THE gruesome rape of a 30-year-old woman last week brought home, graphically, the realities of sexual assault and why many victims suffer in silence. On Monday last, it was widely reported that a Venezuelan woman was raped, sodomised and beaten by a man.

The article, which was shared extensively on social media, saw many expressing their varying views, while some blamed her for the traumatic experience because of her line of work – sex work. Many opined that the ordeal should not be categorised as ‘rape’ because of the woman’s profession.

Speaking about the incident was Miriam Edwards, the Executive Director of the Guyana Sex Work Coalition, who told the Guyana Chronicle that the stigma attached to sex work in Guyana results in women and transgender persons suffering sexual assault, abuse and discrimination.

“We all know that sex workers face a high level of stigma in society with some persons of the moral belief that sex workers are wicked people,” Edwards said adding: “…a lot of times their basic human rights are being trampled upon.”

Women in this line of work are often dehumanised and treated with very little to no respect, and so, they become accustomed to this and often times fail to realise their human rights and their right to withdraw their consent during sexual intercourse.

VICTIM BLAMING
Survivors of rape are often blamed. Questions like: “What were you wearing? Why were you there? Why were you there so late?” Many victims are told to remain quiet, to forget it happened and to move on with their lives.
Edwards said that there are many women and transgender sex workers who lodged complaints of assault through the coalition; however, they are never taken seriously unless much noise is made.

She noted that the most hurtful part of it all, is that often times it is other women and female police officers who tend to degrade and discriminate against these workers who were assaulted, making remarks like: “you should look for other work” and “it good for you, that’s your job.”

ACCOUNTABILITY
Meanwhile, Joel Simpson, the Co-Chairperson of the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) in Guyana, said that acts of violence meted out towards sex workers and especially those who are from the LGBTQ community are often overlooked or sometimes forgotten.

“Unfortunately, and sadly, violence against particularly transgender sex workers is a daily reality for them in their occupation and that violence is committed with a certain level of impunity and perpetrators of that violence feel justified in meting out violence against transgender and sex workers.”

He added that, while over the years the response of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) has improved, when such crimes are reported, there is still much more work to be done as it relates to professionalism, respect, and in some cases, basic human decency.

However, Simpson said, “A huge part of the solution is training. What needs to happen is…sexuality and gender issues need to be part of the police training curriculum at police college because that is where they are molded and trained instead of waiting until they come out into the force.”

He explained that there is also the need for accountability, since too many times when cases of sexual harassment and discrimination are reported from the LGBTQ community and sex workers, they are swept under the rug or put on a waiting list.

“We have to have accountable systems and in Guyana our systems of accountability just don’t work. There are bodies like the Police Complaints Authority and the Office of Professional Responsibility and so forth,” Simpson highlighted adding: “These bodies do not work efficiently. Sometimes you send a letter of complaint and you take three months before you get a response saying that the matter is going to be investigated.

“Nowhere in the world could that be acceptable that somebody is reporting violence and they are getting just an acknowledgement three months later and this is our own experience working with some of these bodies.”