Every morning as I open the news paper there is at least an article on a girl, molested in one or the other part of India.
sometimes in a city, some other in a village.
Sometimes an infant, some times a septuagenarian.
No state is an exception, some states lead anyway.
Temples and schools, houses and workplaces all are same for the 2nd gender.
This is a very pathetic state for us as a society. Agreement of this is unequivocal.
Then, why are we as a society unable to solve the problem?
This is the question I try to answer here. I will address this by dissecting the issue, part by part.
Stringent punishment -a deterrent:
Many people have this view. " punish the rapist cruelly so that boys will fear to rape a girl." Most of them rally on streets to get this done. They are those who really empathize with the victim.
But as research shows punishment is not a deterrent to crime.However lack of punishment is more adverse.So the criminal justice system tries to maintain a fine balance between punishment and reform (of course with its own limitations). In India punishment aspect is good. But the reform is missing. The fact that, most of the sexual offenders are repeated offenders gives us two conclusions. Punishment is a deterrent, reform of rapists is not being done. Those who push for stringent punishments overlook the second conclusion. Increase in the level of punishment may not always lead to desired results. NIRBHAYA ACT being a classic example.
Qualifying crime against women:
Now, as the reform part proves important, where are we failing?
Society has upper hand in reforming or imbibing qualities in a person than the criminal justice system. Criminal justice system is just for the deviants.
For a boy who's seen his mother fear his father,
who's learnt that, to avoid risk, girls stay away from boys,
who's learnt that any amount of revealing clothes are an invitation for sex,
who's learnt to see bold women as being interested in men,
who gets emotional in case of his own sister or mother (acts as a protector- assuming women as weak), crimes against women are always qualified.
He is bound to see crimes in different lens, depending on the victim. He knows who a"family girl" is and who is not. He also holds it an offence to violate the bodily integrity of a "family girl". But he finds no offence to harm the "other type". Worse still, he finds it his responsibility to teach a lesson to such girls.
Now you get the point?
Most of the people don't view molestation as a crime if it is against the "other type". Then how can we expect crime rate to decrease?
In fact this is bound to increase because education and modernity among girls is increasing. The "other girls" list is inflating!!!!!
So, what is the solution?
I have some points. The main and all encompassing idea being, all of us should be feminists. Cutting across all genders societies must learn to be sensitive to gender discrimination.
sometimes in a city, some other in a village.
Sometimes an infant, some times a septuagenarian.
No state is an exception, some states lead anyway.
Temples and schools, houses and workplaces all are same for the 2nd gender.
This is a very pathetic state for us as a society. Agreement of this is unequivocal.
Then, why are we as a society unable to solve the problem?
This is the question I try to answer here. I will address this by dissecting the issue, part by part.
Stringent punishment -a deterrent:
Many people have this view. " punish the rapist cruelly so that boys will fear to rape a girl." Most of them rally on streets to get this done. They are those who really empathize with the victim.
But as research shows punishment is not a deterrent to crime.However lack of punishment is more adverse.So the criminal justice system tries to maintain a fine balance between punishment and reform (of course with its own limitations). In India punishment aspect is good. But the reform is missing. The fact that, most of the sexual offenders are repeated offenders gives us two conclusions. Punishment is a deterrent, reform of rapists is not being done. Those who push for stringent punishments overlook the second conclusion. Increase in the level of punishment may not always lead to desired results. NIRBHAYA ACT being a classic example.
Qualifying crime against women:
Now, as the reform part proves important, where are we failing?
Society has upper hand in reforming or imbibing qualities in a person than the criminal justice system. Criminal justice system is just for the deviants.
For a boy who's seen his mother fear his father,
who's learnt that, to avoid risk, girls stay away from boys,
who's learnt that any amount of revealing clothes are an invitation for sex,
who's learnt to see bold women as being interested in men,
who gets emotional in case of his own sister or mother (acts as a protector- assuming women as weak), crimes against women are always qualified.
He is bound to see crimes in different lens, depending on the victim. He knows who a"family girl" is and who is not. He also holds it an offence to violate the bodily integrity of a "family girl". But he finds no offence to harm the "other type". Worse still, he finds it his responsibility to teach a lesson to such girls.
Now you get the point?
Most of the people don't view molestation as a crime if it is against the "other type". Then how can we expect crime rate to decrease?
In fact this is bound to increase because education and modernity among girls is increasing. The "other girls" list is inflating!!!!!
So, what is the solution?
I have some points. The main and all encompassing idea being, all of us should be feminists. Cutting across all genders societies must learn to be sensitive to gender discrimination.
- Teach kids to be gender sensitive.
- Make kids non judgmental.
- Provide good education.
- Combat patriarchy within family.
- Teach a girl to stand up by herself, to be bold and independent than how to sit, how to smile etc.,
