In India, rape is as common as chicken tikka. Bizzare comparison, but true. In the newspapers, editors bombard the readers with one situation after the other: date rape, gang rape, girl raped on road, girl raped in mall, girl raped at party... And the results? Currently, the sentence is three to five years for rape and more if a weapon is used. And here's my grief: while the victim is scarred for life with terrible memories of a humiliating incident, the man is merely jailed for a meaningless few years after which he is released back into the world to prey on some other innocent girl. Rape is a disgusting crime and a prison sentence does not solve anything. There are thousands of women who wake up every day shuddering as they remember what happened to them as they walked down a road or simply waited for a taxi. It's a dog eat dog world out there but that definitely doesn't mean that one gender can be subjected to so much fear and distress, than another.

As a teenage girl, I find any news about rape very disturbing. I find it completely unnecessary that a man should vent his sexual frustration on a women merely because she is around and is vunerable. Let's face it, we can't proclaim equality unless everyone actually is equal and rape is proof that everyone simply is not equal.

Reading about rape every day has inspired me to become a women's rights lawyer and hopefully I'll be able to make some difference to the state of affairs in my country. But rape isn't only a third world crime, even in America we are not safe. I think it's up to women to educate themselves on how to fight off an attacker. At the risk of sounding preachy, I'll try to keep my female empowerment opinions toned down but no one can deny that we should stop estbalishing rape as an inevitable. No one has the right to touch us, to come near us without consent and it is high time we start enforcing that right. As a teenager, I think all girls should start concentrating on their futures. When you're educated, you can choose; you can choose your jobs, your husband, your life really and that choice is invaluable. Rapists are sick, sick men who prey on the vunerable but if you make yourself strong through education, independence and empowerment, no one can touch you.