Student's messages endorsing rape alarm parents

In late September, a ninth grade student at a school in Greater Malé sent a series of Instagram messages about the alleged rape of a Cornell University student by seven classmates.

The teenager suggested that if a pornographic performer could "handle a thousand", the woman in the Cornell case should have been able to "handle 7". The men "should've raped her more," he added. In response to a post about how rarely rapists are convicted, he wrote: "I love rape and support rape".

Over the past week, other students posted screenshots with angry captions on social media, sparking outrage and calls for punishment by the school, and alerting parents to the messages. 

It was not the first time the boy in question had made such comments, a parent of a classmate told the Maldives Independent.

“Even a couple of weeks ago, there was a discussion like this and this boy always supports rape and speaks in a way defending the rapist. All the classmates are annoyed and uncomfortable because of this. But that boy is [a badge-holding student leader]," she said.

"I wonder if my daughter is safe. Next year when they move to grade 10, night classes will start. The teacher is not always going to be there. Even now there are a lot of free periods. I wonder if this boy would not inappropriately touch or verbally abuse a classmate. We’re scared to send our daughters to places.

"My daughter thinks very deeply about things. I think she would be very distracted if there’s a student like that in class. They would feel that if this boy speaks like that, he might do something if he ever got a chance. I am not comfortable sending my daughter, and other parents also won't be comfortable if no action is taken against the boy. I believe the school must immediately de-badge him and if he needs to be expelled, he should be expelled."

According to the parent, the case has been reported to police. The Maldives Independent was awaiting confirmation from a police media official at the time of publication.

"Teachers say that the school can only take any action after police are finished with their investigation," the parent said. "The principal has supposedly said that it was a mistake and that it's not worth taking his badge away. But the teacher later said that they can't do anything while the police are involved. It’s not just police, I think gender [ministry] should also get involved in this, because it's not safe around him."

The principal could not be reached for comment.

The parent acknowledged that severe punishment could derail the boy's education. "A kid might make a mistake but my point is if it’s repeating, since he’s been talking this way in class before, then it's not a mistake, it's something he does," she argued.

The parent blamed social media platforms such as TikTok that "rot the brain" of young people. 

"It’s puberty age. No one can imagine how quickly a mind of this age can turn a certain way. So from someone at home, or from social media – the boy’s parents may be good people – but the social media that he consumes and the news from other countries. When all these changes are happening in the body, they want to experience things, in this age between 12 to 16," she said, referring to daily exposure to misogynistic and sexually explicit content. 

Her fears echo those of parents and teachers in many other countries about what boys are encountering on the internet, particularly on the "manosphere," a loose network of influencers, forums and communities that promote narrow views of masculinity and hostility towards women. Its best-known figure is the British-American influencer Andrew Tate, who is facing charges including rape and sex trafficking in the UK and Romania, which he denies.

Researchers at Monash University in Australia have linked his influence to rising misogyny in classrooms. In 2024, male students at a Melbourne high school were suspended and later expelled after they posted a list ranking female students by attractiveness. The list included a category called "unrapeable".  

The parent who spoke to the Maldives Independent said some of her daughter's classmates are active on Instagram and TikTok. She herself gave her daughter a smartphone at an early age but said she closely monitors usage.  

"I know that's what everyone says. That they check phone usage but it goes to that level because you are not able to monitor it," she said.

A teacher at a private school in Malé was unsurprised by the boy's remarks. She said she frequently comes across similar behaviour or inappropriate comments from boys aged 13 to 18.

"That’s pretty standard edgy teenager," she told the Maldives Independent. "I have a kid who’s going around telling his friend he wants to rape the friend’s little sister...This is a 14-year-old talking about like an 11-year-old child...And it’s just to be edgy.”

The teacher also flagged "unsupervised internet access" as the root cause.

While misogyny was normalised and common among older generations, teenagers now "take it a step further just because they can".

"It’s very much the same dynamics. Just one trying to outdo the other by saying the more shocking thing...It doesn’t really amount to a lot of direct incidents of boys harassing girls but it really instills all this misogyny that they are very comfortable talking to their friends about and normalising," she said.

Most cases do not reach the media or wider public because adults are either apathetic or unaware of "the whole rape culture aspect," she suggested.

"You most likely heard this because of outraged students rather than because it’s being investigated by the school," she said. "The thing is most teachers don’t even catch it most of the time. With bigger classes it’s hard to catch every conversation. And if the teacher is too old to understand references, or doesn’t spend enough time with the kids to hear it or doesn’t care enough to follow up on it, it just doesn’t go any higher.” 

In most cases, she said she only hears of such remarks when students approach her. "So a lot of it is also building trust with the kids which many teachers don’t do at this age level. The times I have tried to press complaints it has mostly amounted to nothing because the school doesn’t enforce the disciplinary system that we already have in place (suspension, mediation with parents etc) and usually it ends with a call to the parent and asking the kid to apologise."

The case that the boy mocked concerns a woman in New York who filed a civil lawsuit accusing seven men of drugging and raping her in October 2024. The district attorney declined to raise charges at the time but after a public outcry prosecutors reopened the case in late September. Some of the men previously received punishment as light as writing reflection essays, the New York Times reported last week. 

The case drew international outrage and the online discussion by celebrities, politicians and millions of social media users reached Maldivian audiences. 

Afnan Latheef, a local content creator with the handle dhi.nglish, raised concern about what she described as insensitivity among Generation Alpha towards issues like sexual violence and racism.

"I engaged with a lot of Gen Z as they were growing up, and now the Gen Alpha. But there is a big difference. Each generation has bullies, but the language being used by the new generation is different," she explained.

"With Gen Z, there was some balance. Bullies were getting bullied as well. I think that was possibly the most sensitive generation towards sexual violence so far. But then we saw a big sudden shift with the Gen Alpha.”

Afnan attributed the shift to smartphone use and internet access at a younger age than previous generations. 

“From what I understand they don't speak in language, they speak in memes. There is no sensitivity, with anything obviously. We are talking about rape culture now but even with racism, the n word hasn’t become this common in years," she said.

"We, the Millennials didn't use it, younger Gen Z use it. When I talk about racism in my content, the comments might be images of chains or being locked up, jokes like that in the comments. So it’s not that they don’t understand the history of slavery or facts, it’s just funny to them because the way they relate to anything is through a meme or an emoji.

“Older generations, Boomers joked about rape. But after Gen X and Millennials it was very censored. You don't joke about rape, you don't use the n word. It's forbidden. We had those sensitivities in our generation. But Gen Alpha to me is like the return of the Boomers. But the difference is that Boomers didn’t know any better to be honest, they didn't know the impact. But the kids now know the impact, they just cannot relate.

"I want to remind parents that the young community is very online and to keep an eye on it. Instead of giving the internet to kids and leaving them be, keep an eye on their online behaviour. To have those conversations. In the past, kids would not hear about rape cases to joke about it. But now because they are online, they will hear about it, there is no way when a big global case is happening a 13-year-old does not hear about it. So have those conversations with your kids because they will be exposed to it. I think these are the kind of things that happen when they don't get information from parents and responsible adults."

According to the Family Protection Agency, gender-based violence facilitated by technology is increasingly present in abuse cases. In cases involving sexual abuse, 51.4 per cent were identified as involving technology-facilitated elements. Many victims were women and girls.

A recent UNICEF report titled "Building Futures: Growing Up in the Digital Age in Maldives" made the same observation about the use of emojis and memes to communicate.

“In early childhood, passive, fast-paced content can displace language-rich interaction between children and adults which are essential for vocabulary development and meaningful communication. As children grow, communication often shifts to short messages, emojis, and reactive exchanges, limiting opportunities for structured writing, storytelling, and sustained expression. By adolescence, these patterns can shape longer-term habits, affecting the ability to engage in complex dialogue, civic participation, and reflective thinking," the report explained.

“By adolescence, digital life becomes the main space where identity is shaped, belonging is tested, and self-expression unfolds. Social media acts as a significant platform where adolescents construct identity, seek validation, and absorb social norms within environments shaped by adults and commercial incentives."