing online games, but games like this in the article are apparent to me that they serve many more cons than pros (if there is any in the first place).

As long as it is non-consensual, it is a crime.
Even though there is no one universally accepted international legal definition of rape, The International Criminal Court (Rome) Statute clearly included its definition of rape in its Elements of Crimes and no legal system in the world will argue that it is not an offence, and a serious one that is.

One can argue that online rape is different, and that 'it is just a game', and does not hurt anyone. Gosh how many real-life rapists call it 'just a game' too after they committed the crime.

Not just a game!
People, offline or online, rape HURTS PEOPLE. And the two main groups of people are:
1. Yourself (as the offender)
2. Others (the victims)


Ourselves?
Many of us have the tendency to try out things that we cannot do in real life, through other simpler or diminuted means. I played arcade racing games, because i do not want to risk my life to maneuver a vehicle fashionably on the Formula tracks.

Playing online rape games is acting on the inner urges to do the obviously wrong things either in the dark, or through a channel that appears to make the wrong things right (?!). People who play these are trying out things that they know they cannot do in real life, through a virtual conduit, without the real life laws (for now).

Well, let's not forget that prolonged exposure to something can condition our minds and real-life behaviour effectively. A 13-yr old boy leaped to his death from the 24th storey of a building while assuming a sky-flying pose, in honour of his heroes from an online computer game. He played a consistent 36-hour of Warcraft just before that.

So face it, putting aside the possibility of practising the virtual acts in real life, you are going to have many psychological and mental images and notions that you may not want and cannot erase, including the way you handle friendship with the opposite gender.

Others
I do not need to go into detail the longstanding traumas a rape victim goes through after the ordeal.

I will not know too. But an incident when i was in Primary 4 or 5 gave me a tiny taste of a near violation.

I was at my mother's workplace and strolled out by myself for a while. A group of slightly older boys kept watching me, then followed me, and suddenly one of them pushed me against the wall and tried to kiss me on the face.

The world seemed to whizz past me, and my screams were silent within me. I only remembered myself struggling, and somehow breaking free miraculously and running away as fast as i could. And i felt... 'dirty', and was dazed for the rest of the day.


I was not molested or raped. But the mental picture of the 10-second scene sporadically yelled in my mind for years.

I am thankful that Jesus has now set me free from that little shadow in my life. That is why i dare to share it with you here without shame. My bigger wish is that you will understand that the psychological effects of pain and loss of dignity even online rape can inflict on someone else. Remember, mental images can invoke deep emotions.

Stop glorifying the wrong thing, the criminal act. Make your stand, young people, that you will not do the wrong things especially in secret, and cause pain to yourselves and others unknowingly.

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