While fear of women and power over them may be the irrational, albeit unconscious, cause of the rape of women by men (Newsfront August 5), may I further suggest that those working in the area quoted in the article also consider the issue of respect for women as equals, which seems to be sadly lacking in the rapist’s psyche.

Men have been raping women for centuries – it is not simply a phenomenon of recent times, and as such it should also be perceived from the perspective of the inferior status women were once forced into adopting. Then, women were mere chattels and the property of men, to be taken sexually when and how the man desired. There was no respect for them as equal human beings and I contest this has been passed on to the present day.

There will be no end to rape until particular men learn to appreciate and respect women as equals. These men might also like to consider themselves as reasonable human beings instead of as cruel, thoughtless animals from the waist down.