What Should We Do to Stand Against Sexual Violence in Indonesia?

In this modern era, news about sexual violence is often heard through the media. This is because it is easier for people to find news and information through the internet, which is now growing so fast. The news annotates us that mostly, sexual violencefrequently happens to women. 

Women have their own body autonomy and somehow society ignores women's rights about it. It cannot be denied, it is a fact that we must be aware of. Tragically, this act of sexual violence can happen at any time and to anyone. In addition, perpetrators of violence cases are not only foreigners but mostly people closest to them. Therefore, various new actions are needed starting from the youth to fight sexual violence.

The first step that can be taken by the youth is by increasing knowledge and insight about violence against women. It is intended that the millennial generation who later will be the successor of awareness not to do violence and do not become victims of violence. In addition, millennials, especially women, also need to be improved skills so that later there will be no gender differences. 

And there are the roles of Indonesian youth as millennials in preventing violence against women, which are by socializing violence against women and increasing insight, knowledge and skills.

The second step that can be taken by the youth to eradicate cases of sexual violence is not to normalize the rape culture. Rape culture is an environment where rape is considered common place and sexual harassment is normalized. Some of the rape culture actions that are often found are blaming victims by examining the victim's clothes and behavior. 

This is usually found by asking the victim, such as saying "what were you wearing at the time of the incident?", and other things that cornered the victim. This action is problematic because it can affect the mental state of the victim. Therefore, the younger generation has a very important role to refute the paradigms that have been embedded in society by socializing with others that the act of rape culture should not be normalized and must be stopped.

The last step that can be taken by the younger generation is to give support to victims of sexual harassment. This can be started by giving the victim a space to speak up until accompanying them to get the justice they deserve. 

This step was chosen because when victims of sexual harassment are voicing their unpleasant experiences, often the society tries to blame the victims for not being careful. In fact, often when the victim tries to report the experience of being harassed to the authorities, the casualty gets awful conduct once more. Sometimes they are being laughed at and don't get serious action by the authorities. This creates distrust of the victim to the justice of our country. Therefore, what can be done is to provide space for victims to voice their rights. 

In conclusion, the role of youth is very influential in controlling cases of sexual violence in Indonesia. Moreover, I also state that everyone must have high self-control so that incidents of sexual violence do not recur. I hope that any of the reader who feel that sexual harassment is the responsibility of the victim, after reading this article, will understand that you are totally wrong.