She's not doing anything wrong, SO WHY IS SHE IN DANGER?

Natalie Joy Lee slips beneath the radar to uncover why rape remains a largely unreported crime in Singapore.

In July 2015, Emily Doe* was sexually assaulted. International news outlets detailed how the 23-year-old American had attended a fraternity party at Stanford University, and was later “fingered” while she was unconscious by then-19-year old Brock Turner behind a dumpster. Shockingly, Brock defended himself, saying they were both drunk, and that because she remembered nothing from that night, she could not prove she didn’t consent to the act.

Sadly, it’s not just abroad that this is occurring. Closer to home, The Straits Times reported the sentencing of two youths on 29 July 2016 for raping a drunk 18-year-old girl, while CLEO reader Caroline* wrote in to tell us how she was raped four years ago on her 26th birthday.

Closer than you think

Caroline knew him as her fiancé’s cousin, and so it was quite common to see Gordon* at family gatherings. They were on friendly terms, and Caroline thought he was a decent guy until the married man repeatedly hit on her on the dance floor at Zouk, whispering “I can satisfy you in bed since you don’t have anyone,” even with his wife in the vicinity. Since it was her birthday and she had eight glasses of wine (nearly three times her usual limit), she shrugged it off and ignored him. A few of them then shuttled to Gordon’s house, and Caroline tagged along.

When they arrived, she went to one of the rooms and slept. The door was locked, but the intruder entered stealthily through the toilet of a co-joined room. Gordon pounced, smothered her mouth, then tugged her underwear down. She repeatedly asked him to stop but he sexually penetrated her with his finger, then proceeded to “rape her hard and fast like a maniac.”