Dispelling common Myths about Rape

Rape is the act of forcefully having sex with another without their consent. The act of rape is completed on penetration. Rape may occur even when a person purports to consent if they are intoxicated and the perpetrator is aware that the person is not in their rightful mind to give legal consent.
There are many other cases under the law where rape may be inferred but for this article the focus is on the popular cases of rape where violence or force is used to have sex with another.

There are many common myths that people infer from rape. This may cause people to sometimes judge the victim and excuse the acts of the rapist. On the other hand people may ignore a rapist in their environment because they assume a rapist looks a particular way.

Common Myths:

1) Rape is a non-violent crime- the truth of the matter is that rape is a violent crime that affects many women annually and is usually committed under threat of great bodily harm. 90% of rape victims are threatened with physical violence.

2) The primary motive for rape is sexual- The reality of the matter is that most rapists are motivated by the need to dominate, humiliate, control, brutalize and overpower another human being. Rape is an act of violence acted out sexually. Research continues to show that the majority of convicted rapists had available sexual partners when they committed rape.

Read more: http://socyberty.com/crime/dispelling-common-myths-about-rape/#ixzz1F6bmw4Ey

The Insanity Defence and established precedents for the defence

The insanity defense also known as not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI) is used by an accused charged with a criminal offense, in particular murder, with the aim of avoiding the legally prescribed consequences of their crimes.

In criminal law, for one to be found guilty of a crime, it must be proved that there was actus rea and mens rea. In other words the person committed the unlawful act (actus rea) and did so with malice afore thought or had reasonable knowledge that their action would result to what they are charged with (mens rea).

When one pleads insanity or NGRI they are in fact saying that although they committed the act they are not guilty because they had no malice aforethought (mens rea).

Legal Precedents on Insanity Defense in the USA

1) The M’Naghten Rule (1843)- Under this rule, one is assumed sane unless it can be proved that at the time of committing the act, they were laboring under such a defect of reason (from a disease of the mind) that they did not know the nature and quality of the act they were doing, or they did not know that what they were doing was wrong.

2) The Irresistible Impulse Rule- This view holds that an accused person might not be responsible for their acts even if they knew what they were doing was wrong if they had lost the power to choose between right and wrong. In other words, the person could not avoid doing the act in question because they were compelled beyond their will to commit the act.

3) The Durham Rule- In a 1954 US court of Appeals ruling, the insanity rule was broadened. Mr. Justice David Bazelon was of the view that the previous precedents did not allow for a sufficient application of scientific knowledge of mental illness and proposed a test that would be based on this knowledge. Under this rule, the accused is not criminally liable if his or her unlawful act was the product of mental disease or mental defect. This rule is often referred to as the product test.

Read more: http://socyberty.com/law/the-insanity-defense-and-established-legal-precedents-for-the-defense/#ixzz1F6Zd7BrW

The dangers of blindly accepting the so called medical studies

More and more we hear of scientific or medical studies suggesting that a particular thing is right or beneficial for us and those concerned start preaching it as gospel truth. Most of these studies are sponsored by the big pharmaceutical companies who are in the business of selling drugs.

These studies even when not proven, seem to influence how people live their lives as well as influencing the dependence on pharmaceutical drugs. In the Western world, pharmaceutical drugs seem to be prescribed for everything even when an alternative treatment would suffice. Sometimes rest and change of lifestyle is all that is needed.

The problem seems to be that in the generation we live in more and more people have become dependant on the systems of this world for their existence. The media has played a great part in bringing about this phenomena. The media parades information in way that influences thinking and most people have become victims of the misinformation that is constantly paraded to them.

In the process of this dependence people have lost that basic tenet that all human beings possess; common sense. If one were to carefully follow the news about health research one would be left dizzy because of the many contradictions.

Some of the busted Myths :

One day garlic is said to lower bad cholesterol, then after more studies, it does not. Another time hormone replacement reduces the risk of heart disease in postmenopausal women, then a bigger study finds that it does not, and in fact it raises the risk of breast cancer.

Read more: http://healthmad.com/health/the-dangers-of-blindly-accepting-the-so-called-medical-studies/

The Interesting but confusing phenomena of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR), dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) formerly known as multiple personality Disorder (MPD), is a dramatic dissociate disorder in which a patient manifest two or more distinct identities that alternate in some way in taking control of behavior.

The person may also be unable to recall important personal information which cannot be explained by ordinary forgetting. Each identity that the person manifest may appear to have a different personal history, self image, and name, although there maybe some identities that are only partially distinct and independent from other identities.

In most cases the one identity that is most frequently encountered and carries the person’s real name is the host identity. The host identity in many cases is not the original identity. The alter identities may differ in striking ways involving gender, age, handedness, handwriting, sexual orientation, predominant affect, foreign languages spoken, and general knowledge.

Needs and behaviors inhibited in the primary or host identity are usually liberal displayed by one or more alter identities. Roles like that of a child and someone of the opposite sex are extremely common.

Alter identities take control at different points in time and the switches typically occur very quickly (matter of seconds). There are however also cases of gradual switches of identities. When switches occur, it is often easy to observe the gaps in memories for things that have happened to other identities.

In reality DID is a condition in which normally integrated aspects of memory, identity, and unconsciousness are no longer integrated. The presence of more than one identity and significant amnesia for what alter identities have experienced are not the only symptoms of DID.

Read more: http://healthmad.com/mental-health/the-interesting-but-confusing-phenomena-of-dissociative-identity-disorder-did/#ixzz1EXX2SA1U

The Reactive America needs to learn how to Respond

When one observes the American society from a detached mindset, one is surprised at how predictive it is. It is almost like people are programmed to think and act in a particular way.

One may argue that this is true of all societies, but this writer’s observation is that in the USA, it seems almost robotic. The same things seem to repeat themselves and instead of dealing with the root cause of the problem, issues are glossed over by utilizing profiles, prejudices and judgments and coming to an expected conclusion.

Emotions are hyped with patriotic sentiments used to make anyone who refuses to conform seem disloyal. A case in point is the reaction to the much publicized shooting in Tucson, Arizona of a senator and others which left six people dead one of which was a Nine year old girl and a judge. The purported shock of the nation was surprising considering that this seems to be a daily occurrence in the USA.

One wonders whether the reaction that was witnessed was caused by the fact that there was a senator involved. On the same day that the Tucson shooting happened, there were local reports of two teenagers who had been shot in Los Angeles, California. This was not national news because it happens everyday. Yet when the Arizona shooting happened there was a media reaction which hyped people’s emotions to start the blame game.

Previous inflammatory remarks by politicians were being blamed for the shooting without even trying to understand the motivation behind the shooting. The democrats blamed the Republicans while the Republicans blamed the Democrats. The irony of this tragedy is that the nine year old girl that died was born on 9/11 a day that reminds Americans of violence against her. Was it perhaps something that people needed to reflect on and find meaning?

Read more: http://socyberty.com/issues/the-reactive-america-needs-to-learn-how-to-respond/#ixzz1EXVUGCWa

It time to be sensitive to homeless people

The reaction to the discovery of the homeless man with the “golden radio voice”, Ted Williams, is amazing. Before the discovery of his gift, the 53 years old man was just another homeless man that perhaps many passed and ignored. Within a week however, Williams has had offers for employment right and left from many known institutions, including the Cleveland Cavaliers.
It is very easy for anyone to become homeless in America. In fact it is said that most people are one check away from being homeless. Most people have little community ties or strong families that could sustain one in times of need.

This is because the society is based or founded on individualism. Further few people have good savings, if any, that could help in difficult times. When things go wrong financially, most people discover they are alone. Even when someone steps in to help, unless they offer employment, the help is short lived.

Many people assume that the homeless are just some losers who perhaps have nothing to offer society than their panhandling and a story that no one cares to hear. Some will judge them as lazy and may want nothing to do with them. Yet, when a man with so much talent and education like Ted Williams is exposed to us, what do we say?

The fact of the matter is that there are many people who are homeless because they have mental health conditions and as a result cannot work. Some like those with schizophrenia may be misunderstood and may find solace only in the streets. Then there are the many sad cases of veterans who come back from war and find they have nothing and end up homeless. Many of them also suffer from Post traumatic Stress Disorder because of the war experience.

Read more: http://socyberty.com/organizations/it-is-time-to-be-sensitive-to-homeless-people/

The Darkest side of Human trafficking

Many times we hear of human trafficking and to many it means nothing because it does not involve them. To others human trafficking is just another moral dilemma that does not concern them. After all this kind of thing only happen to the poor from the so called “third world countries” who are easy prey to the dogs involved in the practice.

But what is human trafficking?


Human trafficking is the unlawful trading of human beings “for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor”. In reality human trafficking is a form of modern day slavery with more sinister motives and capturing the lowest attribute of the human being.

Most of the trade is carried out in the Western world with their victims coming from poorer nations and involves sexual coercion and exploitation. Most of the victims are lured through the Internet with promises of a better life in the Western world.

Some are lured by the middle men recruited by the perverts to identify those to be exploited. Others particularly children, are kidnapped and stripped of their rights as they are moved away from their homeland and families.

Africans and Asians, where the victims are mainly from, have strong family ties and most of the victims will be lured with the promise that through them their families lives will be made better. Obviously they assume they are coming to do legitimate work.

Once they get to the country of destination they are hit with the reality that they are sex slaves and they have no way out. Their passport will be confiscated and they are warned not to talk to anyone. They will be made to do things they never knew existed with no right to say no.

The Sad story of Lolita:

This writer came across the story of a twenty six years old woman named Lolita who is a victim of human trafficking. Lolita’s story is heart rendering and will make you angry, sad, or ashamed to be associated with human beings that do such things to other human beings.

Read more: http://socyberty.com/issues/the-darkest-side-of-human-trafficking/