There are several reasons why the rape victims should be heard, here are some: A. May inspire others to speak out; this way more of the victims will get the confidence to speak out make the society to embrace the cruelties of the crime and act upon it.

B. Educational purposes- the experiences that the society has had can be used to educate the entire community on the ills of the heinous act and it is an education that cannot be given better than the victims themselves, for a safer future society.

C. Public awareness- the victims should be allowed to speak so as to help heighten the public awareness on how to avoid being a victim and what to do incase it unfortunately happens, where to go and how to handle oneself.

D. Self re-invention- when the victims speak out, they will be regaining control of their self-esteem by catharsis, whereby speaking about the crime makes them pour out the pent up emotions ad regain themselves.

Consequences for speaking out.

There are however the negatives of speaking out on rape and these have for long kept the victims under suppression. These negatives of speaking out are majorly found in underdeveloped countries where it is a kind of taboo to expose any sexual acts beyond the bedroom hence the quiet or one may suffer the following:

A. Social Stigma -- the community as a whole may segregate you on the basis of the act that u went through. Some consider that an ultimate curse, ironically this is what fuels the crime even more since the aggressor knows he can use it to dehumanize a woman totally.

B. Cutting ties with family, friends-as the society shuns the victim, the effect may come closer and friends disappear and even the family sees the woman as unfit even to get married, hence many victims would rather be silent on this.

C. Fear of losing something / the unknown- many women have a profound fear that that they never know what they may lose if they spoke out and resort to dealing with it internally.

D. Humiliation, Shame- many are humiliated for sure and even earn nicknames on the consequences of the crime. Some communities will even bundle them together as outcasts that should not live with the rest of the society until such...

The victims of race due to their class, sexuality, gender or race should be taken with equal seriousness and justice done and seen to have been done to them all.
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