Acknowledging the “rape culture” in present Bangladesh
Sadia Rahman
We grew up watching heroines scream, “Bachao Bachao, ke kothai acho bachao!” (Save me, save me, whoever is out there save me). Hearing the plea, a hero jumps out of nowhere, fights with the goons and saves “his” heroine.
The entire act puts men in a higher pedestal and unconsciously it inflicts a sense of superiority among the audience indicating men are superior and women are to be saved. This sense of superiority is entangled with the idea of power.
And where there is power, there lies the risk of manipulating and misusing that power.
In an era when we are getting to experience one of the most powerful protests against rape; discussion over the concept of power and superiority related to rape and gender-based violence is more relevant than ever.
For example, if we analyze the recent rape incidents, we will see the perpetrators of the most highlighted cases are somehow linked to the leading political party that is in power.
Of course, this lets us question the existing practice where people can get away with a crime using their links to the powerful party. It lets us scope of questioning the authority and their tendency of flinching responsibility regarding the issue.
But we all by now should be well aware of the fact that people related to powerful political party are not the only ones committing and supporting the crime.
The proof lays bare on the general comment section of newspaper where people confidently support raping women as a form punishment. They keep accosting women in instances that is merely associated with women. They go on threating celebrities and their daughters to rape.
In general posts random men continue bashing and threatening women. They proudly support and justify rape. A look into their profile will reveal they are anything but the supporters of the leading political party.
This is when you will realize that rapists and potential rapists join hands against women irrespective of their political and religious differences.
In order to clear the confusion, lets seize the moment and look back in time when Bangladesh Nationalist Party, BNP was in power. Was it safe for women back then? Reports evince that rape cases were prevalent back then as well.
Even the student organization, Chhatro Moitri, apparently known to be progressive than others has the record of captivating a girl into men’s hall of University of Rajshahi raping her for a month and then killing her.
It is a terrifying fact that women are always victims of gender-based violence regardless of the political, social, spiritual, socio-economic or cultural stance of men.
And, the incidents of rape only kept increasing with time. Is this happening as a sole consequence of lack of verdict or the rapists are the byproducts of our social structure?
Are we anyhow producing rapists in our land? Standing on the verge of 2020 it is something we must ponder about.
Since death penalty is the supreme punishment in our country, ensuring highest sentence for a crime like rape as the mass demanded is indeed a brave step for the authority.
But, is it enough to just declare death penalty as a cure of this problem? Don’t we have death penalty for murder already? Did it contribute in reducing murder?
To be more precise, in a society like ours where- a victim along with her/his entire family has to be socially stigmatized- we cannot measure rape and a regular murder in the same scale.
So, without identifying and addressing the culture that makes a rapist, the discussion will always remain half done.
We must find out the factors that had put the idea of using sex organ as a weapon in men. We must find out the agencies that is enabling men implementing atrocious ideas.
It was on October 12 when Bangladesh approved death penalty for rapists. A week before that government declared that there will be no higher secondary school certificate exam this year. The declaration came in a moment when protest against rape was at its peak.
After the declaration a female HSC candidate posted on social media asking the education minister to rethink the decision.
At one hand a group of people were protesting against rape, at the same time another group of teenage from the same timeline started expressing their desire to rape the girl, some demanded that the girl should be handed over to a rapist as her penalty and some threatened her directly.
How old are these people? They are maximum 15–18 years old. At this age why did they think of raping their classmate? Is this rage against the girl normal or is it just a way of channeling their collective rage? Would they want to do the same if a guy said that?
Why did they think of raping her?
They may not understand the gravity of the crime. They even may be unaware of the term misogyny but they have internalized the vindictive approach of rape and feels that they have that option open.
What is making them think like that? It is the culture; it is the existing system enabling our kids to grow up as rapists.
Like the movies mentioned in the beginning we have been portraying women as submissive weak race everywhere. We objectify them, reduce them to a mere sex symbol and create a culture of degrading women and normalise them through jokes.
We end up creating a social attitude that not only tolerates but also fuels normalization of sexual violence.
This is what experts named “rape culture” which is profoundly connected to gender and sexuality. This rape culture broods on slut shaming sustains through victim blaming.
In our country the definition of rape still confuses the crime with sexual pleasure.
This definition completely defies female sexuality and the concept of “consent”.
If we really want to abolish rape, we must redefine rape and must talk about the agencies that enables the rape culture.