When discussing the idea of subjectivity and
identity in class, I was reminded of an article that I read a few months ago
regarding an American woman who was sexually harassed while studying abroad in
India.
You can read the article above, but in short, it’s
a personal account of a woman’s troubling encounters with some Indian
men. Many of these encounters involved stalking, being groped and
masturbated at, and being targeted because she was a white woman. It then
goes on to describe how difficult it was return to America and speak to others
about her experiences. In fact, the transition back into American culture left
her with so much emotional pain that she suffered a mental breakdown and was
later diagnosed with PTSD.
The subject position in this particular instance
had a strong affect on her identity. It was Erika’s example regarding a
woman wearing a skirt and how the subject position will help or hinder her
situation that reminded me of this article. In this case, is it being a
white woman that hindered her situation? Or, is it just being a woman,
regardless of her ethnicity?
India is dealing with, what has been referred to
as, India’s Rape Culture. Indian women have been told that if they were
raped, it was some how their fault and that certain things they did, could be
invitation to be raped (ie, wearing provocative clothing, having friends that
are male, staying out late, etc). If they reported a rape they were often
scrutinized by authorities and told that it wouldn’t have happened had they not
"asked for it". Fortunately, the media is bringing light to the
situation and women are encouraged to report rapes without fear of being upbraided by police officers.
The issue itself and how its been covered in the
media involves many of the topics that we have discussed, subjectivity and
identity, representation and framing, etc. However, as of last week, it
did gain a new perspective in global communication and social media. Piggy
backing off of the parody that we watched in class, I have included a YouTube
video that was released on September 19, by an
Indian comedy group called All India Bakchod. The video already has over
1 million views and it stars, Kalki Koechlin, a
well-known Bollywood actress. I think the video speaks for itself, but it it an interesting topic of discussion.
LeeAnn,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this video... it prompted me to do some research on the matter, and what I found, is staggering.
But first, the "it's my fault" video provided a unique look at the major issues of sexual assault and violence in India. What resonated most with me was the "interview" with the police officer. His secular reasoning for the cause of the rape was appalling. "Where you out with boys?" As if to indicate it was her fault for hanging out with males, inviting the rape. When she answers no, his response is "Why don't you have men around for protection?", as in it's your fault for going out without the foresight to acquire protection. And then, she says well yeah, I had some friends with me, and he circles back to "you were out with boys?"
I checked into the Harvard Gender Violence Project, which is in response to the conviction of the 4 Indian men who where found guilty for the brutal gang rape and consequent murder of a 23 year old Indian woman this summer. It is only since this conviction has this campaign taken off.
Further, I looked into the cited "reasons" for rape in India. Most that were listed were reflective of the culture: Women are less important than men, and are actually there to service men. The most glaring of all was the lack of gender education to children. They operate under the argument that sexual education equals encouraging sex. But, according the statistics I saw, child marriages and teen pregnancy are extremely prevalent.
The most alarming thing I read concerning this issue, and quite possibly, have ever read was a study released by the UN on September 10 of this year. The results indicated that of the random 100,000 men spanning 6 countries in the Asia-Pacific region that participated in the study, 1 in 4 interviewed admitted to raping a woman at least once in their lifetime. And of that 25%, 72-97% experienced zero legal consequence. Twenty-three percent were 14 or younger when they committed the rape, and 4% had participated in gang rape. The majority also reported that they raped for "a sense of sexual entitlement," and "recreation."