A Critique of Causes and Measures of Rape: a Systematic Review of Literature
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================================================================== Language in India www.languageinindia.comISSN 1930-2940 Vol. 18:4 April 2018 India’s Higher Education Authority UGC Approved List of Journals Serial Number 49042 ================================================================ A Critique of Causes and Measures of Rape: A Systematic Review of Literature Sakshi Singh (Research Scholar), Eva Sharma and Madhav Dubey (M.A. English) =================================================================== Abstract Violence against women has been a matter of utmost concern for many years now. The brutality of the act is indicative of the corrupt mentality of the patriarchy trying to subdue the free existence of women in the society. Men have grown so obsessed with their muscular power that they search for an instrument to exercise their authority and the easiest instrument that comes their way is a woman. While beating, thrashing, abusing are common way of assaulting women, the most frequent and dangerous of all is rape. Rape has taken the form of an indirect agency to cage women within the permissible limits defined by the patriarchy. The culture of rape has become a common instrument for men to hegemonize women and to use them as a vent for their aggression. The article attempts to review the existing literature concerning sexual assault dealing with issues like rape myths, causes, marital rape, rape taking place during the times of war and its grave consequences to be faced by the victims. The article concludes with the observation that while the government and other social organizations have contributed in bringing the reforms, the persistent occurrence of rape is still on the rise making the safety of women a major issue of concern. Keywords: Violence, Rape, Hegemony, Patriarchy, Culture Introduction Over the years, violence against women has been increasing at an alarming rate which is indicative of the most demeaning and undignified manner with which the women are treated all around the world which is evident in the number of cases recorded in the recent times, for instance, a statistics of 2014 from Krebs and Lindquist (2014) shows that, “1 in 5 women on college campuses in the United States has been sexually assaulted or raped”. Rape becomes the most accessible instrument for men to exhibit their supremacy and exercise control. It is defined by US declaration as “any act of gender based violence that results in , or is likely to result in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life” (Grantz & Moreno, 2005, p.2). Nonetheless, intense practice of such brutality not only harms women physically but also has graver and long lasting effects psychologically causing a manifestation of constant fear in their minds. Infliction of violence can take various forms ranging from physical beating and ==================================================================== Language in India www.languageinindia.com ISSN 1930-2940 18:4 April 2018 Sakshi Singh, Eva Sharma and Madhav Dubey A Critique of Causes and Measures of Rape: A Systematic Review of Literature 293 thrashing to emotional torture. But sexual violence is considered to be the most dangerous yielding disastrous consequences. It includes “forced sex through the use of physical force, threats and intimidation, forced participation in degrading sexual acts as well as acts such as the denial of the right to use contraceptives or to adopt measures to protect against sexually transmitted diseases” (Grantz& Moreno, 2005, p.3). It is a direct violation to the basic human and body rights of women whose repercussions ruin their life crushing them from inside. Sexual violence may include a sexual assault, abuse, molestation, the most common is rape. Widespread Occurrence of Rape Rape has become a widespread pervasive phenomenon perpetuating in every corner of the whole wide world. It has become a common instrument for men to hegemonize women and use them either for their pleasure or as a vent for their aggression. The fact that a man can easily control and use a woman’s body according to his freewill gives rise to a fixation of being undefeated and most powerful. Brownmiller (1975) mentions the falsity of being supreme that is deeply rooted in the minds of men. She asserts: rape became not only a male prerogative, but man's basic weapon of force against woman, the principal agent of his will and her fear. His forcible entry into her body, despite her physical protestations and struggle, became the vehicle of his victorious conquest over her being, the ultimate test of his superior strength, the triumph of his manhood (p.14). Brownmiller’s observation gives an important detail regarding man’s misogynist attitude towards a woman. Therefore, men targeting and preying on women with absolute surety of not being questioned has become a major characteristic of the ongoing rape culture in the world. Structure of This Article The article is divided into various sections beginning from the significant prevalence of rape myths in the society which are disgusting and infused heavily in the minds of people. It can be deduced that patriarchy has a big hand in keeping the rape myths still alive because it helps them to their benefit of confining and controlling women in their own vicious ways. Another section deals with the intimate marital rape which has been in the debates for quite some time now. A husband forcefully raping his wife considering her his own personal property is not recognized as a crime. The article traces the major reasons behind the frequent occurrence of rapes ranging from obsession of men to control women to use them for personal pleasure. The article highlights the condition of women raped openly by the soldiers at the time of war without any fear. The article also stresses upon the consequences as a result of rape which are extremely severe and often neglected after the crime takes place. Rape Myths The incidents of rape are generating an effective awareness among people and they have also managed to create and spread certain myths about the same, which unfortunately have been deeply ingrained in our society. Rape myths have been integral in shaping people’s attitude and perceptions of rape narrowing down their understanding to a confined perimeter. Rape has never been a new phenomenon and its inescapable effects continue to reflect in most parts of the world. ==================================================================== Language in India www.languageinindia.com ISSN 1930-2940 18:4 April 2018 Sakshi Singh, Eva Sharma and Madhav Dubey A Critique of Causes and Measures of Rape: A Systematic Review of Literature 294 For instance, a lot of discourse has come out in light regarding the rapes that took place in apartheid and post-apartheid system in South Africa and the inclusion of different rape myths in the society. Posel (2005) writes about the sexual abuse such as rape during apartheid system which was not openly talked about and preferred to be relegated to the margins of the mainstream society either due to orthodox mentality of the people or some political reasons involving the failure of the existing government. During apartheid, the understanding of rape and other sexual assaults had been different from the present times. For example, it was thought that rapes could only happen outside by a stranger or subjects like marital and homosexual rapes do not exist in the society. The only definition of sexual violence during this era was a man forcefully involving a woman in the act of sexual intercourse. Also, issues were forced into secrecy due to the pressure from the families and society. Another important issue which the author takes up is that of child sexual abuse which didn’t catch much attention until late 1990’s when men suffering from AIDS started raping young girls assuming that being physical with a virgin would cure them. It came to be known as a ‘virgin myth’. Such kind of ridiculously insane mentality depicts the savagery and desperation of men who would go to the extent of abusing and harming girls sexually to get rid of their disease. One more important aspect that the article deals with is what the author calls ‘baby rape’ in which babies as young as months old were being raped. Such cases didn’t emerge in the public eye for a very long time. The reason for such heinous crime to remain hidden could be the fact that it was mostly the family members who commit the grave sin and can easily suppress the matter. And the babies raped and assaulted would be too young to understand or speak for themselves. The society has been heavily blinded by various myths regarding rapes that its severity continues to get extreme. In another article, Wise (2012) mentions the Myths like “women ask to be raped”, “she was walking alone in the night”, “she is promiscuous”, “she was dressed provocatively”(Wise, 2012, p.4), they shift the whole blame on the victim and these myths are so heavily ingrained in the minds of the people that they tend to accept and practice such myths. Media too has a major role to play in presenting the misconceptions and misrepresentations of rape causing women to incorporate the falsity of these myths in their lives. In an article, Winn (2011) stresses on the role of media in spreading the false myth that rapes are committed more frequently by the strangers than the acquaintances. Therefore, “society as a whole gains a misconception about the reality of rape and what constitutes the “typical” rape from this skewed media portrayal”(Winn, 2011, p. 4-5).In view of this, to educate women about the actualities of rape become of utmost importance. Media literacy is one such platform which can contribute in fulfilling such an initiative.