What happens to some men who raped women of all ages during the Covid-19 era? Rape, the ultimate intimate crime, happens every day, all over the world. Rape is not a habit or intellectual disorder, it is an unscrupulous crime. Sadly, the rape incidents did not end as countries around the world were ordered to stay at home during the coronavirus pandemic. Experts fear that situations will get worse due to stress and isolation. Is the pandemic causing a sexual assault on men? Could lockdowns, social distancing, wearing a mask, nonstop hand washing, disinfection, and all the other related uncertainties really make men aggressive? We all know that rape culture is a human problem. It is not for a woman to dismantle the existing culture of sexual assault and rape. How long does it take to accept the established concept that testosterone is a genuine cause of violence and, in fact, forces the violent habit in men? Being raped is never a woman’s fault. However, society and many men blame the victim and re-victimize women who are sexually abused. Rather than re-victimizing women who need justice in court, men deserve to acknowledge and protest a formula that values them in relation to what a woman has to say in rape and abuse cases. sexual assault. Avoiding blaming the victim is vital so that a sexually assaulted woman does not blame herself. Not to mention the trauma that she will relish throughout her life. By some estimates, one in 4 women will delight in a sexual assault in her lifetime. Why do men rape women? Psychologists believe that lack of empathy, narcissism, and intense emotions of hostility towards women are some of the reasons. Every year, scores and thousands of rapes are reported in my home country, Bangladesh. In similar cultures around the world, patriarchy and domination over women are occasionally expressed through “dehumanization”, where women are perceived as inferior and powerless over men. As a result, it becomes much less difficult for women to become the target of male lust and aggression. In those societies, stories of rape are not so unusual that most of the time they don’t even appear in the newspapers. However, some stories of rape and assault stand out as deeply disturbing due to their brutal nature. Other similar incidents only fit the news yesterday. Why are men raping women at an alarming rate now? Is it because quarantine and stay-at-home efforts take too long? In the past, evidence has shown that sexual assaults increase during states of emergency.
During this Covid-19 pandemic, rape has taken a medium level with the new coronavirus in many districts of Bangladesh. In the last week of September alone, 3 rapes continued to rise after spreading widely on all kinds of social media platforms. The first is a 37-year-old woman who kidnapped, beat and gang-raped through a thugs organization in Noakhali (southeastern Bangladesh). The horrible act filmed when the woman pleaded and begged them to let her go. She later uploaded to Facebook through them. These rapists calculated it and located it. They raped her before. The current victim is a recently married woman who raped while visiting a school campus in Sylhet (northeast BD) with her husband. An organization of thugs saw them and robbed them first, then took the woman to a room in a student shelter, tied up the husband and raped her in front of him. He reported that the woman seemed to fall prey to the morons as they were driven by the urge to see her be a lovely woman. The third is the rape of a minor indigenous woman in a Catholic church in Rajshahi (central-west BD). Disappeared after cutting grass for cattle. It was later established that the culprit was none other than Father Pradeep Gregory, pastor of St. John Mary Vianney Church. Father Gregory, 41, had kept the girl in her church for 3 days. Later, the woman’s circle of relatives and locals stored her. “The church government kept the woman with the nuns and told the circle of relatives that they would fire her if they withdrew their complaint to the police. The church also posted all of the woman’s expenses until she was 18 years old. The bishop of the Archdiocese of Rajshahi told the media that he presumes that a user is innocent until his guilt is established. Father Pradeep has been in police custody lately.
The list can go indefinitely on how perpetrators of such horrific crimes can influence devoted leaders, local government, and law enforcement to control crime by bending their muscles, as some of them are members of the ruling student wing party. With their political influence and support, rape cases never succeed in court. The lives of raped women replace forever. Victims leave the domain from time to time with their families to avoid additional victimizations and threats, which has happened over and over again. With indifference, their rapists get away with dehumanizing them.
The Bangladeshi Law of 2000 on the Repression of Women and Children (Prevention) classifies sexual relations with a 16-year-old user as rape, even if it is a consensual act, with a maximum life sentence.
Following protests opposing the growing number of rape incidents, the Women’s and Children’s Repression Prevention Act of 2000 will be amended to make the death penalty the harshest penalty for committing rape.
Protests across the country over recent rape incidents erupted after Facebook video of the naked, bruised and pardoned woman Noakhali went viral. The senders of the query: why did the government and the police not prepare for the increase in sexual violence? When evaluating public fitness measures, they deserve to have taken into account that sexual assaults and assaults would be on the rise. Since the inception of Covid-19, a Beijing-based Equality NGO has reported seeing a sudden increase in calls to its hotline in February. Bangladesh’s fragile formula and the reluctance and inability of law enforcement agencies to prevent sex crime is the main explanation for why the country has failed to reduce violence against women. If the victim comes from a poor family, no one in the local thana will pay attention to her plight. MostArray is rejected before a complaint can be filed and the guilty officer refuses to enter the complaint into the registry on behalf of the victim. A woman of substandard origin does not know how to navigate the confusing legal formula and the perpetrators take credit for her scenario and go on the loose to rape others. The guilty simply do not assume any duty for their crime.
I was annoyed that members of civil society and some prominent human rights activists began seeking justice only after Noakhali’s rape was sensational using a video of the actual rape. Every day you open a media site in Bangladesh, there will be at least one or two incidents of rape somewhere in Bangladesh. We don’t hear any national protest about these rape cases. Civil society, like everyone else, is now calling for justice for victims, stricter implementation of existing legislation, and amendments to existing legislation. now a precedent for the Minister of Justice because the instruction came here from the Prime Minister he he/she he he/she. Bengali live for drama and everything will have to be measured with a melodramatic touch. While few others think about the victim’s right to privacy and mental strain. and trauma they face.
The Facebook post of the abused Noakhali woman was viewed through thousands of people until a board of senior officials arrived to delete the video. What kind of sick-minded men and women would need to watch a video like that?many had seen him and protested him on his Facebook wall. Easy access to the Internet contributes greatly to such behavior. What does it say about the intellectual fitness of these other people?At first, I took the decision to stay away from social media platforms. I have no abnormal interest or perversion to seeing another woman tormented in a graphic rape video. Watching such a video reflects the attitude of a broader society. among others, being voyeuristic witnesses of the anguish that has fallen on some other human being is simply appalling, but it is difficult to avoid what is covered through the media and the effect of this news is the same, just horrible.
In many parts of Bangladesh, forensic examinations for sexual assault cannot be easily performed in rural hospitals in upazila (subunits of a district). Sometimes there is no rape kit to run a rape check. If the victim is lucky and her story is credible, they send her to one of the crisis cenotes in the vicinity of the city. During the Covid-19 period, the few functioning forensic nurses would possibly not be available in those hospitals or crisis areas. Without the collection of evidence of rape, it will be difficult to resolve such cases later and there is a possibility that they will be ignored before a hearing. Many forensic experts worry that the new coronavirus could possibly prevent victims of a sexual assault from seeking medical attention, reporting the crime and gathering physical evidence. Without a rape kit, it is not possible to collect DNA evidence from a victim’s body, clothing, and non-public belongings. This verification is very important because this evidence is mandatory to enter the justice system. A rapist knows those things and that is why he is more active now than before, as the police are busy with other pressing issues than paying attention to a poor rape victim who does not know how to navigate the system.
In the United States, national organizations such as RAINN and NSVRC have sought to strengthen their line and move their staff to remote locations where their paintings can remain confidential, the more than 1,500 rape crisis centers across the country have faced a crisis in their component. reaction to the coronavirus pandemic.
Closed shelters, canceled counseling facilities, and diverted resources also have a significant effect on a variety of medical, mental and legal facilities needed to help rape survivors. And the concern about the spread of the virus adds to the barrier of access to the facilities. Survivors of sexual violence may be less willing to seek help due to the perceived threat of contracting Covid-19, a worrisome infection, and possible transmission of the virus to their families.
Covid-19 instances are services of seduction and overload, and the fight against violence against education of women and staff during the existing crisis has not been prioritized. As sexual violence, it is a sub-reported crime and has even before, a victim of sexual assault had to fight hard the sociocultural and institutional barriers to report the crime. A woman’s advocacy team infrequently questions the validity of her account and the appearance of the accusation. with the culprit when the case goes to court.
Feminist writer Gloria Steinem poses the genuine question at the heart of the rape dilemma. “We want to avoid communicating about who is being raped and communicating about who is raping. Someone is doing those things. And we have to identify who they are. Who is this someone? Why do men rape women? Sherry Hamby, professor of psychology studies at the University of the South in the US state of Tennessee, told DW that “sexual assault is not about gratification or sexual interest, but rather about dominating people. Hostile attitudes toward women help this idea. The motivations of rapists are diverse and difficult to quantify. Sometimes there are no unusual spots and sometimes not. Michael Kimmel is a sociologist at the State University of New York who has gained popularity abroad for his paintings on men and masculinity. “Violent men see their movements as revenge or retaliation. They say that women have strength over me because they are adorable and sexual and I desire them and they awaken that and I feel helpless, ”he says. “Listen for a minute how we describe the good looks and sexuality of women. We describe it as violence opposed to us. She is a marvel, a bomb, dressed to kill, a fatal woman, dazzling, charming. I mean that all those words are violently opposed to us. It’s like, wow, she knocked me out. So violence, or assault, or sexual violence is an answer.
In her ebook Sex, Art and American Culture, Camille Paglia calls those “dark truths” that women will have to accept. “Feminism helps keep saying that the sexes are the same,” she writes. “He helps keep telling women that they can do anything, move anywhere, say anything, and use anything. No, they can’t. Women will be in sexual danger. She may be right, but that doesn’t necessarily make rape the woman’s responsibility.
During the Nirbhaya group rape case in 2012 in Delhi, I saw the photo above and the symbol of two young women holding two posters reminded me of the old adage: One image is a thousand words.
When he is assaulted, a banalization occurs that leads to a culture of victim guilt. A young woman or a underage woman, in fact, will find it difficult to settle for an evil like theirs. Occasionally it is said that the woman had to invite her with her revealing garments or through her sensual nature, etc. This whole finger pointing at the victim is done through adults whose duty it is to teach a young woman how to spot a predator or what to do in a compromising situation.
The media, biology and culture can be contributing factors, but most men, those who are the product of the same biology, the same culture, do not rape women.
In June, a United Nations was broadcast at the international day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, which read: “Combating impunity for sexual violence is essential to deter and save conflict- Crimes related to sexual violence (CRSV), is also an essential component of reparation for victims , among many other aspects, COVID-19 has a significant and negative effect on the rule of law, adding the restriction of the In addition, the pandemic is hampering the handling of reports of incidents of sexual violence and would possibly deteriorate the facilities that survivors need, adding shelters, gymnasiums, police and justice. facilities. “
Quick facts
Globally, even before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, 1 in 3 women suffered physical or sexual violence mainly through an intimate partner.
Zeenat Khan writes from Maryland, USA.
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Share: WhatsAppFacebookTwitterTelegramRedditEmail This article is based on the 25th Chandrashekar Memorial Lecture held on September 20, 2020. The original lecture was delivered in Hindi and the occasion was hosted by Punashcha, the Indian People’s Theater Association (IPTA) and Koshish. Friends, comrades accumulated here; I feel very revered to have been invited to deliver the Chandrashekhar Memorial Conference this year, but I cannot [Read more…]