Check out 16 Return-To-Work Programs In India For Ambitious Women Like You!
Why did she go out in the evening alone? This was the shocking question NCW member Chandramukhi Devi asked about the Badaun rape & murder victim.
A few days ago, the National Commission for Women member Chandramukhi Devi said, “I feel had the woman not stepped out in the evening, or one of her children had accompanied her, the incident would not have occurred”, while interacting with reporters reacting to the gang-rape of a 50 year old woman in a temple in Badaun, Uttar Pradesh. In doing so, she exposed the internalized patriarchal view that exists in the National Commission of Women.
Her supposed ‘practical safety tip’ lays the unfair onus on women to alter their own behavior only re-emphasizes the feudal mindset that continues to perpetuate around us.
Such patronizing attitudes only takes us away from what we need to really focus on- the perpetrator.
The continued surveillance on what women wear, what time they move out and who they go out with moves miles away from the much needed scrutiny needed on the systemic failure to protect women in all spaces and spheres of life, as a human being!
India’s statistics on sexual violence states that the country records 88 rape cases everyday as per the 2019 data by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
The data (which unfortunately, does not take into account the many un-reported cases, and only a fraction of reported cases actually reach the courts!) paints a rather grim picture. We need more action to call out perpetrators of sexual violence and hold them accountable than the actions of women.
Interestingly, calling out again and again, the fact that sexual violence occurs irrespective of what women wear, who they are with and where they go, has unfortunately not changed age-old misogynistic attitudes. And such comments derails all efforts of in changing narrative of victim blaming.
Even sometime ago, media continued to normalize victim blaming in incidences of gender based violence, where the attention was clearly on the woman’s actions/ behavior rather than on the perpetrator of the violence.
Victim blaming is possibly a major reason why survivors of sexual violence do not feel comfortable reporting about their assaults.
Victim blaming reinforces the feelings of guilt and shame among survivors. Victim blaming ensures that survivors who were saddled with the responsibility of their own safety are also held responsible for provocation of the actions of the perpetrators!
This is precisely why it is important to challenge all such people who enable victim blaming. It is also important to ensure the spotlight shifts to the perpetrator and hold him accountable.
Delving a bit deeper we will realize that popular culture too trivializes sexual violence and in many instances we often dismiss rape jokes rather than challenging them. This again normalizes victim blaming in different ways.
Acknowledging our own internalized misogyny and confronting our own psychological roots of victim-blaming can help in moving away from such actions in the future. Victim blaming often also leads towards self blame that further interferes in the healing of survivors.
So when systems that are meant to protect and hold accountable the actions of perpetrators, spout patriarchal what-ifs then there is a definite requirement to ensure structural changes begin within government mechanisms itself.
Image source: NCW website & pexels
Varsha Pillai is a former television journalist who quit the fast lane in media when she moved to the erstwhile 'laid back city' called Bangalore. She earnestly believes that she can ‘write stories that people read more...
Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times.
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
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.
Please enter your email address