Our Desk | On rape talk stigma in the city

The two cases of rape of minors reported by the Judiciary Police yesterday can be described as nothing short of appalling, especially as one of the little girls was raped by her own father.

Talk of rape is considered a taboo in Macau, and the problem with that is it shuts down important conversations.

I think society still believes that rape is a topic that should be avoided, but in reality, there is so much more damage to the victim when the matter is left unspoken about.

I would agree that there is no amount of precautionary measures that could guarantee the prevention of such a sickening act.

According to data from the Public Prosecutions Office, of the 25 reported allegations of sexual abuse against children under 14 years old, only three proceeded to court. Of these, only one resulted in official charges.

Sexual assault cases involving minors are not new. Last year, a non-resident worker who allegedly sexually molested students at a local kindergarten was investigated, and another domestic worker was charged with sexually assaulting a young boy while bathing him.

Rape in general, whether it involves a minor, an adult, or marital rape, is something that society is still not comfortable discussing.

In Macau and elsewhere, I generally think that victims or families of the victims rarely come forward with these allegations.

The fact that the mother of the little girl who was raped by his father waited until exams were over before filing a complaint against her husband shows firstly, the mother’s priorities, which I think is so normal within traditional families as they really prioritize the studies and high grades of their children amongst all things, and secondly, that maybe she had second thoughts about reporting the rape to the PJ out of embarrassment.

But delaying the filing of a complaint seems so unreasonable and as if it was dismissing the gravity of the sexual act that occurred to her child.

The Macau Penal Code states that anyone who commits an act of sexual intercourse with or under the age of 14 shall be punished by imprisonment of one to eight years.

Although the cases were submitted to the Public Prosecution Office, it always remained unknown how long these cases would take to be resolved.

For the two children to recall the sexual acts of the perpetrators in court is also a difficult process – which I think is also one of the reasons that many would prefer to keep silent, as the process of revisiting the incidents is not easy.

In Hong Kong, a similar case recently occurred, and the father was sentenced to 16 years in jail for raping and molesting his daughter 12 times over nearly a decade.

According to Hong Kong reports, the 12 incidents took place in the family flat when the victim was aged between nine to 17 years old.

I think there is a need to break this kind of taboo in the city, and elsewhere.

The stigma and shame that lies around the word “rape” remains so present that it seems as if remaining silent or belittling such an act would be better.

However, it should also be acknowledged that part of breaking the silence around these rape cases mostly affects the victims as they may have already suffered from traumatic stress, shame and embarrassment, which, I think, are unavoidable.