A word of caution on this post. As hard as it may be to write about this incident, I find that the intensity of the situation only furthers its need to be discussed widely and written about critically. I have been thinking about this since it happened in December and I have struggled with it-there is much more to the story than I have been able to convey.
Cara
On December 16th in New Delhi, India, a 23 year old med student named Jyoti Singh Pandey and a male friend boarded what they thought was a public bus to go home after watching a movie with friends. This was not a public bus but an off duty vehicle being driven by a group of friends. The bus contained 6 men (including the driver) who were out joyriding. The five men harassed the two and began attacking Pandey- when her male friend attempted to intervene he was beaten and knocked unconscious. The five passengers then took turns beating and raping this young women while the bus continued to drive. She was savagely beaten with and repeatedly penetrated with a rusty iron rod. After the beating the five men stripped the couple and threw them out of the bus. The driver then attempted to back over Pandey in order to prevent her from identifying them but the male friend was able to pull her out of the way.
When found on the side of the road, she was brought to the hospital where she received emergency medical attention and Doctors found that only 5% of her intestines intact. The rusty iron rod inserted into her vaginally was removed with so much force that the act also brought out her intestines. One of her accused attackers who is reportedly 17 is said to have raped her twice and removed her intestines with his hands.
Jyoti Singh Pandey survived for nearly two-weeks after the attack but eventually succumbed to her injuries and died on Dec.29th. After widespread protests from the people of India, the government promised to expedite the case and in general provide protection for the women of India. The proper handling of rape and sexual assault cases are notoriously lacking in India and the police departments are often accused of corruption and in some cases even rape themselves.
Incredibly troubling, but not surprising was how quickly this terrible vicious crime was made by some to be the victims fault. In a culture where women are still treated as second class citizens the prevalence of sexual assault is ridiculously high. Reported rape cases have surged more than tenfold over the past 40 years- from 2,487 in 1971 to 24,206 in 2011, according to official figures. New Delhi alone reported 572 rapes last year and more than 600 in 2012. Keep in mind that those reported are thought to be a mere 10% of estimated rapes and assaults that happen in India.
Unfortunately, victim blaming is prevalent in every country and in most cases of sexual assault. This vicious, horrible incident is no exception. A prominent religious leader Asaram Bapu, came out openly and said the attack was the victims fault. It is reported that he said “Those who were at fault [of the gang-rape] were drunk." He stated “She should have called them [her rapists] brothers, fallen at their feet and pleaded for mercy. Had she said, ‘I am a weak woman, you are my brothers,’ such brutality would not have happened.”
The lawyers for several of the accused have indicated that same mentality of victim blaming as a defense. For being out in public at night with her boyfriend.
I attempt to be as eloquent as possible in my writing but there are times when I find that I must speak plainly. This is one of those times. Are you fucking kidding me? Really? A women is bludgeoned, raped with a rusty metal rod inserted and removed so violently and so deeply that it ripped out her fucking intestines and this man of so called religion has the audacity to claim her at fault for any of this- and that she could have prevented it if she pleaded for mercy???????
By using the logic behind victim blaming I don't think it's a far stretch to point out that this is not too far off from saying that by the very act of being alive as a women is inviting rape. When women are held responsible for the inhumane torture and violations brought upon them by men it is such obvious societal manipulation that it can only be described as misogyny. There are few better examples than victim blaming than what this man and those attorneys are claiming.
Manohar Lal Sharma, a lawyer representing the bus driver, the bus driver's brother, and another man on the bus said "he has never seen a respectable lady raped in India."
This is the typical attitude held by men in India (and around the world). I am not speaking in absolutes to condemn every male in India or the world- but only to express what is commonly thought of about women who experience sexual abuse in any and all forms. This is what people really think. This is a dangerous perception- perhaps the most dangerous of perceptions.
A complete rewiring of the human mentality may be in order for this all too frequent occurrence to become extinct. The victim is the victim and rape is a horrible crime. In such instances like the situation in India one must ask themselves- why do these things happen? How can we prevent rape?
For one thing, the mentality behind everyone's understanding of unwanted sexual attention needs to be recognized for what it is. Abuse- plain and simple. Rape victims cannot be blamed for being raped. The issue of consent is not confusing as it can be made out to be (she was flirting with me and had on a mini skirt therefore she is partially to blame for me attacking her). As for alcohol involvement- if someone is too drunk to say "yes, I would like to engage in sexual relations with you," then you shouldn't have sex with that person.
I last wrote about Stuebenville, Ohio and the sexual assault of a 16 year old girl who was drunk to the point of being unconscious and then- stripped naked, urinated on and penetrated by two high school football players all while being photographed and videotaped by witnesses and passerby's. The attorney for one of the accused has indicated that the girls "provocative" twitter pictures will be used to show she had a particular pattern of behavior.
I am not comparing the cases of these two gang rapes in any other way than to demonstrate how prevalent victim blaming is. In both cases the victim is blamed for somehow provoking their own attacks.
When can someone who has been raped, tortured and humiliated be treated as a victim of a horrible crime and not a guilty participant? When we take rape seriously enough to stop making excuses for the perpetrators? When we value women as equal and whole human beings rather than second-class citizens and when we stop openly confusing women's sexuality as justification for a deplorable violent act.
The attack in India has the world paying attention to the prevalent despicable act of rape. Hopefully it will stay there and real change can trickle down to prevent the tolerated sexual abuse from continuing to damage the lives of so many women.
I drew from a plethora of resources for this post. Here are the main articles:
CNN-Leeza Mangaldas
Emirates 24/7.
International Business Times.
The New York times.
I did also utilize the Wikipedia article for the New Delhi gang rape case because it contains 130 citations and other references used to compile it.
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