We often come across the term rape culture. Most of us believe it to be a way of quoting cases of sexual assaults against high profile personalities and consider it as a myth. But rape culture isn’t a myth, it’s real and it’s high time now that we acknowledge it to be the biggest menace of our society.
What is rape culture?
Rape culture is a social process in which sexual assault is considered to be a norm and victims are blamed for their assault. Rape culture is not only about sexual assault but also shames the victim, promotes impunity and protect rapists for their actions. It demands the victim to make unreasonable sacrifices in order to continue living.
Women who are a part of a society which follows rape culture are expected to give up different opportunities in order to ensure their safety and are considered responsible in case they are sexually harassed by another member of the society.
Men who are a part of such a society are often burdened by the social process of rape culture too. Being a part of this society, they are often made to believe that men cannot be assaulted and women cannot be the perpetrators of it.
A case that very clearly depicts rape culture is the Kathua Rape Case.
An eight year old girl went missing for a week until her body was found near the village. Eight people were accused of her rape and murder who still got support from the very politicians of our country. This sparked wide outrage throughout the country and very clearly show how deeply is rape culture rooted in our traditional culture.
Kathua rape case was a triumph of justice over communal propaganda and the verdict was very welcomed.
Read more about the verdict on the case: https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/a-welcome-verdict/article27819803.ece
How does rape culture impact the victims?
Rape culture has a negative impact on the life of victims. Research shows that most of the survivors of rape do not come forward or report the case to law enforcement agencies due to the fear of being held responsible for what happened to them. This breeds a culture of victim blaming and slut shames the victim with narratives such as “they asked for it”, “it wasn’t really rape” or “her clothes were too revealing.”
The society which is prey to rape culture does not understand the psychology of the victim. Statistics show that the percentage of suicides due to physical abuse such as rape has been continuously increasing over the years. In 2001, 0.3% of suicides in our country were due to physical abuse which increased to 0.4% in 2002 and 0.5% in 2003.
The stigma attached to reporting any sexual assault not only disrupts the life of the victim but can also become the reason for ending it. Not only this, but being raped can also lead to unwanted pregnancies which in turn gives the people another reason to shame the victim and hinders the professional life of the sufferer.
Rape culture promotes impunity.
Rape culture considers rape as a problem which can be solved by spreading awareness amongst potential victims rather than punishing the perpetrators of it.
Our society expects women not to be out late or not to wear “revealing” clothes and puts the onus of their safety on their own shoulders. Women are taught that not being sexually harassed is their “personal responsibility” and women who are raped are the ones who “asked for it”.
Recently, in a controversy, a politician quoted that clothes like ripped jeans promote rapes because they are too revealing. A society with such orthodox views cannot solve the problem of sexual harassment and rapes.
On the other hand, in such an orthodox society, rape stories of men are not even believed.
The need of the hour is to change our thinking and shift our focus to educating the potential perpetrators rather than educating the potential victims and giving a reasonable punishment to those who commit this sin.
Rape culture is becoming a part of the Indian society
Rape culture is deeply rooted in India’s traditional culture as well as the legal system which blames the victim and considers them as “damaged goods”, not worthy of respect. Indian society is sympathetic towards the perpetrators especially when he or she is a popular or wealthy individual. In that case very little legal assistance is provided to the sufferer, let alone respect.
In India, rapes are divided into two kinds: Honor rapes and political rapes. a rape victim is not considered as another worthy individual but a thing to possess or to fulfill the selfish gains of the victimizer.
Historically, the media coverage of cases of sexual assaults and abuses has been very limited and often prejudiced against the victim. The victim often fights a lonely battle against her tormentor and the legal system, where justice is not delivered timely.
The laws discouraging sexual assaults are thereon paper but their implementation in real life cannot be much seen. The media coverage of the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape case helped to draw attention to the prevalence of sexual brutality towards women in India.
Hathras Case is one such example depicting how deep seated rape culture is in our traditions as well as the legal system.
Read more about the case: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/hathras-case-cbi-invokes-charges-of-gangrape-and-murder-against-four-accused/article33363072.ece
Marital Rape-Legal in India?
The rapists of Nirbhaya case of 2012 were hanged to death. But the real question is was it enough to stop any rapes in future. Apparently NO. IN 2018, National Crime Bureau recoded a total of 33,977 cases of rape which amounts to 93 cases per day, 93 lives destroyed per day.
Not only this but NCB highlighted in the same report that 70% women in India are victims to domestic violence and one such manifestation of domestic violence are marital rapes which are not even considered as a crime in our country. Today, Marital rape has been impeached in more than 100 countries but, unfortunately, India is one of the only 36 countries where marital rape is still not criminalized.
As per the current laws, a wife is presumed to deliver perpetual consent to have sex with her husband after entering into marital relations. The concept of marital rape in India is the epitome of what we call an “implied consent” and it should be discouraged. Marriage between a man and a woman in an Indian society implies that both have consented to sexual intercourse and it cannot be otherwise.
We as a society need to move past these orthodox views and understand that consent is important, with or without marriage and marital rapes should no more be a non-criminalized crime in India.
#MeToo Movement
The MeToo movement believes in spreading awareness about sexual assaults through the survivors. MeToo gave a platform to everyone including several celebrities to come forward and report and share their stories. To stay silent about it is as much of a crime and assaulting someone is. This movement supported the survivors and turned the mishappenings of their lives into their strengths.
To know more about it: https://metoomvmt.org/
Who to contact if you have been sexually assaulted?
- Friends/family: If you feel that you have been sexually assaulted, your first go-to should be your family or your friends whom you trust. In such times, our family and friends can be our biggest strength.
- Teachers/elders: You can go to your teachers or any elder you trust, for help.
- Police: You should go to the police and report the abuse as well as get all the necessary tests done.
- NGOs: You can contact the NGOs working in this field to come to your rescue.
Organisations working in this field
GURIA INDIAGuria India strives to break the stigma attached t sexual assaults and helps survivors with all the necessities from filing and FIR to collecting evidence.
ACTIONAID INDIAActionAid India provides the victims with counseling, intervention, legal help, medical help, shelter home as well as social rehabilitation.
MAJLIS MANCHThrough their program ‘Rahat’, Majlis Mnach aims to provide aid to survivors of sexual abuse.
SAKHYA WOMEN’S GUIDANCE CELLThe organization offers survivors of sexual abuse case counseling, referrals, legal aid, shelter, rehabilitation and accompanies them to hospitals and legal institutes and they wish to provide more autonomy to the female counterparts of the society.
An approach towards ending rape culture
- REPORT YOUR STORIES: The first step towards ending rape culture is to be vocal about your stories. Reporting a case and the victimizer getting the just punishment is the way to go about it.
- GET MEDIA LITERATE: Media plays a very important role in sensitizing people and spreading awareness therefore a non-biased media coverage of incidents of sexual abuse can help end rape culture.
- TAKE AN INTERSECTIONAL APPROACH: Although numbers tell us a lot, but not all. We need to understand that the numbers and news we see are only the ones that are reported.
- NAME THE REAL PROBLEMS: The real problem lies in our thinking. We need to shift our focus from educating the potential victims to the potential victimizers.
- RE-EXAMINE AND RE-EVALUATE: We need to re-examine and re-evaluate the terms masculinity and feminism and apply a holistic approach towards it.
We, as a global community, need to ponder upon the question that what will be the life of the posterity with such a deep rooted tradition of a menace like rape culture? What is the legacy we are leaving behind?
