Another woman is found hanged in India. The third in two
weeks and all three are suspected gang rape victims. We all remember the unbearably tragic incident where a young medical student was gang
raped by a group of men on the back of a public bus and then thrown from the
moving vehicle in 2012. That story cut something inside of me and inside the rest of
the world deeply, but despite our global condemnation and revulsion at such a crime,
these incidents continue to happen and actually appear to be on the rise.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau rape
incidents have increased in India by ten times since 1971. In 41 years the
country has gone from 2,487 incidents of rape to 24,923 in 2012 (NCRB). Of
course, as we all know, these are only the incidents that have been reported
and in countries where women are marginalized or seen as unequal to men it is
less likely that women will report an incident of sexual assault.
So why is this happening? I've heard so many excuses batted
around that it’s hard to know where to start. Some blame Bollywood culture for propagating
the image that a woman is just a possession to be obtained and though at first
she may protest, she can always be won over. Most disturbingly I've read the
argument that ‘boys will be boys’. What the fuck does this mean exactly? In an
article posted on TIME.com under the heading ‘Opinion Feminist’ Mallika Dutt
very rightly observes ‘Let’s stop saying that half the human race is inherently
aggressive, predatory and incapable of transformation’ Yes. Let’s. In Uttar
Pradesh, an incredibly densely populated area with highest amount of HIV
infected individuals in the world ‘three to five rapes of women and girls,
mostly Dalit occur daily in Uttar Pradesh alone.’(NCRB) This has to stop.
I work in Sri Lanka 6 months of the year and it’s here too.
Every time I come back it’s here a little more. Lurking and threatening just
beyond the periphery. The reluctance of Indian authorities to impose stronger
punishments for rapists is sending a dangerous message to India and the rest of
Asia. ‘Boys will be boys. They make mistakes’. These are the words of Mulayam
Singh, the head of Uttar Pradesh’s governing party. Mistakes? A mistake is
pulling a girl’s ponytail or pushing her in the sandbox, not forcefully
penetrating her and then hangining her or throwing her from a speeding bus.
These are not ‘mistakes’ these are acts of unspeakable violence and we as women
are systematically being asked to shut the fuck up about it and accept that it
may happen to us. It may happen and no one will give a fuck if it does.
We teach the girls who volunteer with us to make a scene: to
shout and to push and to never accept someone else’s hands on your body. Are we
setting these poor girls up for failure? What India’s government is saying is
that if she makes a fuss you silence her. You kill her and you’ll get away with
it. This is terrifying. As a woman and as a woman living in Asia this is
terrifying. We need to do more. Arming
women with knowledge and weapons will never be enough if men are not equally
armed with knowledge and they can use their body as a weapon.
Don’t rape. It’s simple really. Why do we not teach our boys
not to rape? I refuse to believe that every man has it in them to commit this
crime, but we should be talking about it just in case. ‘Boys will be boys’ is
bullshit. This dangerous ignorance is costing freedom, security and lives. No
one deserves to be raped and no rapist deserves to be free. We need to do
something about this. This isn't a foreign problem. It’s a human problem.
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