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Contrary to what films and society make us believe, there is life after rape. Rape survivors, not victims is the mindset we need to adopt.
I cannot imagine the pain and trauma the 23 year old woman went through that fateful night. What sad times we live in!
This incident flared up discussions on capital punishment, security, laws and I guess everything that anyone can touch upon. However what I am concerned about is that no one is talking of rape rehabilitation. My question remains, God forbid if rape happens, are we as a society equipped enough to rehabilitate the person concerned?
Do we even know the process a rape victim should go through, so that she can come back to normalcy? Rape has no age; from a girl of four to a sixty year old woman, no one is spared. But I think what a four year old would need, a sixty year old would not. Do we have the processes in place?
Rape is nothing but a show of power because of the stigma and humiliation we as a society have attached to it. The craziest thing about rape is that, some crazy man on the streets messes with a woman’s body and she is supposed to carry the humiliation and the brunt of it. There cannot be a more insane logic to it. And the craziness does not end there, it just begins.
This society does not teach the shame men should carry when they touch a woman’s body without her permission. It teaches a girl the sin of being touched by someone who is insane. No one says, “A man raped.” People stick their tongues out to say, “A woman was raped.” This is where for generations we have given rapists the power over women. Thus, rape has been used as a weapon against women for centuries. What can be sadder than this, that our bodies are used against us.
To counter rape, apart from everything else we need rape survivors, not victims. Ragini is a survivor, not a victim. It is strange that no one is talking about the parts that are already empowered in her. She is a medical student. That’s where her power to come back to her feet lies. There is life after any and every abuse. Let’s accept that first. And, I just want that Ragini* becomes the example. Come back to life, my friend. This will be one of the greatest gifts for every woman this new year.
Get up, Ragini.
And whoever is reading this, next time you see anyone trying to mess with a woman’s body in anyway, put the shame on the man, “It’s a man who did it.” This will change a lot of equations in this society. And it’s high time, we need to.
Pic credit: ndrwfgg (Used under a Creative Commons license)
*One of the names used on social media to refer to this young woman
Proud Indian. Senior Writer at Women's Web. Columnist. Book Reviewer. Street Theatre - Aatish. Dreamer. Workaholic. read more...
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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