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Do you think these are "the only cases" reported in India?
- NO
These are very few well known cases. And I can surely say that most of you won't be aware of all of them.
From Nirbhaya's case to Boy's Locker room to Hathras Rape case, I want to ask what has changed?
The outlook of people, specifically the men's or the Justice process or the laws?
Answer: Nothing at all.
In the past few weeks I was reminded about the Nirbhaya case which occurred in year 2012. Who would not know about this case. It shook the entire nation as well as the Indian Justice System. The CRIMINAl LAW ACT, 2013 which was passed by the Lok Sabha on 19th March and 21st March by Rajya Sabha and made strict laws. But these strict laws does not seem to have any kind of effect on these psychopaths!
So now to all those people who know and do not know what rape culture is,
Rape Culture:
According to the oxford languages, Rape Culture is defined as a society or environment whose prevailing social attitudes have the effect of normalizing or trivializing sexual assault and abuse.
This is what rape culture sounds like:
- Why were you out alone
- They're just doing that for attention
- She knew what she was doing when she asked me to come over She provoked me
- Well, what were you wearing at the time?
Why Rape culture is so common in India?
- First of all it all starts within us, home, environment and then society
- I would like to ask all those parents who let their boys roam around at night and let their girls sit in. Only because guys would harass girls. But would you never let your boy stop from doing this just because he is and is safe outside.
- We all have grown up watching movies ain't we? Sexually explicit jokes, item songs, body shaming is what binds them and this is the way a female is showcased in films. Ultimately this affects the mind of the people. The perception towards women in movies should change.
- Another reason , Why? Because it's just a rape. Maybe the girl has done something wrong. It's eventually her fault. The discussion goes till maybe. People will show sympathy but none will fight for her Justice.
- Publicly scrutinizing a victim's dress, mental state, motives and history.
I recall a quote from Stay Sexy and Don't get Murdered:
Coming across numerous cases on social media, newspaper, I started questioning myself what could be the factors contributing to rape culture in our country. The factors have either remained constant or perhaps I would say increased as years have passed by.
According to me the Primary factor is the lack of comprehensive sexuality education programs offered by schools. India is country full of traditions and cultures. But many a time thus becomes as an excuse to stop the education programme. Lack of education is certainly a concern. This has to be resolved as now a days children can easily access internet these days. There is a lot of information which could be harmful for young minds. It is the responsibility of parents and the school. Children do need to be taught about the concepts of concepts of consent and sexual desires.
The secondary reason that I find is a factor is our cinema. Cinema continues to play a supreme role in influencing young minds. We have shown our female protagonists to be fragile and always in search for protection. How can we forget the fact that bollywood has always objectified women through songs. Women in our films are shown to be obliged to sacrifice. It is almost important for a lady to give up her desires to be considered as an ideal "Bhartiya naari". Owing a lot to the stereotypical image of a woman, we need to question a lot of these preconceived notions about women spread through our pop culture. Films like Kabir Singh has glorified misogyny against women and tried to Justify it. The most disturbing part is that this movie has made numbers. We, for the longest time, have been accepting and adapting the ideas these films have been glorifying. Moreover, there are many actresses and actors of our cinema who stated things like
Salman Khan: When I used to walk out of the ring, after the shoot, I used to feel like a raped woman. I couldn't walk straight.
Daniel Shravan: Rape is not a serious thing but murder is inexcusable. Avoid killing after rape.
Rani Mukherjee: If they (victims) don't wait it (sexual abuse) to happen it will not happen.
Kirron Kher: I want to tell this girl and all other girls that if you see three men sitting in the auto, they should not board it. I am saying this to protect the girls.
Sandeep Reddy Vanga: If you can't slap, if you Can't touch your women wherever you want, if you can't kiss, I don't see emotion there.
These are just few comments passed by them.
With the lack of sex education, it is a lot easier to influence uneducated people to fall for the trap because they do not have a logic to question anything that our pop culture is promoting. The image of women presented by the industry fuels the process of making of a rapist as the consent of women is not considered.
This reminds me of Rape Myths, another reason for rape culture. Rape Myths are nothing but false beliefs about sexual violence that encourages victim - blaming.
Popular Myths are:
- Women shouldn't go out alone at night as they are likely to get raped.
- Women provoke men to rape them by wearing revealing clothes.
- If a person does not fight back, they weren't really raped.
- A victim must have asked for it.
Stop VICTIM BLAMING:
- If people out there think that clothing is a problem and they are missing "sanskar"(values), then why are 4 year old girl, 90 year old women in a saree getting raped?
- People say women shouldn't go out alone because they are likely to get raped! Now people with this mentality please teach your son some "sanskar" I mean come on it's your son who is "threat".
Sexual assault is NEVER the victim's fault. Sexual assault is a violent attack on an individual. For a victim, it is a humiliating and degrading act. No one "asks" for or deserves this type of attack. Rape is not consensual.
NO MEANS NO
No one is born as a rapist and there is always a process that leads to making of a rapist. The Justice system in this country should make the laws so strict and it should be followed that the rapist would be scared.
We, as a society, have a bigger role to play in recognizing and curbing the factors which perform an unnoticed yet important role in the growth of rape culture in India.