RAPE is a traumatic experience that impacts the victim in physical, psychological, and sociological ways. Even though the effects and aftermath of rape differ among victims, individuals tend to suffer from similar issues.
Long-term reactions may involve the development of coping mechanisms that will either benefit the victim, such as social support, or inhibit their recovery. Seeking support and professional resources may assist the victim in numerous ways – Wikipedia.

The free online encyclopaedia elucidates on consequences affecting victims, i.e: 1) Physical impacts may include gynaecological; pregnancy; sexually transmitted diseases: 2) psychological impacts, such as anxiety; post-traumatic stress disorder; depression; self-blame; suicide: sociological impacts and mistreatment of victims; secondary victimisation and victim-blaming.
Continuing, Wikipedia specifies: “Survivors of rape may often have anxiety and fear directly following their attack.” According to a study on the reactions after rape by the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 96 per cent of women said they were scared, shaking, or trembling a few hours after their attacks. After even more time passed, the previous symptoms decreased while the levels of depression, exhaustion, and restlessness increased.

After an attack, rape survivors experience heightened anxiety and fear. According to Dean G. Kilpatrick, a distinguished psychologist, survivors of rape have high levels of anxiety and phobia-related anxiety. This includes, but is not limited to feelings of dread; feeling nervous; feeling tense or uneasy; having panic attacks; having an irrational response to certain stimuli and having avoidance and/or escape responses.

The National Victim Centre and the Crime Victim’s Research and Treatment Centre released a report that found 31 per cent of women who were raped developed post-traumatic stress disorder at some point in their lives following their attacks.

A U.S. media house reported that a Washington daycare worker was arrested after the father of a five-year-old girl walked in on the man raping his daughter, according to police. The report stated that, looking for his daughter, the father walked into a classroom at the daycare building and found the 31-year-old male teacher with her, crouched behind a bookshelf, officials said.  The man allegedly told him that he was just having a “tickle fight” with the little girl.

Once they left the building, his daughter allegedly told her father that her teacher had touched her inappropriately and he immediately called Child Protective Services.  After CPS workers interviewed the girl, whom they described as bright and articulate, they went to talk to the teacher.

When asked to explain the allegations, the man admitted to touching her underneath her underwear, but said it was accidental.
Incidents of this nature proliferate worldwide in every society and even developed countries such as the USA have not been able to effectively deal with this scourge.
In Guyana, laws have been enacted to protect the vulnerable in society, but some of these predators are protected – most often because of the fear and/or the age-inhibiting inability of the victims, or worse; the complicity of the mother because she herself is fearful of consequences, especially if the authorities prove to be uncaring or unhelpful and the perpetrator is left free to wreak vengeance on the hapless and helpless mother and child; or he is the breadwinner, so they prefer to protect the child molester from the mandatory jail term for such offences rather than protect their children. Most often feel they have no choice because of lack of support systems; or lack of knowledge of and/or access to same.
What then could a society do to protect the innocents who are voiceless and absolutely vulnerable?

Education is the key. There is a dearth of information to the general public as to the measures one should take if they suspect that a child – or anyone — is being molested sexually, or abused in some way.

And there should be some escape avenues for victims that would not further traumatise them, such as separating them from their mothers, or a trusted, trustworthy caregiver.
There ought to be an inundation of pertinent information that could guide the society in the rights and wrongs of certain actions and the steps members of the public could take to deal with such situations, even if it is merely a suspicion it is always better to be safe rather than take the cautious route and a victim cannot find succour from horrendous circumstances and actions that colour their lives black.

Society needs to be au fait with the course of action open to the public for a holistic approach involving all stakeholders, so that perpetrators of such heinous crimes become aware that there is zero tolerance for abusive and predatory actions because, in the words of national poet Martin Carter, “All are involved.”