The Culture of Rape is Not Limited to Western Universities - It's Global

Mary Koss, Ms Magazine

The ‘culture of rape’ that appears to exist in a lot of North American universities, is a growing phenomenon that has a lot of people alarmed. Mary Koss, Ms Magazine researched campus rape in the US and her expanded research found that one in four women in college had experienced an unwanted sexual assault. Her work preceded a public outcry and activism by feminists against what was regarded as a 'rape culture'.

In Canada, the culture of rape has made headlines thanks to UOttawa student union head Anne-Marie Roy and the university's hockey team which has been accused of gang-raping a girl. Also, universities on both coasts sang the most egregious song at frosh week calling for the rape of underage girls.

Anne-Marie Roy, UOttawa

While the current phenomenon in western universities appears to be growing substantially, and, in my opinion, is being fed by the availability of pornography to impressionable adolescent boys; this model doesn’t work for third world countries many of which have had a ‘culture of rape’ for centuries.

The misogynist attitude that women exist to serve man, especially for his sexual pleasure is pervasive in most countries. In some countries, however, this attitude has existed, at least, for many centuries.

The Voyage of J H van Linschoten to the East Indies: Linschoten describes the Indians as “the most leacherous and unchaste nation in all the orient, so that there are verie few women children (girls) among them of seven or eight yeares old, that have their maiden-heades.” (i.e. virginity)

Van Linschoten spent 6 years, in the late 16th century, in Goa, the Portuguese run melting pot and first European settlement in India. – The Last Crusade, Nigel Cliff

That was over 400 years ago. No doubt the attitude had been in practice for centuries before that.

Extreme misogyny in India accounts for the very high level of incest that occurs there, after all a daughter’s got to be good for something. They are valued so little that many times a mother will strangle a girl baby as soon as it is born. Although nowadays most resort to sex-selective abortion.

India is certainly not alone in its extreme misogyny. While India is a mostly Hindu country, many of the countries around it are Muslim and their attitude toward women and girls is not much better with the practice of such things as ‘child brides’, the shrouding of women and Sharia Law. 

The UN estimates that there are 40,000 child brides everyday! 7600 of them under 15 years of age. This is legalized pedophilia.


Nor is the attitude of China, an animist country for the most part, any big improvement; their population is so skewed toward males that it is now very difficult for young men to find brides, there are so few girls, comparatively, there. And, it was only recently that foot-binding of women was outlawed. Foot-binding made women’s feet considerably smaller, and apparently more attractive (to men, at least), but usually rendered them nearly crippled.

Many equatorial African countries practice child brides and also practice female genital circumcision, a non-sedated surgical mutilation of a girl so as to prevent her from ever enjoying sex. This can occur from a very young age up to adulthood. It is usually done in the home by a woman called a ‘cutter’ who may or may not have any medical training whatsoever. There are estimates that 140 million women are alive today who have undergone the nightmare of female circumcision.

In many countries around the world, little girls are sold into sexual slavery by their parents who can’t afford to feed them. Many are being used in the making of child pornography for the sake of money. Child pornography is a booming business in the Philippines where 100,000 children are believed to be working in the sex trade. 

And, many girls willingly become prostitutes because that is the only way they can make enough money to survive. In Brazil, there are an estimated half a million child prostitutes. 

Brazil favellas

I thank God for the dozens, if not hundreds of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and GOs who are working desperately to save these children. However, I am certain that the problem is getting worse rather than better. Poverty does not seem to be being reduced, and child pornography is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. Terre des Homme stated that there are 750,000 men online at any given moment searching for pornography. A large percentage of which are looking for child pornography.

I am convinced that short of a great act of God, this situation will not improve to any significant degree, if in fact, it improves at all. But certainly if we do nothing it will continue to get worse. Already, one in 5 girls will be sexually abused before they turn 18. By 2018, one third of a billion children will have been sexually abused in this century. Most of them will have been abused many times, a significant percentage thousands of times.

There are things we can do to mitigate this disaster: we can join or support an NGO working in this field, like IJM; we can work to overcome poverty and homelessness in third world countries like Abbotsford, B.C.’s Barb Giraud who built a home for orphans in Uganda (YaaYa Barbs Home of Angels) by making and selling thousands of loaves of banana bread; or you can support people like Barb, or World Vision, or any of the reputable NGOs dealing with poverty.

YaaYa Barbs Home of Angels, Uganda

But the best thing you can do is to spread the word and to pray. This blog needs to reach tens of thousands of people so that we can amass an army of prayer warriors willing to pray for these children. Please, if the love of God is in you, please pass this blog post on through Facebook, Twitter, email, whatever, but give it the widest distribution possible. 

When you have done that I ask you to pray the Lord will raise up thousands of His people to pray, and, commit to praying my 3:15PM prayer, or something like it, every day. Thank you, and God bless.

Please read the title post for more information.