Vandana Shiva starts off this article by giving us the numbers of rape cases in India since 1990 through The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). A lot of people should realize is that these are only the cases that were REPORTED, there have been many more rapes that were not reported or have been hidden from society because of the fear of being treated differently in society. As an Indian, I have been to Delhi and also have a lot of family and family friends that live in Delhi as well. My recent visit, was actually during winter break and I have heard a lot of stories about rapes that were not reported and was "thrown underneath the rug." The main reason for this is because in India, a women has to remain "pure" to be married because if she is not "pure" then she will not be able to find a suitable guy that is willing to get married to her. Does anyone ask or care if the guy was a virgin or not?
Another reason for why some rapes are hidden, is like I mentioned before, because society would look down upon the woman and will treat her differently. This is what is wrong with society, they care so much about the woman and how she is and what she can or cannot do that, that they are really unfair to the woman and do not treat them like equals to the men
Another reason for why some rapes are hidden, is like I mentioned before, because society would look down upon the woman and will treat her differently. This is what is wrong with society, they care so much about the woman and how she is and what she can or cannot do that, that they are really unfair to the woman and do not treat them like equals to the men
It's so important to point out that these staggering numbers of rapes are not even the true representation of how many women are suffering sexual violence each year. Simply, it is the amount of women who have reported their rape. That makes the numbers so much scarier because they are so much smaller than the actual number. There are many reasons why a woman would not report a sexual assault, especially in countries like India where society is much less accepting of rape victims.
ReplyDeleteI think it's really important how much you stressed that these numbers are not even accurate because of the number of rape cases that get brushed under the rug and hidden forever. Reporting a rape is not an easy thing to do and in India where women could face total social exile, it's even more difficult. The fact that victims are seen as unclean and unfit to be someone's wife is absurd. These women didn't choose to be raped and they shouldn't suffer judgement from society because someone raped them. Unfortunately this is the ultimate example of victim blaming.
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