The problem of rape and violence against women in India and how Sayfty is working to address it.
Every twenty minutes, a woman is raped in India. Most Indian women have experienced sexual assaults or domestic violence, and they don’t feel safe in public spaces. In addition to that, many cases go unreported due to the stigma attached to rape, and the painful process they have to go through to report it. Data from the National Crime Records Bureau that shows a 240 percent increase in rape cases since the 1990s (9, Sharma; Bazilli, 2014). This situation culminated with the Gang rape of Pandey, a 23 year old woman In December 2012. She was brutally violated, and she died of her wounds a few days after the incident. This resulted into an outcry in both the national and international community.
Sayfty is an organization that was created right after the horrific gang rape in December 2012. Dr. Shruti Kapoor, its founder decided to be an active bystander and do something about what was going on in her country. The organization’s main aim is to make women’s daily lives safer, and to make them understand that safety is their birthright. They do this by providing safe spaces to discuss these issues both online and offline. They also host multiple self-defense workshops and provide pepper spray for them. (http://sayfty.com/about-us/, page accessed on December 11, 2017). Sayfty’s mission is to make sure that women are safe in their environment. They believe in the power of stories hence have a strong presence on online social media. They organize self-defense workshops in India to empower women to protect themselves.
In order to understand the entirety of the situation, I have located articles that mainly focus on the 2012 gang rape. They analyze the events that lead to it, and the responses of the government and the media after that incident. Roychowdhury discusses the media coverage of the gang rape, and how it came to represent a violation of Third World women’s desire for modernity, civil rights and Justice (Roychowdhury, 2013). Gangoli G’s article goes deeper and discusses women’s fight to change the legislature so that it protects women against violence more effectively (Gangoli, 1996). Sharma and Bazilli focus on the laws that were drafted following the gang rape in 2012. Despite the government’s response in passing those laws, nothing has changed. They discuss where change and emphasis needs to be put so that it actually has an effect in eradicating violence against women (Sharma; Bazilli, 2014). The fourth article, Atluri’s, talks more about the youth, and how they were affected by the 2012 incident. Young women are subject to paternal protectionism while “idle young men” are blamed for sexual violence (Atluri, 2013). The last article by Sharma, Pardasani, and Nandram provides a structural multi-dimensional analysis of problem of rape in India. It is very helpful because it analyses different facets of the problem. All these articles provide a better understanding of rape in India, and different initiatives that were put in place to address the problem (Sharma; Pardasani; Nandram, 2014).
An in depth analysis of the situation as explained from various articles.
“The Delhi Gang rape” the making of international causes is the first article we shall be looking at and it is written by Poulami Roychowdhury. The article mainly focuses on the high visibility of the 2012 Delhi Gang rape and how it was portrayed in the international media. The media stories portrayed the rape case as a fight between two Indias: “the new and modern, and the old and backward (282, Roychowdhury, 2013). Pandey, the 23 year old woman who was raped and assaulted, became the representation of the modern India, and her assailants the old; regardless of the similarities in the demographics of her family and that of her assailants (284, Roychowdhury, 2013). This article gives more information on the state of politics in India, hence helping us better understand the government’s reaction to the case. Roychowdhury also exposes another kind of violence, one done by the government, whereby it can secure authority through violence (287, Roychowdhury, 2013). This is because the government has the power over life and death, the possibility to give the capital punishment. It keeps the population in fear, while at the same time nothing is done to prevent cases like the gang rape to happen. This is a recurring theme in the other articles exposing the government’s focus on punishing instead of preventing.
Tara Atluri in the article “The young and the restless. Gender, ‘youth’, and the Delhi gang rape case of 2012”, gives us even more insights on the aftermath of the gang rape and deeply rooted reason explaining the high occurrence of rape cases. This article puts to light the dichotomy of the government blaming the youth for the outbreak of violence, including increased rape cases, and also praising the youth for taking a strong stand against the animosity of the violence done to Pandey ( 363 and 368, Atluri,2013). Atluri also mentions that instead of portraying the rape case as a fight between the modern and traditional India, it should be seen as the product of capitalism and its indifference to human suffering (369, Atluri, 2013). Throughout the article, she links the rape case incident and the prevalence of rape in India to the economic precarity, orientalism and the instability due to neoliberalism. This article gives another angle to look from in order to understand the causal agents of the gang rape of 2012, and it shows that it is way more complex than the battle of the modern against the traditional.
The third article is the right to protection from sexual assault by Geetanjali Gangoli. It shows the journey of women who fought for the legislature to draft laws protecting women against violence. It shows how the struggle first started by denouncing custodial rape after the case of Mathura, a girl who was raped by policemen (335, Gangoli, 1996). It then goes on to show various debates that arose, and how other forms of rape were included into the rape law. However there is still a long way to go. There are multiple forms of rape that are not yet included in the rape law including child sexual abuse and incest (338, Gangoli, 1996). In addition, most times, the law tends to benefit the offender more than the offended (337, Gangoli, 1996). This article shows an incident that is very similar to the 2012 rape case, as it started the debate about rape and resulted into drafting of various rape laws. It is important to the mission of Sayfty, the organization I am working with, because it also shows an incident that resulted in general outcry and changes in how people view sexual violence. Thus the organization can pick out some concepts from those who did it then.
The next article also talks about changes to the rape law, specifically those that were made after the Gang rape in 2012. It is titled, “A reflection on Gang Rape in India: what law got to do with It.” written by Richa Sharma and Susan Bazilli. This article draws on past events to show how drafting new laws giving capital punishment to sexual violence is not going to change much if other measures are not taken. Changing laws is described as a “quick fix”, and that it obscures the cultural shift required (13, Sharma; Bazilli, 2014). The article shows data from the National Crime Records Bureau that shows a 240 percent increase in rape cases since the 1990s (9, Sharma; Bazilli, 2014). This increase is quite alarming given the fact that the rape law had been put in place in the 1980s. Several practice including, hyper masculinity, victim blaming (10, Sharma; Bazilli, 2014), minorities laws, and pluralism in the name of diversity have made the incidence of rape even higher. Sharma and Bazilli emphasize that addressing those issues is the best way forward, and that having women organizations working on that problem will solve it better than law reforms( 5, Sharma; Bazilli, 2014)
The last article gives an even more rounded analysis of the rape issue in India, taking the 2012 gang rape as an example, by answering the “why?” question. It also shows what can be done to avoid such an occurrence in the future. It is called, “the problem of rape in India: a multi-dimensional analysis”, by Radha R. Sharma, Rupali Pardasani, and Sharma Nandram. The article gives a detailed description of the incident, and then goes on to characterize the assailant, victim and the society. This breakdown of all parties involved helps us understand better the parties involved so as to address the ‘why?’ question. This article also gives data from the National criminal records bureau showing the high increase in reported rape cases’ there is an 873.3 per cent increase from 1971 to 2011( 365, Sharma; Pardasani; Nandram, 2014). After laying down the causal factors of rape, they also propose various steps to take in order to stymie the occurrence of rape cases. Some of the proposed measures are in line with Sayfty’s mission statement. These include education and awareness building, victim support, and inciting the community to take action (373, Sharma; Pardasani; Nandram, 2014).
These articles give us a rounded understanding of the situation in India. They have put an emphasis on the stigma associated with rape. Rape is associated with shame for the victim making it hard for the victim to report the incident. This makes the data from the national crime records bureau incomplete; because it only show reported rape cases, and those are just a small portion of all the cases occurring. The articles by Roychowdhury, Atluri and Richa Sharma also put an emphasis on the role of the government, orientalism and neoliberalism. They make us view the issue of rape beyond the individual. Many of the articles also show that changing laws is not going to magically solve the issue of rape. They denounce the government’s failure to uphold the already existing laws.
Sociological theories relevant to the target population and advocacy organization.
A number of sociological theories can be put in place in order to shed light on the dynamics of life in my target country, India. I will be discussing the concepts of the western gaze, structural violence, othering, developmental paradigm and male privilege.
The first concept is the western gaze, whereby researchers, media outlets and other people look at situation through the mirror of their own understanding and experiences. This gives a distorted image of what is going on, and as a result may affect the quality of information acquired or solutions applied to different problems. In Epstein’s article about the rise of HIV rates in Africa, she addresses this issue. The rates of spread of HIV were very high and it was mostly prevalent in heterosexual men and women. A number of theories as to why the rates were so high were drafted but some of the facts were in contradiction with the real situation. The answer was found when Martina Morris listened to Ugandan doctors and devised the concept of concurrency (Epstein, 55). Another popular narrative is one of the “white savior”, and it is when westerners come to the rescue in an area of crisis. An example can be found in the documentary about the children of the sex trade. Marisol and Michelle help Australian cops catch people involved in the child sex trade. This can be seen as a victory of good against evil, however, once they left they didn’t insure protection for the girls. The Australian cops went back home to their normal lives while Marisol and Michele’s security was put in Jeopardy and they had to live in hiding (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxQm6xyDGdo). In relation to my target country, Roychowdhury’s article perfectly illustrates this concept. The Delhi gang rape in 2012 was highly visible in the media. The case was of a young Indian woman who was raped and violated in inhumane ways and died of her injuries a few days after that. In the media she became the image of the “modern woman” while her assailants represented a backward and misogynistic culture (Roychowdhury, 284). This fit the narrative of white men saving brown women from brown men, and that is why her male companion disappeared from the story.
The next theory is that of structural violence. This is to mean that some people are predisposed to suffer due to various historical and economic events in which they may have had no say in. Paul farmer, in his article on suffering and structural violence narrates the story of two people, Acephie and Chouchou Louis. Both live in very poor conditions and die at the hand of the military. Acephie dies of HIV AIDS she got from an officer she had sexual relationship with when she was young. On the other hand, Chouchou is beaten to death because of his alleged resistance to those in power (Farmer, 2004). In both cases, they are victims of situations they had no say in such as being born poor with no possibility to change their situation. In India, women are born in a system that normalizes violence against them. Even before women are born, they are considered a burden, and some families even engage in infanticide and feticide to get rid of their baby girls. “Denial of rights and resources to girls, as well as sexual abuse and physical mistreatment are assumed as the natural order of things” (Ahmed-Ghosh, 107). This makes women nearly powerless, as there is little they can do to avoid facing that kind of violence. In the long run, this is detrimental to their safety and wellbeing. In India, one woman every 20 minute is raped, and this is not just a statistic. The life of a woman is destroyed every 20 minute.
Another sociological theory that can help us understand better the situation is that of othering. Once we label a situation as remote and less likely to affect us, we are more prone to ignoring what is going on. Paul Farmer names it the “exotisation of suffering”. Once a situation is remote from ours either culturally or geographically, it becomes less affecting (Farmer, 40). He enforces this concept by talking about a wall being built between the rich and poor in third world countries so that poverty doesn’t annoy the rich (Farmer, 50). This is mirrored when Thackeray, an Indian politician, made his statement about the Delhi gang rape. He said that everyone is talking about the case, but no one is concerned about who did it, and then went on to accuse people from Bihar (Roychowdhury). This was despite the fact that all the rapist did not actually come from Bihar. The whole case was blamed on migrants and associated with economic and cultural backwardness. Tara Atluri also highlights how the young, poor, and migrants were scapegoated in the Delhi gang rape (Atluri, 370). It is worth mentioning that these classes of people are stripped of their agency.
The development paradigm also gives us more insight on the target population. In this paradigm, change was pictured as natural, uniform, necessary and directional (Thornton, 450). In order to asses which direction development was going into, researchers decided to read history sideways. This was done by taking a tour across the world and mapping communities on a development scale. Unsurprisingly, Europe was considered at the pinnacle of development. As a result various cultures subscribed to European influence looking for development. In India, various aspects of the culture changed upon colonization and modernization. One of those is dowry, and it has changed to be one of the reason Indian women face sexual and domestic violence. At first, it was a woman’s share of her father’s moveable property on which she had total control. However, it has turned into an institution that involved bargaining and financially drained a bride’s household (Ahmed-Ghosh, 103). In addition, violence associated with dowry is very common and widespread in India. Sayfty runs a campaign called zero tolerance, and it also denounces dowry harassment (http://sayfty.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Slide12.png).
The last concept I will discuss is that of privilege. Most times people in a position of privilege don’t usually see it and consider it as the natural state of matters. Peggy McIntosh, a white feminist, realized she had been having it easier due to her white privilege. A concept she was forced to explore after observing how men denied the existence of male privilege. She compares white privilege to “an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions” (McIntosh, 1). India, as country with a patriarchal power system male privilege is highly manifested. Men are born into the privilege, they are constantly served by women as their sisters, mothers and wives. Boys are not expected to do housework, can go out play, and are encouraged to grow into men with power, expectation and a sense of privilege (Ahmed-Ghosh, 105). This placed male in position of power, where they make the laws. One of such law is the rape law, and they defined rape as an act of lust rather than an act of violence (Gangoli, 337). This shows the lack of empathy, of understanding of what an act of rape takes away from a women. Rape robs one of innocence, security, and the feeling of being at home in one’s own body. This is one of many of the scenarios in which men used their privilege in order to advance their understanding of the issue, while leaving behind crucial facts that could have informed them of the concepts involved.
Final notes and conclusion
Sayfty believes in the power of stories and that is why it has various platforms that involve stories of powerful women who made a change in their countries and communities. There are also stories of survival from victim of violence, sexual assaults and rapes. I believe this helps women understand that they are not alone and that there are channels to go through to have their voices heard. Though the organization is centered in India, most of these online campaign are very international and target both the Indian population and international community.
However, it also organizes self-defense workshops in various cities in India. These workshop mainly provide women with the confidence to act in certain situation, hence empowering them to take action in some dangerous situation that might have resulted in rape otherwise. The most recent workshop took place in Mumbai on December 3, 2017. This was part of an international initiative called 16 days of activism against gender based violence that Sayfty was in charge of organizing this year (http://sayfty.com/16days/ )
As sayfty was created by an Indian lady to fight against violence against women, I believe it is better placed to help them. However, most of their campaigns are online. Even though that is a powerful tool of communication that helps reach a big number of people, those who need it the most won’t easily access the information they need. Women in lower socio-economic classes are less likely to be adamant users of socio media, and they are the ones more susceptible to being sexually abused or violated, so that is one of the shortcomings of Sayfty.
Coming into the class, I had a mild understanding of sexualities. I identified as a feminist and believed in equal rights for all. I supported the LGBTQ community, but coming from a community whose attitude towards the whole thing was just silence. The “if we don’t talk about it, it probably doesn’t exist” kind of silence. I didn’t understand the kind of violence people in those community had faced, even in countries like the United States that are considered progressive. I had trouble understanding some concepts and putting them in the western understanding as I was born and raised in a developing country.
As we progressed into the course, I got to understand how history and culture have affected the understanding of sexualities. I learnt to differentiate biological sex, sexuality and gender. We explored certain deviants in sexualities like the Travestis, Nachchi, Kathoeys and many others. I got to understand how humanity is generally afraid of difference, and that deviating from what is familiar can place one in a dangerous situation. In order to conceptualize a situation, I learnt that many axes have to be put into consideration including race, nationality, sexuality, gender, socio-economic position, nationality and many more.
I believe that being part of this class has greatly impacted the way I view the world and how I understand different situations. Working on the project has equipped me with research skills, and the ability to link what we have studied in a real world situation. Moving forward, I intend to use the entirety of the skills I acquired in a multitude of situations. Despite that fact that I don’t plan to directly work with advocacy organizations, I am ready to participate in constructive debates that are related to the concepts we have learned in class.
Bibliography
1. Roychowdhury, Poulami (2013). “‘The Delhi Gang Rape’: The Making of International causes.” Feminist studies, Vol 39(1), p288, 11p.
2. Gangoli, G (1996). “The right to protection from sexual assault: the Indian anti-rape campaign” Development in practice, Vol 6(4), p 334-40.
3. Sharma, Richa and Bazilli, Susan (2014) “Violence Against Women: What’s Law Got To Do With It? A Reflection on Gang Rape in India.” International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, Vol 3(3), Pp 4-21
4. Atluri, Tara (2013) “The young and Restless. Gender, ‘Youth’, and the Delhi Gang rape case of 2012.” Sikh Formations: Religion, Culture, Theory Vol. 9(3), p361-379
5. Sharma, Radha R; Pardasani, Rupali; Nandram, Sharda (2014) “The problem of Rape in India: a multi-dimensional analysis.” International Journal of managing projects in Business, Vol 7(3) p362-379
6. http://sayfty.com/about-us/, page accessed on November 27, 2017
7. Peggy McIntosh: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack
8. Thornton, Arland (2001). “The developmental paradigm, reading history sideways, and family change.” Demography 38(4) pp 449-465
9. Ahmed-Ghosh, Huma (2004) “Chattels of society: domestic violence in India.” Violence Against Women 10(1), p94-118
10. Farmer, Paul (2004). “On Suffering and Structural Violence.” In pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights and the new war on the poor, pp29-50
11. Epstein, Helen (2007) The invisible cure: why we are losing the fight Against AIDS in Africa Chapter 3: why are HIV rates so high in Africa? Pp 49-65
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