The statistics of rape:
One girl is reported to be raped every fifteen minutes in India. 33,356 rape cases were recorded in 2018, 93.9% of these rapes were committed by someone who was known to the victim, and in all these cases the conviction rate is a mere 25%, which translates to the dire reality that only 25 out of 100 rapists actually get convicted of the horrendous crime they committed. The crime rate per 10,00,000 women increased to 58.8% in 2018 in comparison with 57.9% in 2017. India was named the most dangerous country for women in 2018 by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
I have no intention to terrorize or astound you with such unsympathetic figures. But this is the reality. These are no fictitious numbers invented for the intent of this paper, unfortunately, these are real numbers. Though on paper these seem to be just some curved and straight lines of dehumanizing statistics, they have the capacity to rob society of all honors by exposing the ugliest evil in our society- RAPE!
What is rape culture?
Explained in simple words, rape culture is a term used to denote a tradition where heinous crimes such as rape has been trivialized or normalized. In a society, where one gets to hear of rape being reported quite frequently enough to make it no longer shocking to hear a rape case every fifteen minutes, we see a manifestation of rape culture. If you read through the above stated figures with a passive resignation, you are already living in a rape culture infested society. In the discussion of rape culture, one might also come across terms like women commodification, slut-shaming, victim-blaming, normalising sexual assault, casual sexism, etc. These terms shall be further explored in the subsequent discussion.
The two faces of 'rape culture':
The term 'rape culture' was coined by second-wave feminists in the USA in the 1970s. Deliberation on rape culture would not be justified if we don't discuss both sides of the coin. On one hand, we see people who maintain that using the term 'rape culture' would shift the attention and focus from the culprit/ rapist and will narrow down the conversation to 'culture' and traditions of a society which shall , will give the rapist a chance to escape. This will further lead to another cycle of rape and rape culture.
On the other side of the debate are the people who say that this is the most accurate and suitable term to use for the reason that the person committing this crime is no alien, but the product of this society and is ingrained with all the aspects of society- good or bad. Therefore, the society has a lion's share in every rape that happens within it and no instance of sexual violence can be isolated from the society that let it happen.
Why victim-blaming?
Our society has always taught our girls strictly and passionately about "ideal" lifestyles. Be polite, be soft, be emotional, sacrifice for your near and dear ones and confine yourself within the four walls of the household. As late as the past century, when 'woman of the house' started claiming their rights as political, economic and social beings, there was a nasty ripple of defiance and denial that went through the society. Increased sexual harassment, use of sexist jokes and abuses fraught with words that are disgraceful for women, are a few responses of patriarchal society to this change. Egos were hurt, and some of them wanted to 'teach these girls a lesson'. Acid attacks, rapes, honour killings are a few by-products of this misogynist thinking. When such crimes happen, who do you think will be blamed? Obviously, those who fell victim to it, who were ‘taught the right lesson’. Victim blaming is very common in a male dominated society like India. After a rape, it is commonly said that a girl is raped, but nowhere in the discussion circles do we find anyone says that a boy has raped, an excellent example of how the discourse around rape is always about the victim. No one says that a boy committed a crime, rather we go on to blame the girl, questioning her character, judging her clothes, defining her intentions by the colour of her lipstick. If a girl is on-road in wide daylight in traditional attire, she is a 'cultured Indian girl' while the same girl loses her claim on her character if she marches out on roads in dim lights of night wearing ‘modern clothes’, making it easier to blame a girl and shrug off the responsibilities of society.
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| Source- Unsplash By- Luis Galvez |
How culture leads to rape?
When was the first time you heard about 'rape'? Or 'sexual harassment'? Or simply 'abuse'? I came across them, or rather how we misplaced them, through movies. When a villain teases a girl, it is sexual harassment, but what about the hero? When hero stalks the girl, forces her to accept his love and doesn’t give respect worth a penny to the girl or her consent, these are applauded as romantic gestures.
What about the terms like 'kanyadaan', 'pativrata patni', 'pati parmeshwar’ or 'maa ki Mamta', which are accepted as holy and divine by our culture? These colloquial terms are frequently used in the families and on daily soaps, always superseded by a description of what is ideal and what is not. The very idea and intent of above mentioned terms is to oppress women and make them confirm to what the patriarchal society thinks is ideal for them. Kanyadaan (literally donating a girl) is no different from commodification of women. Motherhood sets certain criteria women must abide by and women who couldn’t be mothers are perceived to be incomplete. A girl needs to fulfil all her duties as a wife, most important of which is ‘serving’ the husband [pati] who is directly equated to the god (parmeshwar). How can a wife violate commands of her husband, which are equal to dictums of god! And if she does so, she deserves domestic violence! Doesn't she? What about the pain a girl bears when she stays empty stomach for the entire day, just to extend her husband's life expectancy or what about the unfairness of Raksha Bandhan which implies that only a brother can protect his sister even if the girl is elder than the boy! Who will talk about these latent powers and elements of suppression? When a girl is raped, the popular lament is the loss of the honour of family , but who asked the society to bestow their honour in the vagina of a girl? The questions are incendiary but so are these unjust traditions and practices we are conditioned to follow without question.
Is rape really cultured?
Have you ever witnessed sexual harassment? Probably frequently or rarely or never. If you have witnessed one, have you raised your voice against it? If no, then you have neither the right to blame someone for rape nor do you have the right to hold posters of 'no more rapes' and march on streets.
It is a disheartening truth that the power equations biased to favour men are so entrenched in society that no body finds it a cause of objection when one witness eve teasing, when indignant comments are being made against women, when sexist jokes are passed around, when mothers and sisters are taken for granted in households, or even when they observe sexual harassment taking place in public places, workplace or at home. But as soon as media outrage follows a rape, we get a prick of conscience and pour down on streets holding a banner with diverse slogans, while we have been silent spectators throughout the crime. We refuse to acknowledge the blame society has to carry in creating permissible conditions for rape and make it a point to post our "manufactured anguish" on social media handles, march up in streets and blissfully forget the issue once the perpetrator is caught and media has moved on to more ‘interesting’ issues. The culpability we share by refusing to address the root causes is ignored until the next case comes forward for us to feel the need to align right our moral compasses again.
Way ahead: more optimistic future:
What's the solution then? Changing society for better is easier said than done. The society is made of individuals like you and me. Hence the first step shall be to change ourselves. Object to sexist jokes, to casual sexism, to the societal imposition of misogynist rituals in traditions like marriage arrangements, register your protest when you see any case of sexual harassment or abuse no matter what consequences. Entreat everyone in your life to respect every individual equally irrespective of their gender, don't vote to power any candidate who has been accused of rape or any crime. There are ways and broader approaches to tackle the same problem, but let’s begin with the changes we need to implement immediately, the most important being a shift in perspective. As Judith Lewis Herman pointed out, “in practice the standard for what constitutes rape is set not at the level of women's experience of violation but just above the level of coercion acceptable to men.” This is what we, as a society, should introspect about.
REFERENCES:
https://poll2018.trust.org/country/?id=india
https://ncrb.gov.in/sites/default/files/Crime%20in%20India%202018%20-%20Volume%201.pdf
WRITTEN BY POOJA RANI
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