liens - GID

spouse, aggravated rape, gang rape, and suggests a need for special statutes
to hand these. Michalski (2005:617) refers to the need felt by some
scholars for the term abuse that embraces the various types of violence
- physical, psychological, economic, sexual, verbal, emotional or spiritual
abuse (e.g., DeKeseredy and MacLeod, 1997). Moore et al. (2007)
have found the term ‘sexual coercion’ more useful in their study of a
variety of sexual incidents in which the victim is subjected to a sexual
act, even if he or she does not actively protest. Thus the girl who agrees
to sex because it is her means of obtaining money for pressing needs or
out of fear that if she does not permit it her boyfriend might have sex
with another, is said to have experienced coerced sex. Thus rape and
defilement would be types of coerced sex.
As a social phenomenon, sexual violence can best be understood within
its ethnographic context; Ilika 2005 remarks thus:
… there are cultural and traditional differences in the perception of what
constitutes intimate partner violence. What is considered as partner violence
by international organisations or agencies or in Europe and America may
not be perceived as violence in Africa. [78]
And many studies affirm this (Michalski: 2005; Wood: 2005; Muganyizi,
Kilewo and Moshiro 2004; Henry and Fayorsey 2002). Moore et al.
(2007: 63) remark thus: ‘What is experienced as coercion is gender and
culturally specific’, a comment that is doubly significant given that what
men see as rape may not be the same as what women experiencing it
perceive. Factoring in of context is also critical for the adoption of
policy options that are culturally sensitive and therefore likely to gain
community support when implemented. As the Ghana Demographic and
Health Survey 2008 (GDHS 2008) acknowledges: ‘... a) what constitutes
violence or abuse varies across cultures and individuals; b) a culture of
silence usually surrounds domestic violence and can affect reporting;
and c) the sensitivity of the topic ...’ 1
While sadism accounts for gratuitous violence, inordinate concupiscence
may explain rape, paedophilia and other forms of sexual violence
in both urban and rural settings. The question of how bad rape really is
has sometimes been posed (see Baber 1987), with answers differenti-
1
See Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), Ghana Health Service (GHS), and ICF Macro.
2009. Ghana Demographic and Health Survey 2008. Accra, Ghana: GSS, GHS, and
ICF Macro. P.300
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