When people are raped or defiled, the more important question that is usually on the mind of everyone is: What next for the victims?

There was a time a friend went through such an ordeal and all of her close friends didn't talk about it. They stayed away from discussions about the issue because they didn't want to hurt her further. They gave her a normal treatment.

They explained that at her age and with her personality, the treatment they gave her was the best form of therapy for her. She easily left her depressed state and quickly picked up her life.

But I shudder to think if we had done otherwise.

For instance, there's a movie where the lead character sleeps around with multiple men even though she is married. Because we are introduced to that part of her, we immediately judged her and insulted her or gave her names.

It was after she saw a psychologist that we got to know her story. She was raped at a young age and she wasn't given justice. She didn't have the opportunity to see a psychologist and nobody helped her in the course of the nightmares. 

We only suffice to judge her in her adult years when she found a way of dealing with what happened some years ago.

This is how many people fall victim to prejudice and post-traumatic stress after rape.

In this day and age when we allow perpetrators to roam free, let's ask ourselves what provisions have been made for victims.

We show our sympathy when the issue arises. But our efforts, I believe should not end there. We should go the extra mile to render our support to them so they do not fall into the post-traumatic stress.

Yes, they have been through a special case but should they be ostracized? Should they have to feel different and out of place? Should they have to be pointed at, at every turn?

Can't we just accept them as they are? Can't we forget about what they went through?

To many of us, our actions do nothing but encourage post-traumatic stress like depression, suicide, fear, self-blame or guilt and others.

To men raping girls, if it was your daughter, wife or mother how will you feel?

To men who still go ahead to rape their daughters, sisters or nieces, put yourselves in their shoes, visualize the torment you put them through, absorb their screams and ask yourselves 'what if that little girl was me, how would I feel?'

We can do better as a society.