By
Devi Ragesh
Rape and the issues related to this crime have been discussed widely by now. One woman is subjected to some form of sexual violence every fifteen minutes. Over the past decade, there have been many cases of rape, which have gained wide attention and triggered protests throughout the country.
Cities like Mumbai and Delhi, took out long protests on the roads for justice. In spite of the remonstrations, have we witnessed a positive change? If not, what is this positive change that we need? One reason, probably the biggest, why sexual assaults against women, children and even men are still prevalent in India, is undoubtedly due to India’s rape culture. So then comes the question; what is rape culture or how is rape culture practised in India?
Rape culture is the normalisation or trivialisation of rape or sexual assaults in a society. An act of criminality is considered to be something normal and occasional, hence giving more committers a green signal. There is more to rape culture than just considering it normal; slut shaming, victim harassment, objectification are all parts to this.
Now, we must include here all the uncountable rape incidents that are unreported too. Many incidents are not even reported because of the harassment that the victim and the victim’s family will be subjected to. The victim, in most cases a woman, is afraid to report if such an incident takes place, because of the humiliation she will have to face from everywhere, be it her own relatives, neighbours or work place.
Her honour and dignity are put to doubt. The victim’s family, in many cases turns against the victim and also go through humiliation and shame. It is considered to be her fault too as she let the incident happen to her. She is put to blame for placing herself in such a situation. She will be judged or called ‘easy’, ‘wayward character’. The logic in this argument is invisible, but well that is how the Indian society functions.
This dilemma or torture upon torture that the victim is subjected to seems much more than unfair. First, she has to suffer through this unfortunate experience. Then she has to lead a life of shame and blame, while the offender walks with his chin up. A recent film, which summarised this situation in the most constructive and fruitful manner was ‘Pink’ a 2016, Indian film in Hindi language.
The movie discusses and portrays the approach towards women when a crime of the scale occurs, the unfair judicial system and the manner in which a woman’s character is put to blame as soon as she encounters an unfortunate event as such. The Indian society judges a woman for the clothes she wears and the profession she follows. A common and overused question or statement that girls and women often are subjected to is, “why did she have to go there?”, “why did she converse with the guy?”, “she should’ve known” and so on.
It is almost clear that when a rape case happens in India, the focus is on the victim than on the offender. What happens to the offender? Is the public made aware of the analysis on the criminal psychology of the rapist? Do people know why they commit such a crime? Are they given justifiable punishment? The nation has to go haywire first, for even, the offenders to be arrested, so it does seem too much to expect from the authorities for a detailed analysis of why these offenders resorted to such a crime.
Rather than focusing on how to ‘escape’ rape it’s time the perspective changed to how to not commit rape. Now is rape partly the result of a patriarchal society? One is very tempted to confirm to that. Do men consider women as objects to be possessed and discarded? Are Men the bread winners in most families? Do they feel more important than women?
So do they feel entitled for something in return from women for their contribution to the household? In the form of sexual gratification? We are discussing the case of a country that does not count marital rape as a criminal offence. The Indian Penal Code, states that it does not count as rape if the woman is married to the man and of fifteen years of age and above. So the Indian Judicial system thinks consent as subjective. A ‘no’ means a ‘yes’ if the man is her husband and she’s above fifteen years.
Now, what happens on the rare occasions; rare considered to that of a woman, when a man is raped? Do men report cases of sexual harassments against them? How many cases have we read of? How many of them caused a huge outcry in the country? Now thanks to the Patriarchal society we live in, with their rules on toxic masculinity; a guy is ridiculed when he is assaulted sexually. A 20 year old male from Thiruvananthapuram reported that getting groped in public transport buses are very common.
When asked what he does about it or why he hasn’t done something yet he said, “Are you kidding me? Why would I tell anyone? It is very shameful to even tell someone about it. I do not want to get mocked for not being man enough to avoid the situation. It’s very embarrassing.” The lack of self-expression and feelings for men in a patriarchal society is something grave and serious. Men are taught from a very young age, “boys don’t cry”, “be a man” and such comments suppressing a man’s emotions. Basically, men should be rigid. Any guy who strays from these expected codes of conduct and behaviour, from a small age is shamed and corrected.
It is also shocking to read that there are even different classifications for rape. Prison rape, War rape, Date rape and so on. Previous incidents show that women, cannot trust even police officials and other staff. The amount of sexual harassment against women in prisons by staff authorities are shocking. It is safe to conclude that women do not feel safe even in their houses.
A recent documentary on YouTube, which was flabbergasting, was on the rape culture in a district in India. The eleven minutes or so video had old men to young kids sharing their opinions on the issue of rape. The most interesting monologue, to say the least, was that of men saying “it takes two hands to clap”. This one statement is enough to show why rape is still prevalent in the country despite the crime rates increasing rapidly.
What was more saddening, was how young school-going kids thought that it is the woman’s fault, and how if you make friends with someone of the opposite sex you’re inviting yourself to trouble. A young boy explained how women wearing jeans might be trying to be provocative and asking for it. There were more opinions of people expressing opinions such as women must go out only for work, and her place is restricted inside the house. It would’ve seemed less atrocious, if at the least being inside the house was safe for women. Women are abducted out of their houses and assaulted when, ironically, a police personnel, admitted in the video that it is not possible to get abducted at all.
It is dangerous how deeply rooted these notions are in the minds of the younger generation, mostly in rural India. Children are taught to see the opposite gender as ‘threats’, and to not interact with them, because if a girl smiles or talks confidently to a guy, in this society, it means she’s asking for rape and can means she’s already given her consent.
So girls are taught to stay away from boys. Verbally asking for consent is not something our country is used to. We like to read the victim’s eyes, body language and what they wear. Creating such a notion and divide in children is obviously very problematic and shows how deep rooted the issue is.
How far patriarchy has twisted and messed this society up is evident enough. Patriarchy does not end or limit itself to just being male dominant. If we thought that patriarchy was only biased and detrimental to the female population, then we’re gravely mistaken. It is not only harmful to women, but men too.
Patriarchy not only regulates women, it regulates men too. It is now showing how these concepts are even causing an increase in crime rates in this society. It shows how patriarchy is affecting the perspective of sexual crime towards women and also how the population of male victims are also helpless. Unless we bring about a difference in perspective of male-female relations, and dismantle all these wrong assumptions, we’re in for more issues.
Rape culture is thriving in the current Indian society. Unless we go out of our ways to correct this horrendous mentality and twisted logic that is now very prevalent in India, we will witness more terrifying crimes. Rather than creating a divide between girls and boys, children must be taught from a very young age on how to respect each other. ‘CONSENT’ is also something that the society really must identify with. A person’s clothes or attitude or where they are does not equate to consent.
Although this is the most overstated statement, ‘no’ means a no. We must come to the realization that the word does mean what it says. It still means a no, even if the person accounts to be your spouse.
It is necessary that to wipe off such crimes from our country, that we first take down all these unnecessary toxic rules on masculinity and patriarchy. Also we must bridge the gap from education to understanding. A university student states that, “education does not equate to understanding.” We have reached an alarming end and now it is time to act.
