Speak Up! (An Original Short Story Explaining Why Men Have To Speak Up Against Rape)

“Look at how she’s dressed; if she’s raped, we won’t hear the last of it.” Chima mentioned to Bayo. Bayo, puzzled at first, wondered if he should express or keep his opinion to himself. Chima’s next statement helped make the decision.

“These girls don’t know that man’s always hot. They dare us to rape them through their dresses.”

“Chima, could you just stop it? What is wrong with you man? So a woman should be raped because she expresses her sexuality? What do you want? For her to wear a long drab gown? Even if she did Chima, you and I know that you would undress her in your mind.” Bayo fumed as Chima looked on dazzled. But Bayo wasn’t finished.

“If you say her dress is the cause of rape, why don’t you rape the mad woman on our street? Admit it, you have a character problem. You must learn to control yourself. You are not an animal. Think with what is between your ears and not what is between your legs.” Bayo concluded.

“Hmm,” Chima replied, slowly choosing his words. “You’ve made valid points. it is important that we men also speak up against rape. But don’t you think you should have spoken up before now? Before I raped Chidima…”

“What…?”

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This is my entry for the Steemit, Together Against Injustice Contest by @gandhibaba and “inspired by @sndbox, @majes.tytyty, @hr1, @stach, @steem-lagos and @surpassinggoogle through their altruism on the blockchain”. A maximum word length of 250 words was stipulated, hence the brevity.

My point is that men who rape, and those who refuse to speak up should be blamed for rape, rather than the victims of rape. But I’m more of a story teller than a writer so I decided to express my point and its urgency by writing a short story instead.

If you may, resteem this to your followers that we may all speak up in our own ways.

Thanks for reading.

Say no to rape.

Blessings.

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