The Roast Busters: A Rant From A Kiwi

How does this sort of crap happen in New Zealand? We were the first to allow women to vote, a major step for women’s rights, something we as New Zealanders should be immensely proud of.

So how can something as appalling as the Roast Busters happen? Have we stopped teaching the children of this country that women are people too? That we own our bodies? Not anyone else? That just because some people have a vagina that doesn’t mean you can just force your way into it as you please? 

This is sickening. It is simply unacceptable, not just in New Zealand, but in the twenty-first century in general. We as a country cannot waver and sympathise with these brutes. How can we as a people face the world and, with pride, say “I am a kiwi”? This is something that should never have happened, that should never have to happen. 

It does not matter who they are; it does not matter who they are related to; it does not matter how old they are. It is wrong, and we all know it’s wrong. It’s messed up, it’s sick. They bragged about gang-raping vulnerable young girls (as young as thirteen). 

We’re taught in schools about sex, about how to protect ourselves (I remember learning about condoms and having to put one on a wooden phallus) etc. However, it seems we need whole lessons in health classes about consent - what it is and what it isn’t. 

The ones responsible -the Roast Busters themselves, the ones who knew about it and didn’t do anything(excluding the victims)- need to be brought to justice. 

Women are people too. It’s not right to call the victims of rape (gang or otherwise) a slut who was “asking for it,” that she was “put in her place.” Women have the right to own their bodies, just as men have the right to own theirs. We can’t own each others. 

These are poor times in which to be a New Zealander, to be kiwi, to in fact be human. We must persevere, we must fight for justice, for equality. 

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It's not as... eloquent... as my usual posts. But to hell with it. It's a rant and I wanted to let out my emotions in a way that wasn't necessarily  logical and well-formed as usual. This post can also be found on my tumblr btw.