I recall that while growing up, guys had
some silly way of explaining away forceful sexual encounters with girls.
Having been brought up to believe that women would naturally turn down
advances even if they were interested, these guys pleaded that they did
not consider forced intimacy with girls a crime. As far as they knew,
the girl desired it as much as they did but since she was too timid to
own up to it, they merely helped her to make up her mind. So they did
not think they did anything criminal.
I do not remember that any of these cases
went beyond some manner of amicable appeasement from the family of the
aggressors to the families of the victims. Certainly, none of these
neighbhourhood incidents got as far being reported to the police. In the
estimation of families in those days, these were issues to lock up in
the cupboard, skeletons never to be exposed to the outside world. They
talked in hushed tones fearing that if anyone outside the two families
got wind of the gist, there would be a lot of stigma surrounding the
victim and her family such that the girl may never find a suitor.
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