Singer Sasique urges rape victims to name abusers

Up-and-coming dancehall singer Sasique is appealing to rape victims to out their abusers.

"I notice that these females who came out and say that they got raped, don't wanna call names because of different reasons, but we all need them to call name so these men can be put to justice," Sasique told THE STAR.

"Females who get molested keep holding it a secret and these men keep getting away with it and doing it over and over because dem feel like 'she nah go talk' and 'she fraid a me'. We, as females, haffi strong up now and come out and call names so we can take these men off the radar."

The 'rape culture' discourses have been dominating social media for more than two weeks following Tanya Stephens sharing her story. Sasique is passionate about the issue as she said she has a zero tolerance for rape, having received unwanted sexual advances from men.

"Females should be wary of men who say they want to chill because chill for us means go and talk, but chill to Jamaican men means sex," she said.

"I've never been to a man's house and him seh come fi chill and him never try hold me down fi sex. Mi literally haffi a fight off man till dem just haffi leave me alone. Most Jamaican men just feel like seh even when the female seh no she means yes but not every female is the same."

Her stance is further reflected in her song, Lend Him It, where she declares that a man has no right to a woman's body. Sasique's experiences with sexual harassment, extending to music producers who wanted sex in order to help her career, inspired her to establish her own label Rude Gyal Music.

She released the all-female Love Whine rhythm in 2017 in an attempt to provide a safe space for women who want to make a name for themselves without undermining their integrity.

As a mother of an 18-year-old navigating this oftentimes predatory world, Sasique recently told her daughter, "Yuh nuh ready fi nuh man yet because mi nuh want yuh go through weh mi go through. Get your education first, have your own things so yuh nah fi depend pon nuh man and so that no man will take advantage of you."