Trigger warning: Rape, sexual assault.
By the time I would have finished writing this blog, someone would have been raped. This saddens me to my very core. According to NCRB data, a rape happens every 16 minutes, and on an average, 87 rapes happen every day.
The 19-year-old from Hathras was one such unfortunate person who had to succumb to it. Whenever I listen to this kind of news I feel so anxious and agitated, and rightly so, just like many of us. There’s a constant fear in our mind, what if this would happen to us, what if I am next, and the never-ending loop of fear.
I remember when the December 2012 incident happened I was a kid. I went to the candle march and it took 8 years for her rapists to be hanged. But, what purpose did this serve? Incidences of rapes have increased by 7% since 2018. So, hanging them or having them killed in ‘encounters’ is clearly not a deterrent.
I often hear people say that it ‘takes two to tango’. How can someone explain rapes like that? There’s no consent involved in there. Many also blame the clothing and suggest that the woman might have done something ‘provocative’ that the accused couldn’t ‘resist’. The fact that you think rapes have a different aspect is despicable. Some are of the opinion that rape is a modern culture issue. Then explain to me why was Draupadi subjected to ‘cheer-haran’? I distinctly remember she wore a saree.
Rape culture and misogyny are the main culprits here. When a boy sees his father misbehaving with his mother, he thinks that he has the license to do it too. The fact that women are considered second class citizens and weak of course. Men think it’s okay to harass them.
I remember someone saying that India will be sending its manned mission, Gaganyaan, to space in 2022. But still, parents are not ready to send their daughters out of their houses. Find me better irony than this.