Rape and the Indian Male

Rape and the Indian Male

Nirbhaya, Pondicherry and all the others in between. Minors, teens, working women, tourists, Indians, foreigners- it doesn’t matter who. Or where. Or when.

Post Nirbhaya, there has been a spate of rape cases reported rape in India. A part of me thinks it is because women are now finding the courage to come up and report the violence done unto them. A part of me wonders if there just has been an increase in the number of women being raped in our country. The reality is probably a combination of both.

There seem to be no rhyme or reason to the rapes- the victims have been varied; the perpetuators very different. Yet the questions, the comments were always directed at the victims. Even in the yesterday’s Pondicherry case, a legislator is reported to have said, ‘rape has been registered but it could be a case of prostitution.’ I shall not ask the question that begs to be asked, ‘what gives any body the right to rape a prostitute?’ I shall just stay shocked at the careless, irresponsible reaction. But he is not the only one who has reacted this way. When a journalist was raped and killed on her way home in the early hours of the morning some years ago, a woman chief minister said, ‘but what was she doing on the streets at that hour?’  It seems too much to expect even women in power to understand the need for providing safety to fellow women professionals. Every woman/girl stepping out of their homes, in this country, know that the burden of staying safe is theirs and even the cop is not the person you can turn to for help.

Every time there is a rape, the victim is dissected. How old was she? What was she wearing? What was she doing there? With whom?  Tired and angry at this, I thought it was time to take a look at the rapist. What kind of a person commits this kind of a crime?

I dug around and found some interesting things, some new things and some things we had always known. Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center , University of Michigan has a whole page on understanding the perpetrators. Much of that is not relevant in India but two things struck me as important. One, a finding of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center , US, that men are more likely to commit sexual violence in communities where sexual violence goes unpunished and two, there is no typical profile of a rapist.

The first strengthens our call for stronger laws against rapists and the second breaks the argument that the accused does not fit the profile of the offender. Translation- nobody is too good, too educated, too well –employed, too anything at all to be acquitted if charged.

A study titled, Men Who Rape: The Psychology of the offender, Groth A.N.  ( www-psychology.concordia.ca and www1.csbsju.edu)  has a long list of categories to typify the rapist and to understand the motivation behind the attack- Oppurtunistc rapist who rapes at the spur of the moment, Power – Reassurance or Gentleman Rapist- Gentleman Rapist? Who came up with that one?  who rape to possess, Power Assertive or the exploitative rapist, Anger Retaliatory Rapist who rape out of a displaced anger and Anger Excitation or Sadistic rapist.

As I read through this I found myself mostly shaking my head. The Indian male seems to rape out of very different reasons. Deep down, the psychologists may be able to link it to any or some of these behavioral types. But on the surface,  I think their reasons are different.

The biggest one seems to me because they can. They see a woman and they  know they can rape her with impunity and so they do it. They have a sense of entitlement. We can thank our patriarchal male- supremacy society for that. When they see a woman, they don’t see a person. I am not even sure what they see- an object that they can use? Something that they can conquer? A toy that they can play with and even break? Maybe they are teaching this ‘thing’ a lesson for daring to trespass on male territory, as not just jobs and education but also public spaces? Or is she a convenient whipping post for their days’ anger and frustrations? Is it about power and domination? The answer to me seems like, it is all of the above and few reasons I have not yet fathomed.

The real solution, the ideal solution is changing mind set. Mothers, raise your sons to think of women as human beings and as their equals. Teach them to accept that a woman walking on a road, riding the elevator, travelling in the train, swimming in the pool, waiting at the airport is not there for their taking. She is actually there for the same reason they are- to go some where, to get something done. This will take years, maybe another century.

We need a quicker solution- stringent laws, cops who will help the victims and not rape them when they come in  to file complaints, judges who are themselves not sex offenders, people in power who have no sexual assault charges against them and a judicial system that delivers quick justice.

Until then we better stock up on our pepper sprays.