Of late, rape cases have been drawing big headlines in broadsheets. News of rape has been coming from across the country regularly in the last few months. This despite the fact that few victims dare to speak about sexual abuse due to social consequences of doing so. Hence, it is clear that the magnitude of the problem is far greater than it seems.
In this context, how long can we afford not to discuss ‘rape’ in detail, or go beyond just ‘demanding cruelest punishment’ to the guilty for the ‘heinous crime’? [break]
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Was rape as frequent in the past as now could be a separate subject of research. However, since it has now been established rapists are usually close relatives of the victims rather than strangers, it is hard to imagine fewer cases in bygone eras.
There are two parties in rape– one, the victim, who is ´not at all´ ready to get physically close to the other person (sometimes many, in case of gang rape), who desperately or violently wants to have intercourse.
The amount of sympathy for the victim later depends on the victim’s ‘degree of indifference’! During discussions, some of my colleagues have hesitated to accept all cases claimed to be rape, speculating that some could be consensual. However, they agreed to accept all cases involving minors as rape. The provision of more jail term to those raping minors is perhaps based on this simple presumption, among other reasons.
Why on earth does a boy rape a girl? Or a man rapes a woman? (Rape among lesbians or gays could be discussed some other time.) Rapists actually never care about their age or that of their prey. A seventy-year-old man has raped a minor, and a young boy has not spared elderly woman. But while the age and settings of rape may vary, one thing does not: rape is a one-sided crime in terms of gender, in our context at least. Females are the victims and males the perpetrators. Not all males are rapists, but all rapists are males!
Could impunity alone be the reason behind sexual abuses and assaults? Last week, India’s widely known case drew the world’s attention as all four men convicted for the gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old physiotherapist were sentenced to death. As the case was indeed ‘rarest of the rare’ (an iron rod used by the rapists had seriously injured the girl’s abdomen, intestines and genitals) less than death penalty would not do here.
But then, though the verdict satisfied the general public, human rights groups are not impressed. According to them, death penalties would not end the endemic problem.
Earlier, a huge number of facebook and twitter users raging over the case had demanded chopping off the perpetrators’ genitals to teach them a lesson. People suggested parading the guilty naked or some other creative punishment for sex related crimes. In my opinion, barring them off their rights and facilities could be an option. Lifetime imprisonment to the guilty may not be fair, as taxpayers would not like their hard earned money being spent to feed rapists in jail.
Effective punishment for rapists can be discussed further. However, the important step is to figure out why rape is so common. Closed society, hypocrisy and male domination amid women’s low social, intellectual and economic status?
Pitiful commercial approach towards life and happiness and eroding moral values? Or, even more importantly, the biological factor, high sexual urge among men against fewer opportunities to indulge their temptations in a healthy manner? To what extent may the suppression of sexual desire—which is considered a basic need of living beings—have contributed to their forceful approach to satisfy their needs?
Of course, besides the biological factor, our social, cultural and economic scenarios also play pivotal roles in plotting and shaping human activities, including rape. If social leaders and the government fail to create healthy, happy and busy people and keep crimes under check, they are equally responsible for the ill results. In this case, are rapists worthy of a little consideration or compassion?
They must be, if they are actually victims themselves of human nature compounded by socio-cultural shortcomings.
In primitive age, people must have followed their instincts more freely. The human community must have responded to their passions and emotions differently when there were fewer restrictions and lesser judgment of human activities. I assume rape surely took place in those days, but without severe social impacts.
I have not talked to any rapists yet, which I should have done before writing this piece, but I am pretty sure that a happy and content person, who had a joyful childhood, cannot commit such a crime. Only an already pathetic figure can be so violent.
Today, there are giant industries that cash in on such disturbed minds. In this digital age, anyone can access pornographic films, the worst part of which is the barbaric presentation of sexual activities. If the manufacturers of the movies had highlighted the aesthetic aspects of sex, the world would understand love and sex entirely differently. But the ugliest of the movies making brisk business is testimony to what is saleable.
A considerable number of rapes around must have been triggered by such pornographic videos.
People may not like to contemplate the story of the ‘birth of a rapist’ as they straightaway hate rapists. This is understandable. The way the victims are treated is more surprising. The bias against them is so strong that they cannot even reveal the perpetrator’s identity; the revelation may further damage their life.
The reason a girl suddenly becomes famous after being raped is because she loses her virginity in being raped. And losing virginity is no small thing in our society, which still wants to ensure that women are in acceptable condition. Or, in other words, the males in our society desperately want to control female sexuality. The collective psyche of males that shapes social perspectives renders a raped girl helpless, makes her feel really ‘raped’ and further vulnerable.
The mental and physical pain a rape victim undergoes would heal much sooner, if only the people around would just mind their own business. But such hue and cry is created over a raped girl that it simply makes her life a living hell. Actually, men never like to see a girl or woman indulging in sex–be it willingly, accidently, or even forcefully—unless she is publicly handed over to a male member for that. This is why commercial sex workers are looked down upon, though their customers are generally spared the hatred.
This reminds one of how Nepali media had responded when the court had criminalized marital rape. Sarcastic articles and cartoons had followed the verdict. Due to lack of a sufficient number of influential females in the newsroom, the media thought marital rape was not a serious issue but a joke!
A rape victim would not have to suffer much if the men did not value female virginity way beyond their own. That is why, a society ruled by men does not like to think about how to prevent ‘would-be-rapists’ from taking birth, and next, it does not even like to believe that those raped are not guilty but are victims!
The author is with the social bureau at Republica
journo.anjali@gmail.com
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