Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-5756884-20130221101816

In a recent discussion about Hana-chans awful almost-rape experiences, Panda-chan mentioned following disturbing facts:

"Victim blaming is a really common problem in today's society, especially when it comes to rape victims. Sometimes it's so bad that even the victims end up blaming themselves, thinking it's their fault that they were raped, even if all the fault lies entirely on the rapist and not the victim. Not only that, after Hana was almost raped, I recall reading readers' comments saying that Hana deserved it and that Ango wasn't to blame at all."

This news really agitated me - after all, Ango was totally the criminal in that rape attempt incident - no matter how furious he was, raping a person (be it a male or female) is a most terrible crime that absolutely cannot be excused, never.

Ango just wanted to hurt Hana as much as possible because he couldn't punish Takashi for his deeds anymore and so shifted his hatred towards the teacher to his innocent daughter. Hana was never at fault for Ango trying to rape her to begin with. That's a so-called "rape myth".

I recently came across a very interesting one-shot manga that deals with the matter of rape, the suffering of victims and many "myths" that still circle in society about rape and make the victims still suffer even after the rape incident itself is over; the so-called "Second Rape". I'd seriously recommend to read this manga to all of those who still think the victim usually brings the rape on him-/herself.

Story's called Kyokou Shinwa ~Sekando Reipu~, the third one in a manga stories collection. The link is: http://mangafox.me/manga/kakene_nashi_no_love_torihiki/ By the way, "Bitter Virgin" (http://mangafox.me/manga/bitter_virgin/) is also a very serious manga series dealing with the trauma and suffering of a girl abused by her stepfather which got pregnant from her assailant. Totally to recommend.

Connected to the matter of rape, victim blame and rape myths, I'd really like to ask all of you for your own opinion on this hot topic and what you think should be done by the 7 Seeds project team members to ensure that such crimes can never happen again - after all, prevention is still better than any victim suffering and criminal punishments. 