Rape

Recent awareness of rape in India on public media has highlighted one of the worst aspects of sexism. Violence against women perpetrated by men who feel entitled to do so with impunity. This is not only an issue of economic deprivation or educational deficits. It is an issue of religion as well. All world religions have some aspects of sexist practice or dogma. This is often used to justify cultural sexism.

Family values, as preached by religious citizens in the U.S., tend to be sexist. The ideal of a heterosexual family with a paternal money-earner and a housebound matron is a form of sexual assignment. The male, mobile and moneyed, has the power. The female, less mobile and moneyed, can be controlled by the male. This is all excused in this ideology because it is allegedly "for the good of the children". It actually is a form of gender indoctrination of the children to ensure male superiority in the future. 

Most religions are directed by men. In countries where religions are wedded to ruling authority, religious doctrine is used to oppress women. Head scarves are the soft shackles of Islam and Orthodox Judaism. Prohibition of birth control is the invisible, but equally effective, shackle of Roman Catholicism.

Until religion and culture are purged of sexism, rape will be a common occurrence. Secular sex education is a preventative remedy for rape in society. Chemical or physical castration, frequently held up as deterrents, simply indicate a surrender to sexism in society while brutalizing its more violent victims, sexually ignorant and frustrated men. More brutality is not a cure for brutality. 

A secular humanist must look at sexuality scientifically by becoming educated about the dynamics of sex. This is in itself a deterrent to sexism and its terrible consequences for individuals and society. Part of any humanist practice entails promoting and pursuing individual and social health. This includes promoting and pursuing individual sexual health and social sexual health.