When Rape is OK

Published on February 18, 2012 by The Editor · No Comments

The Wowster on a mentality that accepts rape as an occupational hazard

Isha Nembhard was once a Peckham gang member in London.

One of the trade offs was a willingness to be sexually abused, even rape is ok, in order to gain acceptance.

It was the price girls paid to belong to the 80-strong gang where being abused was part of the culture.

It became “normalised” she says and adds:

“Girls who are getting treated very badly knew know what they are getting into. They sleep with a boy and the boy asks if she will sleep with all his friends.”

Nembhard, 20, who was a drug dealer, says it’s a sign of the times, most girls are now sexually experienced before the age of 16.

Even if they are treated like scum, their low self esteem makes the regular abuse bearable in order to be accepted whatever the price.

Social networks such as Facebook had helped to encourage promiscuity. “You’ve got young girls exposing themselves on there, making it normal.”

Meanwhile £1.2 million of new money has been put into the government’s anti gang strategy. But as long as with the other hand they are shredding social safety nets that could help the Nembhards of this world, it’s a sad joke

The real world…

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Photograph: Antonio Olmos for the Observer