We have all seen a video that has been making the rounds on the internet where a woman says that girls wearing short dresses deserve to be raped. A group of girls and a mother of two daughters stood up to the lady for propagating rape culture. All the millennials were raging with anger on such a comment and came together to make the video viral.
As reported by TOI, the scenario unveiled like this, “Excuse me, aapko sharam nahin aati aapke thighs dikh rahe(aren’t you ashamed to be showing your thighs)?” This, alleges Shivani Gupta, a 30-year-old copywriter with a private firm, was what a middle-aged woman told her when she entered the eatery, Nukkadwala, at JMD Megapolis mall in Gurgaon on Tuesday noon to have lunch with her friends. When Shivani told her she was “feeling perfectly comfortable in shorts”, the woman allegedly shot back to say, “Women get raped because of women like you.” And then, according to Shivani, you.” And then, according to Shivani, came the shocker. Addressing a group of seven men also present at the eatery, the eatery, the middle-aged woman allegedly said, “Agar apko aise ladkiyan dikhti hain toh rape kar do (If you see such girls, rape them).”
The woman, Soma Chakrabarty passed on a comment that girls wearing short thigh showing outfits should be raped. The girls followed the woman around with a camera and asked her to apologise for her comment and when the woman does not budge they threaten to call the police. After some time the woman herself agrees to call the police. While all of this was happening a bystander who is a mother of two daughters heard the situation and stepped in. The woman got very defensive and was still unwilling to apologise. Things took a different turn at this point.
The girls who were filming and the lady who stepped in were visibly enraged about the comment. The mother of two daughters started yelling at the lady for her behaviour which is when a comment about the woman's daughter was made and the girls started throwing body shaming comments about the woman's appearance.
After all this, the woman addressed the camera that " Hi all, these women want to wear short dresses and encourage all to wear short dresses" and she then exclaimed wow sarcastically and clapped. She then again said" all the ladies wear a short dress and naked to get raped (sic)"
The woman's identity and personal information were passed around on the internet and she became the victim of cyber bullying from being the propagator of rape culture.
We as a collective who believe in empowerment aspire for equality, respect, and justice. Was justice served here? No. We created a new issue to condemn an existing issue. However, victim blaming isn't the solution. Education is the key here. Both parties have to educate themselves and make a conscious effort to not propagate hate in society. The woman has to learn that no matter what people wear they don't deserve to be raped and it doesn't give the rapist a license to assault them. What the girls and the progressive society have to learn is that bullying isn't the solution. Going to the root of the issue and communicating a perspective in an efficient manner is key.
Though it is understandable the mental trauma and anger a statement like 'you deserve to be raped for wearing this' can cause, we need to make an educated and conscious effort to solve the issue. We need to educate her while promoting peace and not hatred. If we except a socially conditioned group of people to see reason in our ideology and make a conscious effort to break it, we need to make a conscious effort to be calm and communicate too. If we become like them while hating on them, what is the difference between them and us?
However, this video that went viral has brought to light an infestation hidden in our society. We all need to learn from the mistakes we make and evolve. We need to make our society more aware of what rape culture is.
Chakrabarty admitted in an Instagram post on Wednesday that she had been “harsh and incorrect” in her statement, which she said she had realised in hindsight. "I realise that I should have been protective and progressive in my outlook and not conservative and regressive... As a wife, sister and mother and more importantly as a woman, I value every woman's dignity."
The Beats is a team of independent and unconventional young journalists seeking to connect people and help make sense of the topsy-turvy world through the eyes of the youth. We curate content that is thoroughly analysed, fact-checked and unbiased in the form of write-ups and videos. Although we like classics and contemporaries, we are here to give voice to the unheard and shout out to the whispers. The Beats is a non-partisan organisation delivering multi-dimensional news of the millennials, by the millennials and for the millennials that reflects the essence of neutrality. We are the New in News.
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