Rape Culture- Myth or Reality -By Anoushka Shandalaya
$1,51,423 is estimated to be the cost of being raped in the US. But this number doesn’t even begin to compare the emotional cost of being sexually assaulted. One in five people experience this trauma every day, and the emotional state of such a person becomes even more indescribable if their assault is treated as a norm or perhaps even blamed on themselves. This is exactly what rape culture is.
Rape culture is a sociological concept for a setting in which rape is normalized due to societal attitudes about gender and sexuality. It is a concept where violence is considered sexy and sexuality is considered violence. Rape culture stands on false beliefs and stereotypes that people, over the years have created against the victims of sexual assault. This concept justifies sexual aggression and disrupts the seriousness of rape. It's not just about sexual violence itself, but about cultural norms and institutions that safeguard rapists, promote impunity, shame victims, and demand that women make unreasonable sacrifices to avoid sexual assault.
Rape culture didn’t come out of nowhere. It's the direct continuation of centuries of patriarchal power and the institutions that developed to support it. Rape culture is very much prevalent in a country like India. A country like ours, which has seen a history of practices and cultures, have demeaned women for over a hundred years. And even with those practices being abolished, the mindset of people does not seem to move. Communities that have been historically marginalized or discriminated against, religion, caste, orientation, gender identity, act as faces of sexual violence and the rape culture primarily acts as the aftermath of this kind of violence and also a tool to intensify that oppression. Along with this patriarchal mindset, comes a variety of offensive phrases that can very negatively impact the psychological health of a victim such as, “she/he asked for it”, “Clap does not ring with one hand”, “she/he didn’t say no”, “Why was she alone at night”, “it wasn’t really rape”, “Why was she wearing INAPPROPRIATE clothes”, etc. This kind of culture forces the victim to sacrifice their freedom, their basic rights, limits their opportunities and also it puts the burden of safety on the victim’s shoulders.
Rape culture not only creates stereotypes against rape victims, but it also encourages rape. This culture makes it easier for rapists to commit such a crime as, in the end, it is the victim who is blamed for their own assault. Due to this fact, approximately 73% of rape cases go unregistered and out of those which are registered, over 2.4 lakh cases are still pending. Moreover, only 3% of rapists spend even a day in jail which shows how much hold rape culture and the mindset of people have over the media, the law and the judiciary of India.
There isn’t a law or a jurisdiction which can stop or prevent rape culture. It’s the people’s mindset that should be changed. People should be made aware of the mental, physical or social trauma that a rape victim suffers from. Sexual assault is serious and it cannot be justified, no matter how often it happens- it’s not a norm. Rape culture is not a myth, its real- and its dangerous for humanity. “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter” Martin Luther King Jr.
Sources: 1. https://www.vox.com/2014/12/15/7371737/rape-culture-definition 2. https://www.unh.edu/sharpp/rape-culture 3. https://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/global_camp aign/en/chap6.pdf?ua=1 4. Infographic: What Is Rape Culture? | Feminism In India feminisminindia.com › Intersectionality › Gender
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