What is rape culture?
Rape culture is when as a society and environment our social
attitudes have the effect of normalizing or trivializing sexual assault.
Rape culture exists in our comments and daily vocabulary. Rape culture exists when people tell you not to be raped
instead of saying not to rape.
It is not just the high number of rape incidents, but the
inappropriate remarks about rape and rape victims uttered routinely that
contribute to what is called India's “rape culture.” Phrases like, “boys will be boys” give the idea that males
shouldn’t have accountability for their “sexual urges” because that is what’s
expected of them.
Women are expected to be mild, meek, feminine, or dainty.
They shouldn’t dress provocatively, go out at night or go drinking. Any time
there’s an example of a woman not adhering to these standards and she is
sexually abused, she gets blamed. Victim blaming is a huge part of rape culture
and is also seen far too often.
We all have contributed to rape culture one way or the
other:
Rape culture is when
you ask your girlfriend to keep quiet about her sexual abuse because ‘what will
people think’?
Rape culture is to
ask your daughter to keep quiet, about her sexual abuse because ‘who will want
to get married to a rape victim?’
Rape culture is to
ask your sister to not wear something to college, because boys will get
distracted.
Rape culture is to
ask your friend are you sure you he groped you? Because it is possible that
they were just being friendly and you misunderstood.
Rape culture is when
you ask him why didn’t you just enjoy it when he confides in you that he was
raped.
Rape culture is when
you laugh at it when he tells you that he was groped.
Now let’s take a look at what goes on in the mind of a
Rapist.
Mukesh Singh was one of the men convicted for the 16
December 2012 gang-rape and murder in Delhi, The Nirbhaya Case. He justifies
the rape on the grounds that the victim had overstepped the lines of prescribed
gender roles and feminine morality.
Now, where did he get the idea that she overstepped or over
spoke as a female? The idea that women shouldn’t have strong speech or
shouldn’t be strong headed was inculcated in his mind and this made him want to
teach her a lesson and show the victim her place. So he raped her. Rape is a
crime where the body of the victim is used as a weapon. He believed that raping
her would strip her off her sense of dignity and make her feel small.
Why did he believe
this? Because he knew that the society would outcast
her and blame her for not walking away. The scariest of all is that he doesn’t
think what he did was wrong and if put in a similar situation again, he would
do the same.
What we speak? What we wear, what we don’t wear, where we
are doesn’t give anyone the free pass to rape or sexually assault a human
being.
It’s rape culture that makes it so hard for male victims to
speak out too, because hand-in-hand with the dismissal of rape as a hilarious
joke goes the stigmatisation of male rape victims as effeminate, impotent or
non-existent.
How do we end it?
Awareness about consent and how rape jokes and victim
blaming silences the victims and discourages them from reporting the culprit
should be created. If not reported, it could let the rapist walk free and could
be dangerous for another person who could be a possible victim. There has to be
a conscious effort as a society to not encourage the perpetrator by shaming the
victim.
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