JAMAICA
The Gleaner
As usual, when Jamaicans have a conversation about sex, it all goes sideways.
The current debate on the definition of ‘rape’ and age of ‘consent’ has majored in the minor (pun intended). The word ‘rape’ has its roots (Latin ‘rapere’) in 15th-century England and is related to the Latin verb ‘stuprare’, which means ‘to defile, ravish, violate,’ and the noun ‘stuprum’ (literally ‘disgrace’), meaning ‘to abduct (a woman), ravish’; also ‘seduce (a man)’.
So, the origins of ‘rape’ are gender neutral, and the word carried more of a kidnapping or stealing connotation (‘to seize and take away by force’; ‘to snatch, to grab, to carry off’), rather than any sexually explicit intent. The essence of rape has always been the taking of innocence by force rather than the modern semantic obsession with ‘penetration’ and ‘vaginas’. Following British legal tradition like sheep for 500 years, we’re now debating whether statutory rape should be decided by a number (age) or an orifice.
While we argue endlessly, young women and men of all ages are regularly abused sexually by persons society hold in high esteem. Not only do we seem unable to stem the apparently ingrained cultural tide, we’re incapable of recognising the problem.
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