Silence is Violence: End Rape Culture

Rape has been evolved in the Greece history and with the passage of time it reaches to its highest level and become normalized and started tolerated among the members of society. The question here is why this shameful act become normal, why people are not taking any action against this violence.

From my point of view this is the result of societal norms that taught ever person the habits, beliefs and knowledge of their society.  This teaching started primarily from home schools, community, and media.  The society teaches us certain behaviors and roles expected from men and women which involves women are to be principally attractive, emotional and caring.  Men are to be primarily strong, dominant, and decisive.  Furthermore, women may be considered weak and men strong, women irrational, men logical. Men is valued higher than the women. We all know, of course, that women can be strong; men can be fearful. As a community, women and men who express ‘characteristics’ outside their teaching are often rejected or criticized; a message to get back in line. Rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment grow out of these values that define the relationship between women and men as one of subordination and domination respectively. These norms and values give birth to and maintained patriarchal society; where women’s are considered as having no value or a child rearing machine, an item of enjoyment and a free of cost worker at home. In this patriarchal society gender discrimination and gender based violence are predominant acts where a large number of population i.e. females become the part of this violence and very few are there to help them. For a long period of time women’s have been kept away from their basic rights and needs which include education, health and food (women were given the food that is left from their male members).With time sexual violence especially rape become trend or culture and cases have been under reported or even not reported because of which innocent girls have lost their lives and it became culture that women suffer in silence and accept violence as a part of their life. Male power over women then looks as if it were natural.  Patriarchy becomes a moral system in which power or control over is the central value not only in male-female relationships but throughout the social and natural order.

Secondly some fundamental changes in women’s lives were made possible by capitalist society. The industrial revolution and the rise of capitalist production disrupted the old feudal system. The new industry drew people from the countryside into new cities where men, women and children were exploited in the factories, mines and mills. Capitalist oppress the men and the men in turn oppress the women to show his dominancy in some ways and to overcome his frustration. Capitalism tries to continue female oppression as women are the free source to fulfill the sexual and physical need of men which involves caring of children, carrying out household work without any wage, or work in the factory in less wages than men. If women would refuse to do so than it’s the state or the capitalist society responsibility to carry out all the above mentioned things to satisfy men in order to make him prepare for work .

There are many types of rapes which include
Date rape: this type of rape happens between two people that know each other. Often acquaintance rape is known as “date rape” as the two people involved may be in a social relationship at the time.
Gang rape: occurs when a group of people participate in the rape of a single victim.
Spousal rape: also known as marital rape, wife rape, husband rape, partner rape or intimate partner sexual assault (IPSA), is a rape between a married or de facto couple. Research reveals that victims of marital/partner rape suffer longer lasting trauma than victims of stranger rape
 Rape of a child: is a form of child sexual abuse. When committed by another child (usually older or stronger), it is a form of child-on-child sexual abuse. When committed by a parent or other close relatives such as grandparents, aunts and uncles, it is also incest and can result in serious and long-term psychological trauma.
Statutory rape: The offense is often based on a presumption that people under a certain age do not have the capacity to give consent. The age at which individuals are considered competent to give consent, called the age of consent, varies in different countries and regions; in the US, the age ranges from 16 to 18. Sexual activity that violates age-of-consent law, but is neither violent nor physically coerced, is sometimes described as” Statutory rape

Prison rape: Prisons are being rapped.
Payback rape: also called “punishment rape” or “revenge rape”, is a form of rape specific to certain cultures, particularly the Pacific Islands. It consists of the rape of a female, usually by a group of several males, as revenge for acts committed by members of her family, such as her father or brothers
War rapes: committed by soldiers, other combatants or civilians during armed conflict or war, or during military occupation. It also covers the situation where girls and women are forced into prostitution or sexual slavery by an occupying power.
Rape by deception: occurs when the perpetrator gains the victim’s consent through fraud. Corrective rape: is targeted rape against non-heterosexuals as a punishment for violating gender roles. It is a form of hate crime against LGBT( lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender)individuals, mainly lesbians, in which the rapist justifies the act as an acceptable response to the victim’s perceived sexual or gender orientation and a form of punishment for being gay
Custodial rape: is rape perpetrated by a person employed by the state in a supervisory or custodial position, such as a police officer, public servant or jail or hospital employee. It includes the rape of children in institutional care such as orphanages.
Anger rape: The aim of this rapist is to humiliate, debase, and hurt their victim; they express their contempt for their victim through physical violence and profane language
Power rape: for these rapists, rape becomes a way to compensate for their underlying feelings of inadequacy and feeds their issues of mastery, control, strength, authority and capability. The intent of the power rapist is to assert their competency.
Sadistic rape: For these rapists, there is a sexual association with various concepts, so that aggression and the infliction of pain is eroticized. For this rapist, sexual excitement is associated with the causing of suffering upon his/her victim. Sadistic rape usually involves extensive, prolonged torture and restrain. The rapist may use some type of instrument or foreign object to penetrate his/her victim. Sexual areas of the victim’s body become a specific focus of injury or abuse.FurthermFurthermore with the evolution of feminism, Feminists started highlighting these issues and they first coined the word rape culture in the 20th Century. The term rape culture originated when feminists released the film “Rape Culture” in January of 1975 to raise awareness of the normalization of sexual violence in society.  This documentary was the first to establish the relationship between rape and our culture’s sexual fantasies by examining popular culture and media.  Feminists realized that they needed to take a stand against rape culture and make people aware of its consequences if they were going to make a change. Feminist Alana Prochuk states, “We need to notice this stuff, get outraged, and share our outrage with others.  Staying aware of rape culture is painful work, but we can’t interrupt the culture of violence unless we are willing to see it for what it is”. Since the 1970’s the term ‘rape culture’ has been used extensively in media and the public to explain the distasteful state that society is currently in and has relished in for centuries.A complex set of beliefs that encourage male sexual aggression and supports violence against women. It is a society where violence is seen as sexy and sexuality as violent. In a rape culture, women perceive a continuum of threatened violence that ranges from sexual remarks to sexual touching to rape itself. A rape culture condones physical and emotional terrorism against women as the norm. In a rape culture both men and women assume that sexual violence is a fact of life, inevitable. However much of what we accept as inevitable is in fact the expression of values and attitudes that can change. Rape culture includes jokes, TV, music, advertising, legal jargon, laws, words and imagery, that make violence against women and sexual coercion seem so normal that people believe that rape is inevitable. Rather than viewing the culture of rape as a problem to change, people in a rape culture think about the persistence of rape as “just the way things are.”

Social medial is also used for the marketing the violence against women by portraying videos, movies, pictures. In movies women are depicted as a sexual object and rapist as having a power or a superman. These things put bad impact on youth as well as on every man so they think that this is normal and they have the power and authority to do this act. Along with this people are making funny jokes, jargon, nude images, pornography, porn videos and technology has made it easily available for people which provoke the person to commit this crime. As I have mentioned earlier that most cases are underreported however there are some people who made courage to report. The UN estimates that more than two-third of women and girls across the world have experienced sexual or physical violence. Some statistics of violence on women in Pakistani context in 2013 have been provided by the Madadgar National Helpline Founder Zia Ahmed Awan. According to this report nearly1601 women were killed in Pakistan in the name of honor or for other reasons in 2013. Furthermore, at least 370 women were raped while 185 incidents of gang-rape were reported across the country. He said that 2133 women were tortured during the same year while 887 faced torture by police. Similarly, 608 women were abducted, and 406 were forcefully married. Moreover, according to Zia Ahmed Awan, 217 women were killed after being raped, 220 of them were killed after being accused of Karo-kari, and 1164 women were killed for unknown reasons while 452 committed suicide. Awan added that 193 women were burnt alive, 205 were smuggled and 220 ran away from their houses for different reasons. He said that at least 6516 incidents of crime against women were reported including 2602 in Punjab, 1883 in Sindh, 1181 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and 864 in Baluchistan
According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), an incident of rape occurs 1 in every two hours and an innocent victim is gang-raped every four to eight days.
Another important aspect that needs to bring into the consideration is the reason behind rape or why the rapist do this crime. There may be physical, social, biological and psychological causes behind perpetrating rape. Here In my opinion, the psychological causes contribute more. According to Sigmund Freud, the father of psychology, human personality consists of three parts; id, ego and super ego. He explained that these three parts combine to create the complex behavior of human beings. These are not only the physical areas within the brain, but rather hypothetical conceptualizations of important mental functions. Freud assumed the id operated at an unconscious level according to the pleasure principle (gratification from satisfying basic instincts). The id comprises two kinds of biological instincts (or drives) which Freud called Eros and Thanatos. Eros, or life instinct, helps the individual to survive; it directs life-sustaining activities such as respiration, eating and sex (Freud, 1925). The energy created by the life instincts is known as libido. In contrast, Thanatos or death instinct, is viewed as a set of destructive forces present in all human beings (Freud, 1920). When this energy is directed outward onto others, it is expressed as aggression and violence. Freud believed that Eros is stronger than Thanatos, thus enabling people to survive rather than self-destruct.

According to Freud, child development is described as a series of ‘psychosexual stages.’ Freud outlined these stages as the oral, the anal, the phallic, the latent, and the genital. Freud believed that children are born with a libido – a sexual (pleasure) urge. Each stage involves the satisfaction of a libidinal desire and can later play a role in adult personality. If a child does not successfully complete a stage, Freud suggested that the child would develop a fixation that would later influence adult personality and behavior. The personalities that manifest at adult hood when a child fixated in any stage involves Orally aggressive, chewing gum and the ends of pencils,  smoking, eating, kissing, oral sexual practices, passive, gullible,  manipulative personalities, Obsessively organized, or excessively neat, reckless, careless, disobedient, disorganized, Frigidity, impotence, unsatisfactory relationships.

Dr Partha Gangopadhyay is a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist said that there is nothing which can be branded as typical of a rapist and no particular traits that can help us isolate rapists. Rape is the most extreme form of sexual violence. We all have inherent capacities to be violent but various inhibitions such as social norms, education, environment, religion and cultural attributes modify the primal instincts. However, in certain circumstances we all are capable of presenting with violence, which can be most often manifested in the context of domestic violence. Dr Partha identified that individual motivational factors that provoke for rape include drug consumptions and psychological factors which involve pornographic influence, rape hallucinations and use of rape as a tool for punishment. Conversely ,the sociocultural factors identified involves consideration of rape as a sexual act rather than act of violence, early childhood environment, cultural practices, peer influences, and lack of parental advice on sexual activities.

By overviewing the theories and psychiatrists analysis we can say that every individual has sexual drive by birth. Individual’s behavior can be constructive or destructive according to the culture, societal norms, living environment and level of education. But the negative psychological and sociocultural factors contribute more towards the destructive behavior of a person. For example, in feudal system it is very common to kidnap a women/girls and brutally rape them or killing after victimizing innocents. In some countries there is a culture compulsory for a bride to spend her first night with the land lords or forced to spend one night with tribal leaders soon after marriage. This cultural is also being practicing in some rural areas of Pakistan.

Sexual violence can have psychological, mental, emotional, and physical effects on a survivor. For example, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a mental health condition that is triggered by a distressing event. Some common symptoms associated with PTSD are flashbacks, nightmares, severe anxiety and uncontrollable thoughts about the event. Secondly depression is more common among the victims of rape and the symptoms of depression are prolonged sadness, feelings of hopelessness, unexplained crying, and changes in appetite with significant weight loss or gain, loss of energy or loss of interest and pleasure in activities previously enjoyed. Depression can affect a person’s attitude, behavior, which can lead to feelings of hopelessness. This, in turn, can impact the thought process and decision making ability in the victim.  In extreme cases of depression, people may even experience suicidal thoughts and/or attempts. Moreover, dissociation is the prominent condition of a victim that could also be felt by others easily. Which includes feeling like one has checked out or is not present. In some instances of dissociation, people may find themselves daydreaming. But in situations where dissociation is chronic and more complex it may impair an individual’s ability to function in the real world, such as not being able to focus on work related duties or being able to concentrate on schoolwork. Apart from the above discussed symptom and conditions rape also has impacts on the women reproductive life. For example, unwanted Pregnancy, Irregular, heavier or painful periods, Vaginal discharges and bladder infections. Sexually transmitted diseases could be life-threatening for the victims i.e., HIV AIDS. In addition, childhood and adulthood victims of rape are more likely to attempt or commit and other self-destructive behavior such as substance abuse or self-mutilation.

Just think for a while does a rape limited to a sexual violence? If we overview the impacts of rape on a victim then we can analyze that The rapist has not only commit a sexual violence or physical violence but he has brutally raped her mind, her body, her heart and her thinking ability. In short, we can say that rapist raped her internal and external organs along with her career, her relationships and even her soul. He raped everything belongs to the victim.

At last but not least, we can minimize the risks of being raped through different strategies for example, individuals should carry items that can be use if they need to call attention to the situation such as whistles and personal alarms. Moreover, self-defense classes can be useful in improving skills to defend as well as it can also enhance self-confidence. Furthermore, avoid to take a lift from strangers and if someone tries to assault you, scream loudly or blow a whistle. In addition to that, keep doors and windows locked when you are alone at home. Avoid getting isolated with people you do not know or do not trust. The most important thing to keep in mind is be aware of where you are and what is around you. Moreover, try not to cover both of your ears with music headphones and always keep your cell phone charged. Stay away from deserted areas. Try to appear strong, confident, aware, and secure in your surroundings. Parents should teach their children about private areas in the body and taught them since childhood that it is wrong when someone tries to touch their private areas and informed their parents when this kind of thing happen them. Awareness session should be given in school, colleges, universities and workplaces.

Rape word itself is very horrible to listen but the victims of rape can survive by deleting all the flash backs of the horrible situation from their lives and empower themselves to fight for their rights. We, as young leaders of our society have the potential to minimize or to stop this sexual harassment from becoming normalize in society. Every individual is responsible for such alarming and destructive events in the society but they can contribute to minimize them. For example, individuals who used to watch porn, can contribute in decreasing the incidences of rapes by avoiding to watch porn in their individual capacity. Furthermore, there should be a friendly environment provided to children by their sibling, parents so that they can share everything happen to them so that child abuse and child rape should be stopped.Parents should stop discrimination among their daughter and son from very beginning of their life and involves both in their decision making so that the patriarchal society would not be maintained. Every institution specially, school, colleges and universities should conduct awareness sessions and provide knowledge and training to students so that they would be able to save themselves in unfavorable circumstances. There should be session for males in their work place ,college ,school or university where they should be taught not to do these criminal acts and also teach their peers not to involved in this shameful act,Nongovernmental organizations should work to save individuals to become victims instead of highlighting the raped issues committed in past. Government should make strict laws against rape, Governmental laws should be strictly applied on every rapist in real meaning not just for the sake of saying and they should be enacted on the capitalists and landlord as well who are the main perpetrator of the crime. Student organization should take part by providing knowledge to the other student and people who are unaware of these thing.