I said two days ago that our vision is limited only by our ability to reason and to reason; the reactions to the headline in Wednesday’s Guardian by Minister of Social Services and Urban Development Lanisha Rolle, I feel proves this point.

The media printed the headline “Rolle: Marital rape is a private issue” and they did so to sell papers, as is their right, but it would seem that most of us never got past the headline itself, even as the minister went on to explain her comment and the result of this is the current uproar that we have, which in my opinion, has been brought about due to the minister’s poor choice of words and by a set of people that seem determined, due to their desire to be politically correct, to now condemn the minister or anyone else that they see as being as indifferent to the matter of marital rape.

“Rolle: Marital rape is a private issue – Minister says law must have wide support of public” – The Nassau Guardian 20^th December 2017

Excerpt from this article; “Minister of Social Services and Urban Development Lanisha Rolle said yesterday that marital rape is a private issue and before the government considers legislation in relation to it, a public discussion must take place.

UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women Dubravka Simonovic suggested last week that The Bahamas is out of step with the United Nations’ Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) as it has failed to criminalize the act.

“Well certainly we do not support any form of violence against women,” Rolle told reporters outside Cabinet.

“That is the stance the country has taken. Certainly I am one that supports that.

“In relation to marital rape, I’ve always said it is an issue that is private.

“It can become public, but we want to start where marriage is sacred and marriage is private, and so if we are going to legislate any type of law to affect marital couples and relationships between those parties, it is proper to have a conversation with the wider community to get their perspective on how they feel about it.

“Certainly there are existing laws that deal with domestic violence, that deal with sexual offenses; there are laws that are on the books at this time.

“The Penal Code covers several offenses in relation to acts and rape is one of them; assault is another.
“But when we get into the sanctuary of marriage, it’s very, very important, I feel, because this relates to both parties, and nobody else would be there other than those two parties.

“So if we are going to legislate something like that, it must be something where we have the wide support of the community, because we want to protect the privacy of individuals and of marriages and that’s very, very important.”

First, I would like to address the subject of the minister’s use of language; in the very paragraph if she had said “…….that rape was a PERSONAL issue and before the government considers legislation in relation to it, a public discussion must take place”, would we have had this uproar?

Indeed, the issue of marital rape and the act itself is a very personal one and I feel this is why most cases may go unreported, so now to bring about legislation to cover matters that may be private/personal, like the minister says “….and if we are going to  legislate any type of law to affect martial couples and relationships between these parties, it is proper to have a conversation with the wider community to get their perspective on how they feel about it.”

It would appear to me that the Minister of Social Services and Urban Renewal is suggesting that we need to strike a balance between a very sensitive subject, matrimonial affairs, the crime of rape and the legislation of person’s personal lives.  But it would seem that total lack of vision, as to what she is attempting to suggest is being misinterpreted, intentional or unintentionally by those that lack the ability/capacity to comprehend or reason out exactly what would be the ramifications of blind legislation i.e. simply criminalizing marital rape without the necessary safeguards.

It is my personal belief that marital rape as with any other type of rape is wrong but indeed in this instance, which crosses over into the private and personal lives of many persons in a way that many may not understand; bear in mind you now have someone you have trusted enough to exchange marital vows with inflicting violence upon you and violating you in a way that you would have never imagined, there is so much more to now take into consideration which cannot be solved by a ‘catch all’ law that criminalization of marital rape would bring about; there is no vision in that type of legislation and a need, as recommended by the Minister of Social Affairs and Urban Renewal, to have a conversation with the community at large as to a way forward.

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