Rape is a social evil that has reached explosive proportions. It has ruined many lives and continues to do so at a frenetic pace. No one is immune, and age is no bar. From infants to senior citizens to corpses, rape has become a diabolic symbol of power in an iniquitous world.
A rape occurs in India, every 54 minutes.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3739958
It’s a really sad day for all of us, talking about the case of this girl who was gang raped.
Well, that’s how they address it, “the gang rape case” forgetting all about how she would be feeling, how her entire life has come down in just minutes, how her future is nothing but scarred and blurred because of a few men who couldn’t control their urge or frustration.
Talking about the safety of women, well I would doubt that any woman in Delhi would be feeling safe right now, seeing how the streets have become, it feels more like a society in which the word gentlemen has lost its real essence, as if they were never given/taught the values of ‘respecting the opposite sex’ or ‘family values’.
The values we have been boasting about, the culture that we say we are proud of has been losing its ‘charm’ for there still exist loopholes in the entire machinery. Be it the thinking/approach of people who still say that it might be the girl’s mistake, she must be shabbily dressed or would be wearing provocative clothes, I wonder why then do we claim that India is a developing country, not just in economics but its real sense too, why do we proudly say that the times have changed and we are living in the 21st century where equality and freedom of expression is awarded to each and every individual?
What about the westernization we say we have inhibited for good, do they teach us that we should probably rape somebody who according to us is not wearing proper clothes? What happened to ‘minding our own businesses?
This is not the first time that we are boiling in anger; remember Jessica Lal case, the Guwahati group molestation, the Mangalore pub attack?
For a few days there is anger, there is media coverage, everybody is down on streets protesting, our governments promise us that strict action would be taken and we having no other choices, believe them and go back home, go back to our normal lives, everything moves on, change being the only constant remains and we all forget what we were fighting for.
Every time we need a case for us to get our blood boiling, instead of dealing with it in the first go why do we wait for such heart breaking tales to take place?
Tales of young innocent girls who are awarded death punishment for their lives become nothing but a shame, where the society comes, cries, pities, sympathises and walks away while the guilty roam freely on the streets without any fear?
What would a mere fine do? Why not stricter punishments for violating the basic human requisites, the respect for one’s own body?
It’s saddening to see that our government has still not taken any action while each and every individual is out on the streets, raising their voices, in terms of protests and candle light marches.
A lot has to be done for the improvement of this city if not the world in entirety. We need to ensure basic equality to women affected by such heinous crimes, speedy trails, fast track courts, cooperating police who is well versed with basic morals of how to treat women instead of increasing their never ending pain, the society has to ensure that the government is doing what it is supposed to, instead of lingering around, there is work which has to be completed.
Not talking about an ideal state where there would be happiness everywhere but a state in which we will not be worried of being murdered/raped on the road and no action would be taken against those guilty?
Reading through the net I happen to read this and it caught my eye, for we are also looking for possible punishments if not Death Penalty or Castrating them, as the popular demand it may seems, considering we also belong to a community in which broken justice system where barely any survivors see justice served.:
http://stavvers.wordpress.com/2011/08/14/when-not-reporting-a-rape-seems-like-a-sensible-option/
In her fantastic book Cunt: A Declaration of Independence, Inga Muscio proposes a solution: Cuntlovin’ Public Retaliation:
The basic premise of C.P.R. is publicly humiliating rapists. Since rapists count on a woman’s shame and silence to keep them on the streets, it seems to me an undue amount of attention focused on rapists would seriously counter this assumption.
C.P.R. can be employed when a woman is sure of her attacker’s identity. Since most attacks are not perpetrated by strangers, this is a highly relevant factor.
There is safety and power in numbers.
A group of two hundred women walking into the place of employment of a known rapist would have an effect. If each of these women were in possession of a dozen rotting eggs which were deposited on the rapist’s person, the rapist might well come to the conclusion that he had committed a very unpopular act, one which was not tolerated by the community. If a rapist had to walk through a crowd of angry, stating, silent or quietly and deadly chanting women to get to his car in the grocery store parking lot, he might feel pretty uncomfortable.
This technique would require a vast degree of solidarity among women and allies. Were it to happen, though, it would feel a damn sight more like justice than the current shambolic system.
The risk to survivors is considerably lower in Muscio’s admirable proposition. Here, they do not risk further invasion with no justice served. They do not risk imprisonment for daring to report a rape to a morally bankrupt police force. They do not become passive pawns in a game of patriarchal power. It is justice for survivors, by survivors.
Muscio stresses non-violence, and I thoroughly agree. Violence is not a solution to violence. Showing a rapist that such behaviour is thoroughly intolerable, reminding him that his behaviour is thoroughly unacceptable, through a supportive network of the community–that is more like what justice looks like.
Were this to happen, rape culture would topple. For this to happen, we need to fight rape culture. Then, perhaps, we will see true justice.
Possibly there is more to read, the anger, the outrage, the possible solutions and much more.
A few links which I went through are:
http://stavvers.wordpress.com/2012/04/22/the-anatomy-of-rape-apologism/
http://www.firstpost.com/india/delhi-gangrape-nypd-and-london-might-offer-some-solutions-561803.html
http://ezinearticles.com/?Rape---Problems-and-Solutions&id=3739958
http://news.oneindia.in/2012/12/18/delhis-rape-shame-twitterati-express-anger-disgust-1116250.html
Hoping that something comes out of this, believing in “the best comes out only when we are exposed to the worst” not forgetting to ask “how many times do we need to get exposed to the worst before we come out with something which we expect to be the best”
-A girl who fears getting raped.
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