Many people believe that incidents of rape and sexual harassment happen because of the victim's outfit or behavior. Many of them are people in positions of power which means chances are high that their opinions will influence other people's opinions. That is unfortunate because the fact of the matter is that rape is more about exerting power over the victim than about satisfying a sexual urge generated by titillating outfit or behavior.
Rape is a disgusting display of brutal power and twisted morals. It has nothing to do with the victim, and everything to do with the rapist. But you know what my great country-people believe? That a little, 7th grade girl is to blame when she gets raped by a neighbor who is a grown man with kids of his own. That disgusted me no end. But waitaminnit!! While searching for the news article about that rape, I stumbled across this news article. At first I thought it was news about another rape victim in India, but no! This one happened closer to home - in Springfield, Missouri! I fully expected the sexually repressed Indians to blame the victim. Imagine my horror upon finding out that the people from a developed nation's sexually liberated society think the same way! Difference is, this is a somewhat isolated example here whereas this thinking is prevalent in Indian society. The Western world is not completely free of this mentality though. Last year, a Canadian police officer's suggestion that "women should stop dressing like sluts" to remain safe triggered "Slutwalks" all over the world. So this depravity is not limited to third world countries alone - it is widespread and thriving all over the world.
It is easier to blame the victim in this kind of crimes, than to blame the perpetrator. Why? Who knows? It IS hard work catching the criminals and proving their crime. It is safe to hide behind the traditional thinking. It is easier to control the women when they are made to believe that they are responsible for the harms that befall them when they step outside their "boundaries". It is morally uplifting to believe that the victims got what they had coming to them and we aren't victims because we are purer and/or smarter.
If the moral police were right in their beliefs about the influence of victims' behavior or clothing on a rapist's mind, no 10 month old girls or 80 year old women would get raped. If they were right, we wouldn't come across such news articles (Thanks to Sue for this link - I lifted this from one of her tweets). Go ahead read this and tell me it did not turn your guts inside out.
See that is another thing about rape - it can also be used as a weapon of war. It is never about the victim's attire or behavior. It is always about exerting control and asserting authority. Even when the rapist does rape the victim because she was improperly dressed or drunk, he actually does it to "teach her a lesson". Now go ahead an read the articles that I have linked in the previous paragraph and then tell me if those victims were raped because they were wearing revealing clothes, or because they were behaving inappropriately or simply "asking for it"?
You know why the criminals get away with these excuses? Because WE, the society, let them! We dumbly accept their excuse. Heck we even accept that a rapist should get a reduced sentence because when he committed the crime of rape, he had been away from his family for a long time and hence not in control of his actions. It does not matter that his victim was a 10 month old baby. We accept these excuses because we, despite being intelligent beings with rational thought capacity, still cannot accept sex for what it is - a natural act. And we keep associating it with what it isn't - control, blame, impurity, pleasure-seeking (which, somehow, seems an inferior behavior to our minds), guilty pleasure, selfishness, you-name-it-we-got-it.
Things have GOT to change. We have to assign blame where it is due, not where it is convenient to place.
Rape is a disgusting display of brutal power and twisted morals. It has nothing to do with the victim, and everything to do with the rapist. But you know what my great country-people believe? That a little, 7th grade girl is to blame when she gets raped by a neighbor who is a grown man with kids of his own. That disgusted me no end. But waitaminnit!! While searching for the news article about that rape, I stumbled across this news article. At first I thought it was news about another rape victim in India, but no! This one happened closer to home - in Springfield, Missouri! I fully expected the sexually repressed Indians to blame the victim. Imagine my horror upon finding out that the people from a developed nation's sexually liberated society think the same way! Difference is, this is a somewhat isolated example here whereas this thinking is prevalent in Indian society. The Western world is not completely free of this mentality though. Last year, a Canadian police officer's suggestion that "women should stop dressing like sluts" to remain safe triggered "Slutwalks" all over the world. So this depravity is not limited to third world countries alone - it is widespread and thriving all over the world.
It is easier to blame the victim in this kind of crimes, than to blame the perpetrator. Why? Who knows? It IS hard work catching the criminals and proving their crime. It is safe to hide behind the traditional thinking. It is easier to control the women when they are made to believe that they are responsible for the harms that befall them when they step outside their "boundaries". It is morally uplifting to believe that the victims got what they had coming to them and we aren't victims because we are purer and/or smarter.
If the moral police were right in their beliefs about the influence of victims' behavior or clothing on a rapist's mind, no 10 month old girls or 80 year old women would get raped. If they were right, we wouldn't come across such news articles (Thanks to Sue for this link - I lifted this from one of her tweets). Go ahead read this and tell me it did not turn your guts inside out.
See that is another thing about rape - it can also be used as a weapon of war. It is never about the victim's attire or behavior. It is always about exerting control and asserting authority. Even when the rapist does rape the victim because she was improperly dressed or drunk
You know why the criminals get away with these excuses? Because WE, the society, let them! We dumbly accept their excuse. Heck we even accept that a rapist should get a reduced sentence because when he committed the crime of rape, he had been away from his family for a long time and hence not in control of his actions. It does not matter that his victim was a 10 month old baby. We accept these excuses because we, despite being intelligent beings with rational thought capacity, still cannot accept sex for what it is - a natural act. And we keep associating it with what it isn't - control, blame, impurity, pleasure-seeking (which, somehow, seems an inferior behavior to our minds), guilty pleasure, selfishness, you-name-it-we-got-it.
Things have GOT to change. We have to assign blame where it is due, not where it is convenient to place.
No comments:
Post a Comment
And you were sayin'....?