Rape.
Yet another story about rape but we go on about our jobs without batting an eyelid. Yes. Rapes have become so common place today that what had once always been notorious enough to make it to the front pages is now spread all over the newspaper- national, international, regional; even sports and entertainment pages.
Rape is not a novelty in our nation- we have been defeated in the resistance against many foreign invasions and it was a common practice to use sexual violence to humiliate the enemy.
But it is sad, in fact pathetic, when we claim to live in a democratic country and our women would rather not step out after nightfall for the fear of getting raped. More disturbingly, we live in a society which raises eyebrows at premarital sex but plays dumb to marital rape. And our authorities seem to be more concerned about protecting the gomata than their own mothers and sisters, about protecting a fictional queen when women are raped and burnt alive on the streets.
“Like a compass needle that points north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman. Always.” ~Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns.
Many of our leaders have publicly said things like “Sugar attracts ants. Ants don’t need an invitation to feast upon sugar, do they?” and “Boys make mistakes. Why can’t we excuse them?” - is it just me or does everybody see the logic fail in these statements? And the rape culture does no better- it blames the victim for tainting the honour of the family and even goes on to state that rape is consensual. Consensual rape: that must be the most fantastic oxymoron of all time
How long are we simply going to go on ranting about rape? Are measures even being taken? We can hang our heads in shame realising the fact that it was we who vested the leaders with power to rule the country. But we better run for our lives if we are still not educating at least the generations in line about rape.
Above everything else, we need platforms to talk openly about rape - to see that people don’t get incredulous ideas like rape can be consensual. It needs to be made clear that rape is a heinous crime- that there is no such thing as a consensual rape, that her skirt is never too short, her jeans never too tight and that she is never asking for it in the first place- nobody ‘deserves’ to be raped.
It is paramount that both our young boys and girls know that a word called consent exists and that both have the sole right to their own bodies and their own bodies only. For a generation that grew up learning how women got voting rights, we would be happy if at least the next generation could read about how women fought to assert that a word called consent had a place in the dictionary. It should be made clear that marriage is not a license to force themselves upon their wives- men’s liberty to swing their penises ends where our vagina begins.
Before talking about rape, children should first be given proper sex education ( Elementary, my dear Watson) preferably in the presence of the opposite gender lest that they don’t grow up having insatiable curiosity about bodies.
At least places like women’s compartment on the trains needs to be safe. We can do away with all the existing laws and make new ones where rapists are not spared. Again- this may not undo a rape already committed but can serve as a nightmare to those who even think of perpetrating such a terrible act.
So the next time we look around us and ask “Why do many rapes happen?”, remember that the answer is staring at us in the face.
What are we doing about it? : the question remains.











