It must be stated clearly: rape is never justified.
No excuse is ever found where a person’s soul has died.
Dignity is ripped away, and permanent trauma is sewn,
Into the hearts of survivors whose pain is left unknown.
Sexual harassment is a line that must never be crossed;
When boundaries are broken, a person’s peace is lost.
Arguments are heard where the victim is blamed,
Where the choice of their clothing is cruelly named.
It is said that the night was too late for a walk,
Or that drunkenness invited the predator’s stalk.
It is claimed that a dance was a silent “yes,”
As if a rhythm gives a right to cause such distress.
But it must be remembered: if consent was not given,
A crime was committed, and a life was un-driven.
This burden is carried by women and men alike,
For the lightning of trauma does not care where it strikes.
The sacredness of the act is so often ignored,
While the bodies of the vulnerable are treated like a board.
The blame is turned back on the ones who were hurt,
Told that the “temptation” was found in a skirt.
Because money was sent, or because a door was locked,
The truth of the assault is too often mocked.
Stories are hidden of the boy in the room,
Where power was used to seal his quiet doom.
Or the girl from the shadows, in need of a hand,
Whose desperation was used as a platform to stand.
Cruel things are done by those who should lead,
Ignoring the cries, ignoring the need.
The child who could barely speak a word was taken,
Her life was discarded, her tiny soul shaken.
The student was drugged while she thought she was safe,
Left with a memory that she cannot erase.
The man was betrayed and broken by peers,
His masculinity used to fuel his own fears.
The wife is ignored in her own marriage bed,
Where “price” is the reason consent is left dead.
Rape is not justifiable.
The law is clear, and the act is illegal.
No defense should be built for what is purely evil.
The injustice is covered by a society’s veil,
But the stories are leaking; the system is frail.
The silence must be broken. This tide can be turned.
By the lessons of respect that must finally be learned.
Together, the cycle is stopped.
Together, the truth is dropped.
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