Sexual exploitation of young woman by powerful men is not a new phenomenon. It has been happening from time immemorial, you can find the roots in the bible with King Solomon and others.
But with time and civilization there became a new order, a new set of rules, and guiding principles, a new understanding of morality. Sexual exploitation of young women is condemned as immoral, illegal and unacceptable, especially in Western societies. However, some argue that there are cases in which the perpetrators cannot help themselves because they suffer from some kind of psychological/mental conditions most commonly among them is pedophilia.
What is Pedophillia(alternatively spelt paedophilia)? It is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. People suffering from these conditions should be kept far away from positions of power. It is a dangerous mix. When Pedophiles are in positions of power, it is like willfully handing the keys to your car with a driver with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 2.00 and that is dangerous and irresponsible.
Then there is another category of child molesters and sexual predators, they are men with power who believe their power extends to the abuse of vulnerable women for self gratification and massaging of their egoes. They feel they can just take what they want, when they want from whomever they want.
According to an interview on Spiegel online Van der Dennen explains it this way: “Powerful men have both an overactive libido as compared to ‘normal’ men, but they are also more willing to gamble that they can get away with their sexual activities whenever and wherever. Power is a great aphrodisiac, as Kissinger said. Powerful men almost automatically expect other people to do their bidding. Sex is just part of that game. Powerful women also have larger-than-average sexual appetites.” However, we scarcely see that same behavior exhibited by women, does it mean women have better self control than men?
While this may very well be the case, it does not apply to all powerful men, take for instance there isn’t one incident of sexual misconduct by president Obama that can be found anywhere, and that is not for lack of trying, so is the case for many other powerful men, so the problem has to be one of self control and morals.
This situation has been all too common in Dominica during the past decade or so. We have heard many, many heart wrenching stories of young women who were abused, and left broken, haunted, and ashamed in the shadows. As a society of Godly people of conscience as we call ourselves, we must lend our support to the victims and condemn the perpetrators no matter what high office they hold.
Here is a particular case, among the many cases. Recently, a woman came forward to tell her heartbreaking story, no one sought her out, requested that she did, or coerced her into doing so, she was very confident that what she was saying is the truth, and very adamant to tell it. Please note that telling these stories are never as easy as it appears, it takes a lot of courage to do so, especially when the accused are men in power who can make their lives a living hell, and it takes a very evil, sick person to willfully tells humiliating stories about themselves just to hurt another person, although this happens in some cases we have to admit.
This young lady is from the Village of Vielle Case, the same village where Roosevelt Skerrit Dominica’s Prime Minister is from. She is now an adult, but she alleges that this sexual assault on her occured when she was a student at the Portsmouth Secondary School, when Roosevelt was a teacher and she was a 14 year old student. She insisted that we use her name in telling this story, because Vella Shermanda Thomas stands by her story. She specifically asked that we use her middle name, because she alleges that Roosevelt Skerrit is very familiar with that name.
The details of the story is disgusting, so disgusting, that I wish not to write it here, based on the details if true, it would appear that this perpetrator is not only a predator, but a pervert who humiliates his prey as well.
The account of that story is on record in Vella’s voice, the pain and humiliation she no doubt endures as she tells that story is unmistakable. Yet she courageously tells it, even cognizant of the fact that there may be dire consequences for telling it, since she had already suffered for making it known.
Her story is not the only one, there are many stories like hers out there.These men violate and abuse the women of Dominica unhindered, and the worse part of it is that they do it sometimes in their official Government offices in exchange for Government favors. When the stories come out they use state resources and their ever willing and ready army of defenders to discredit and demonize their victims in their defense.
Yes we have to admit that the same things happen in other countries, we are aware of the never ending sexual scandals by powerful men and America, but this is no excuse for us to normalize and accept it in our little Island of Dominica. No matter where is happens it should be condemned and the perpetrators should be held accountable.
Vella,speaks of being haunted by that traumatic experience, she refuses to remain in the shadows. When asked why are you now telling the story, she answer was, “I want the Dominicans to know what kind of man their Prime Minister is, he is a con artist, a rapist and a crook, I want to say my country from this man.”
Just like all the other stories of sexual misconduct by powerful men in Dominica, we cannot provide the definite physical proof for Vella’s story, so we cannot confirm whether it is true of false, we leave that to the judgement of the reader, but we believe we are doing the right thing to offer Vella our platform to tell her story. We take matters of sexual predatory behavior by powerful men in the high offices of the country very seriously.. We encourage all women who are broken, silent and in the shadows to be encouraged by Vella and heal yourself, mend yourself, find your voice, and come out of the shadows!
The sad thing is that women who are victims are ashamed and afraid to speak. Our society judge them …for speaking, so they remain silent and suffer the raging humiliation which erodes their self esteem over time.
The visible effects are seen sometimes as they turn to drugs, or live a careless life, have many children as they look for solace in other men, who continue to use them and discard them. Some of the bravest speak out maybe years after, making their stories even less believable….while the culprits continue living their lives free to repeat their heinous crimes.