Rape culture, or the normalization and excusing of sexual violence within a society or culture, is surprisingly prevalent around the globe today (Citation). Even in more modern democracies such as India, rape culture permeates and plagues the culture, legal system, and environment in general. In India, misogyny runs rampant in society. Victims of rape and sexaul assault are blamed by their peers and the atrocities committed upon them are justified by their abusers. Women are terrified to tell authorities about their assault and even when a woman musters the courage to go to the police, there is a disturbingly low chance, only 25%, that her assailant will even be convicted of a crime (Citation). An endless cycle of sexism has infested India
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Boys grow up believing that this behavior is acceptable and begin to slowly push the boundary between casual flirting and sexual harassment more and more as they progress in age. When a man finally does overstep that boundary and physically violates a woman’s body, his peers and fellow community members may try to excuse his crimes with the same “Boys will be boys” and victim-blaming mentality. They pretend that sexual violence is just an inevitable part of life associated with manhood, they blame the victim of the transgression instead of the offender, they accuse her of being dressed in a way that was “asking for it”, they say that she was out too late or was in a part of town that she shouldn’t have been. All of these examples of Indian rape culture are evident in the 2012 gang rape case of Jyoti Singh. On December 16, 2012, Jyoti Singh, a 23 year old physiotherapy student was brutally tortured, abused, and raped by a total of six men whilst riding on a moving bus in New Delhi. The brutalities inflicted upon Jyoti were so horrific that she could not survive the wounds she endured (Citation). Jyoti’s story is …show more content…
Consistent with almost every other country in the world, India has a long history of gender inequality and misogyny. According to a survey titled “International Men and Gender Equality Survey”, an astounding 65% of Indian men believe that sometimes women deserve to be beaten (Citation). Statistics like this and others found within the survey shed light on the chauvinism that pollutes Indian home life and culture. Male superiority is such a mundane concept in India and contributes greatly to the victim-blaming aspect of rape culture, the man is always right so the woman has to have done something to cause him to rape her. Cultural change is without a doubt an event that will take generations upon generations to actually occur, but there are some elementary ways within the home that could create a small impact and if enough citizens partake in this, eventually it could lead to a more large-scale cultural metamorphosis. Sexism is not an innate behavior, so teaching young children early on about equality of the sexes is principal in ending rape culture once and for all. As much of a banal cliche this is, children truly are the future. If parents, teachers, and other authorities relay to kids that females and males are completely and ultimately equal, then eventually that idea will sink in and as more generations of children grow and
Boys grow up believing that this behavior is acceptable and begin to slowly push the boundary between casual flirting and sexual harassment more and more as they progress in age. When a man finally does overstep that boundary and physically violates a woman’s body, his peers and fellow community members may try to excuse his crimes with the same “Boys will be boys” and victim-blaming mentality. They pretend that sexual violence is just an inevitable part of life associated with manhood, they blame the victim of the transgression instead of the offender, they accuse her of being dressed in a way that was “asking for it”, they say that she was out too late or was in a part of town that she shouldn’t have been. All of these examples of Indian rape culture are evident in the 2012 gang rape case of Jyoti Singh. On December 16, 2012, Jyoti Singh, a 23 year old physiotherapy student was brutally tortured, abused, and raped by a total of six men whilst riding on a moving bus in New Delhi. The brutalities inflicted upon Jyoti were so horrific that she could not survive the wounds she endured (Citation). Jyoti’s story is …show more content…
Consistent with almost every other country in the world, India has a long history of gender inequality and misogyny. According to a survey titled “International Men and Gender Equality Survey”, an astounding 65% of Indian men believe that sometimes women deserve to be beaten (Citation). Statistics like this and others found within the survey shed light on the chauvinism that pollutes Indian home life and culture. Male superiority is such a mundane concept in India and contributes greatly to the victim-blaming aspect of rape culture, the man is always right so the woman has to have done something to cause him to rape her. Cultural change is without a doubt an event that will take generations upon generations to actually occur, but there are some elementary ways within the home that could create a small impact and if enough citizens partake in this, eventually it could lead to a more large-scale cultural metamorphosis. Sexism is not an innate behavior, so teaching young children early on about equality of the sexes is principal in ending rape culture once and for all. As much of a banal cliche this is, children truly are the future. If parents, teachers, and other authorities relay to kids that females and males are completely and ultimately equal, then eventually that idea will sink in and as more generations of children grow and