Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only most relations between men and women but also the relation of women to themselves. The surveyor of woman in herself is male: the surveyed female. Thus she turns herself into an object—and most particularly an object of vision: a ‘sight’.
—John Berger (Ways of Seeing, 1972, p. 47)
The World Health Organization (WHO, 2011) defines sexual violence as ‘any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, unwanted sexual comments or advances, or acts to traffic, or otherwise directed, against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting, including but not limited to home and work’.
After
a decade long sojourn outside West Bengal, I returned to my home state in August
this year. The event then that had engulfed the public attention and media
coverage was the rape and murder of the 31-year-old postgraduate trainee doctor
at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, a public hospital in Kolkata,
West Bengal, India, on 09th August 2024.
The
mass protest by doctors started on August 10 across West Bengal which gradually
spread across the country. Though resident doctors started this protest, they
got support from common people who took out the protest to streets, social
media and societal avenues. This crime was no different than the other rape
cases that occur in our country on daily basis. Remember the 16 December 2012
Delhi gang rape case in which the victim lost her life due to the brutality and
violence of the perpetrators! Most unfortunate phenomenon is that every mass
protest is followed by a mass dementia. We simply forget the ordeals of the
victims and move on with the same intensity that promotes “rape culture”.
Many
of us are not aware of the term “rape culture” because we have internalized it
just as the “objectification of women” is normalized in the Indian society and
in every aspect of our lives. Women in our country, as well as globally, are the
particular targets of sexual violence. Violence against women, sexual
harassment and rape are the epidemics that take shape out of various
patriarchal theories and practices.
As per the latest government data [available on data.gov.in], the registered cases of rape in West Bengal were 1,128 in 2020. In 2018 and 2019, the number of cases registered were 1,069 and 1,068 respectively. The numbers are scary; and seeing the trend, the data must also be worrying in 2024 as well. But among the thousands of rape crimes only few gains public attention, such as the R.G. Kar rape case in Kolkata. Only when the people identified the victim as one of them – urban, middle class, educated woman – they came out on the streets, called out for candle marches, protest marches and even switching off the lights of their houses for few hours to symbolize the darkness in the institutions, system and the society at large.
Why, despite such visibly vigorous awareness, do rape crimes not stop or, for that matter, decrease in our society? The answer is that this sudden outburst, whether in the Delhi Nirbhaya case of 2012 or the Kolkata Tilottama case of 2024, is felt at the visible/ audible level alone! Nothing is felt at the human/humane level at all. The root cause of such bestial violence against women lies with both men, and women. Yes, women are also responsible for increasing violence against their own gender. This is not an attempt to blame-shame the victims, but an attempt to make women accountable for their actions in accepting the rotten patriarchal and self-objectifying practices. Both men and women are blamable for sexual/gender-based violence against women due to the following THREE reasons –
1. Objectification of Women-
From
the most glamorous female celebrity to the burqa-clad, women are raised in the
Indian society with the perception that their looks matter. Girls grow up
realizing the social value of attractiveness. A woman learns at a very early
age that physical appearance is probably the most significant factor to
determine her worth. Right from the media advertisements to the eyes of the family/neighbours/peers,
women are told to look fair, beautiful, charming and ‘hot’/ ‘sexy’. John
Berger, an English art critic, stated in his book Ways of Seeing (1972):
“Men
dream of women, women dream of themselves being dreamt of. Men look at women.
Women watch themselves being looked at” and that “Women constantly meet
glances, which act like mirrors, reminding them how they look or how they
should look. […] men act and women appear … the surveyor of woman
in herself is male: the surveyed female. Thus she turns herself into an
object—and most particularly an object of vision: a sight.
—John Berger (Ways of Seeing, 1972, p. 47)
Man’s social presence is overpowering which makes him treat women as ‘object’. To objectify means to treat something as an object or cause to have objective reality (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). Thus, to be objectified means to be made into and treated as an object that can be used, manipulated, controlled, and recognized through its physical properties. In a society of institutionalized heterosexuality and patriarchy, woman compellingly makes herself ‘object and prey’ for the man. Woman lives her body as seen by another ‘man’. Objectifying women’s bodies contributes to an atmosphere within which a woman’s visual appearance becomes her key defining characteristic – all other accomplishments, achievements, skills and education are secondary. Then what happens when a woman is objectified? Objectifying a woman leads to -
- treatment of a woman without empathy and compassion
- victimization due to the failure to perceive women as humans
- envision women as bodies that exist for the use and pleasure of others.
It
is important to understand that whenever a woman’s body, body parts, or sexual
functions are dissociated from her ‘person’, she is reduced to a sexual object.
Therefore, the objectification of women leads to sexual objectification
which makes them vulnerable to various types of sexual violence. Sexual
objectification is the most harmful manifestation of gender inequality, because
under a sexually objectifying ‘gaze’, women’s bodies become — even if just for
a moment — the property of the observer; and in criminal cases, the property of
the molester or the rapist.
Let us understand the objectification of women in popular culture of India through the following examples-
- Catcalling a girl/ woman – calling her a “maal”, “item”, “patakha”, “fuljhadi” etc.
- Commenting on women’s body parts – “what a piece of ass”, “what a pussy” etc.
- Presenting women in advertisements – the ads of body-deodorants – they show women as the target of the stimulants which attract the female towards the male user of the deodorant; the condom ads show women having exaggerated desire for sex; the age old fair and lovely cream, which has now been renamed as ‘Glow and Lovely’ after a court judgement.
- Defining women as edible or consumable by using these words – “Coca-Cola”, “malai”, “honey”, “chaasni” etc.
- Projecting women as sexual objects in movie songs – the Bollywood ‘item songs’ present women in objectionable and objectifying manner. Note the following lyrics of such songs:
- Portrayal of women in fashion magazine images – in the images of a women’s magazine, body display is a trend in which women wear revealing/minimal/no clothes in the image; women have no other purpose within the image except being looked at, like an object.
- Dehumanization of women in video pornography as receiver of aggression – women are shown as responding either positively or neutrally to the acts of humiliation/brutality in pornographic content. This gives impression that women enjoy men abusing them, implying that ‘other’ woman would also be sexually compliant and could be treated as a sexual object.
- Design of clothes for little girls – the girl child is ‘trained to be a sexual object’ when encouraged to wear ‘sexy clothing’ with adultified design from a young age.
#A Google notification on my mobile – Read the caption to advertise a new model of Nokia phone. It objectifies the waist of women to refer to the thinness of an electronic product.
All
the above instances define, treat and evaluate women as objects who are further
seen as the instruments for the sexual pleasure of men. As a result, what girls
and boys learn about women’s bodies is that it is normal for women’s bodies to
be looked at, commented on, examined and sexually harassed. It is this
day-to-day practice of sexualized gazing that women face in a variety of social
contexts that traps girls and women into adopting this evaluative gaze on
themselves, or to self-objectify. Hence, socialization of girls and women
in a sexually objectifying culture leads to self-objectification. The second
reason for blaming the Indian society is the concept of self-objectification.
2. Self-Objectification
in Women-
Here, I want to draw the attention of readers to the female accountability to sustain and support the culture of objectification. Constant external objectification results in women internalizing media and other perspectives in their pursuit to define themselves. Since, women objectify themselves in the cultural practices of sexual objectification, they end up being self-objectified. The following are the ways through which women, knowingly/ unknowingly or consciously/ unconsciously, objectify themselves-
- Preoccupations with appearance- the beauty and cosmetic industry has benefitted a lot out of women’s urge to look good.
- Undergoing repetitive and invasive cosmetic surgeries – e.g. ‘lip jobs’, ‘nose jobs’, ‘boob jobs’ etc.
- Obsession with body-size – in a fat-phobic society, women tend to view their bodies as failing to conform to socially acceptable norms of body size.
- Offering the body on show – DSLR cameras, mobile phone cameras, social media, and the cult of the “selfie” all contribute to a context in which one’s face and body can feel constantly on show.
- Becoming prey to the ‘reels’ mania - online pressure “to look pretty all the time” and “to have a picture-perfect life” to put on display for the public, predominantly male, on social media to garner attention and popularity.
- ‘Item song’ and portrayal of the body – it is a Woman who performs in item songs with objectionably objectifying lyrics. Also, they agree on being minimally clothed in those songs which further emphasizes the agenda to offer the female body as the object for sexual male gaze and male desire.
- Fascination with wearing revealing clothes- in our country, certain geographical locations are found to have women wearing body-displaying designer clothes in the name of fashion/ modernity. However, these girls/ women fail to understand the difference between Westernization and Modernization. What one should wear is a personal choice. But all genders have to respect the cultural atmosphere of a particular place, such as a small town or suburban locale, in India while dressing the scanty Western attires. Also, one has to dress according to the occasion, place, and context. Nonetheless, the impact of self-objectification is such that the Indian women have made even ethnic clothes revealing by their unique customization to cater to the internalized desire of ‘being looked at’. While this is a highly contested topic, those who choose minimal clothing in our country they usually escape sexual violence as they move from one place to another either in a personal/ hired vehicle or in a protected shield of family or friends. But they end up objectifying themselves in particular and ‘women’ in general. Women without the privilege of having such protected environment for movement become the victim of gender-based violence wherein the patriarch male finds an opportunity to express his supremacy by sexual objectification. Such is the streak of self-objectification in women that it is regarded as the psychological consequence of regular exposure to sexually objectifying experiences. Consequently, the women do what the men want them to do, even without asking for it (meaning remain a ‘body' by displaying it like an object/product/commodity to be used or consumed).
#Example of self-objectification in Women – In this video, a model/actress is seen removing her clothes in a public place in front of the camera willfully and happily.
Self-objectification is manifested in the over-scrutiny of one’s body in ways that impact, potentially harmfully, both self-perception and the perception of others. This leads to an almost narcissistic obsession with how one looks and how one wants to be seen. Research shows that self-objectification is a harmful cultural practice. The increase in both shame and anxiety about the body and appearance, leads to mental health risks. Researchers around the world have suggested that the practices involving self-objectification expose women to increased risk of three mental health disorders-
- Eating disorders- too much concern for body weight and shape results from self-scrutiny and body shame. To counter this anxiety of body dissatisfaction, young women begin skipping meals and trying mercurial diets that lead to disordered eating.
- Depression- the connection between self-objectification and depressed mood is mediated by body shame and appearance anxiety.
- Sexual dysfunction- if a woman is always anxious about her body image, she is supposed to less concentrate on her own sexual pleasure to gain maximum sexual satisfaction. Body shame is related to sexual self-consciousness which in turn relates to decreased orgasm and less sexual pleasure.
Therefore,
the sexualization of female body for the male ‘gaze’ and ‘pleasure’ does not empower
women but keeps them focused on their own physical appearance and that of other
women. The societal emphasis on women’s sexual objectification has been associated
with gender inequality and recognized as an element within ‘rape culture’ that
contributes to sexual violence.
3.
The ‘Rape Culture’-
The third reason under my observation is the existence, development and support of a ‘rape culture’. The above discussed two factors lead to this concept of ‘rape culture’ which came into use by the feminist scholars, practitioners and activists to refer to a social structure that supports the perpetration of sexual violence. A rape culture is defined as one that normalizes and excuses rape, sexual violence and exploitation in all its forms. It refers to a social, cultural and structural discourses and practices in which sexual violence is tolerated, eroticized and trivialized. A rape culture entails a society that –
(i) raises its girls with the conviction that they need to make themselves attractive to men;
(ii) tells the women that their value and welfare depend upon male validation;
(iii) ignores the disappearance of socio-economically marginalized women;
(iv) endures the practice in which a powerful man who a woman refuses to have sex with can end her career;
(v) propagates men as the hunters for sex and the conquerors of women;
(vi) normalizes women to be the guardians of her own purity, chastity and virtue;
(vii) disrespects women who fail to be virtuous by slut-shaming and victim blaming;
(viii) questions the victims of rape about their behaviour;
(ix) DOES NOT question the men about their behaviour when they commit rape-crime;
(x) manifests the patriarchal legacy by silencing the victims and keeping silence about rapists.
A
society is said to promote rape culture when it “trains its women to be rape
victims” (Susan Brownmiller, 1975), or dismisses rape as “just sex” (Nicola
Gavey, 2019). Besides, the pathetic
conviction rate is also a worrying reality in the Indian societies of different
states which is well reflected in the government data. In West Bengal, in 2020
the conviction rate was only 3.1% out of the 1,128 registered cases of rape. Rapists
are not sexual deviant or sexually frustrated but rather individuals responding
to socio-cultural expectations of aggression and dominance over female by
resorting to intentional violence. Men grow up with the social
conditioning that enables them to assert power over women – from boardroom to
bedroom. A man’s will to force his maleness on a fearful woman reflects not
only his position of supremacy but also the lack of empathy when she is the
objectified ‘human’.
Now, let us consider few of the “Rape Myths” in which victims are blamed and shamed in a typical rape culture society –
- Provocative clothing was a factor of rape.
- When a victim is promiscuous, she encourages sexual violence.
- Visiting a pub or club or walking by dark pathways might have caused the rape.
- The victim was drinking or on a high which resulted in rape.
- A victim must fight back or have physical injuries for the act to be called a sexual assault.
- Victims must show signs of trauma by crying and displaying unusual emotions.
- The victim never said NO, hence the perpetrator did not get the clear signal to stop.
- Sex workers and porn stars cannot be raped.
- Victims made a false claim of rape.
- Women of low caste or class are sexually promiscuous; hence they are raped.
Myths and stereotypes that support the perpetrator’s behaviours and actions are as follows –
- Males are hyper-sexed and cannot control their need for sex.
- A spouse or intimate partner (boyfriend or fiancé) cannot rape because sex is consensual, not forced.
- Only strangers can rape.
- The perpetrator had to use weapon or physical force to commit rape. (It is a myth because emotional blackmail can also lead to raping a woman)
- Serial rapists are not common.
There exist Rape Scripts as well. They are societal stereotypes regarding the rape setting, act of rape, or sexual assault –
- Sexual assaults occur in isolate areas.
- Sexually violent crimes happen outside or in public, not at homes.
- External body injuries must be visible to call the assault a rape-crime.
- A weapon must be used for the assault to be considered rape.
We
must also note that shame is crucial in self-silencing of the victim,
and often contributes to victim/survivors feeling unworthy of recognition. This
“shame” factor many a times lead to the late reporting of rape in our country which
is interpreted as potentially false complaint.
However,
the measures to prevent rape need to promote women’s rights to safe and
respectful relationships, with men encouraged to do away with patriarchal form
of masculinities which have been promoting hatred and contempt for women. Rape
prevention initiatives must challenge the silencing and objectifying exercises
that reinforce rape culture. Few of the measures proposed by researchers are:
(i)
Self-defense – a formal training on self-defense makes women able to
resist violence. Research on rape avoidance shows that physical resistance
(combating and fleeing) coupled with verbal resistance (shouting, sending clear
messages/ signals of denial) to sexual advances not only avoids rape but also
decreases risk of physical injury.
(ii)
Bystander education – a bystander is a witness to the sexual crime, or a
facilitator in the crime or simply a neutral observer, or someone who steps in
to stop the assault. Bystander may include anyone – friends, neighbours, family
members, coaches, teachers, professional helpers, co-workers, or strangers. Unfortunately, a bystander is surprisingly absent/ missing in the R.G. Kar rape case. Bystander intervention has garnered attention because of their potential to
prevent rape. Their education includes encouraging them to stay attentive to
the safety of those around them and voluntarily intervene to prevent a sexual
assault or rape occurring in their presence.
(iii)
Engaging men and boys – Rape prevention work begins with men and with
men’s questioning of traditional assumptions about masculinity and their
rethinking what it means to be a man. The prevalent means to engage men in
preventing violence against women is face-to-face education programmes. Herein
they are given consent education which clarifies a woman’s agreeability in
having sexual intercourse. Further, awareness programmes on prevention of
sexual harassment at workplace or higher educational institutions are also an
effective manner to engage men and boys in resisting the beliefs of rape
culture.
(iv) Digital rape prevention – in the 21st century, the world wide web and social media platforms turn out to be the site of sexual violence against female users. Without any physical boundaries to constrain it, digital abuse has global reach with the potential to online harassment of an individual or group through objectifying posts, comments and reactions. Online gaming platforms make virtual rape possible through victim’s avatar, therefore, making the real and the virtual sexual crime almost identical. On a wider level, online and social media messaging can also sustain societal rape myths, including victim-blaming beliefs. Despite the difficulties the internet facilitated virtual world posits for being vast and largely unregulated, the preventive measures to avoid online sexual violence requires increased public awareness and involvement. This can be achieved through involving netizens on social media to challenge the societal practices that enable violence against women. And also, to promote online mobilisation around high profile news stories such as the R.G. Kar case. The focus on news stories digresses the discussion from the individual (she was drunk; he is a psychopath) to deeper concerns surrounding rape-crimes, including the role of hatred against women (misogyny) and the influence of patriarchal worldview.
In
the end, we may assert that rape will remain an epidemic if structured social
hierarchies remain, and women’s bodies remain instrumental to male definitions
of masculinity. For there to be no instances of rape, there must be no instances
of misogyny.
Finally,
the rape and murder of any woman is preventable, not by asking women to
change their behaviour but by challenging men to change theirs. Are we, the
men, ready to take this challenge? Can we make it our New Year Resolution at
the end of every December, every year? Can we pass it on to our generation and
the future generations to come? Can we, as a society, make efforts to stop rape-crimes
like the R.G. Kar Hospital case? I urge the readers to think about this and
question.
Thank
you!
Sources:
Berger, John. Ways of seeing. BBC
and Penguin Books Ltd., 1972.
Brownmiller, Susan. Against our will:
Men, women, and rape. Simon and Schuster, 1975.
Calogero, R. M., Tantleff-Dunn, S., &
Thompson, J. K. (Eds.). Self-objectification in women: Causes, consequences,
and counteractions. American Psychological Association, 2011.
Gavey, Nicola. Just sex? The cultural
scaffolding of rape. Routledge, 2019.
Henry, Nicola and A. Powell (eds.). Preventing
Sexual Violence: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Overcoming a Rape Culture.
Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
Jordan, Jan. Tackling Rape Culture:
Ending Patriarchy. Routledge, 2023.
Jordan, Jan. Women, rape and justice:
Unravelling the rape conundrum. Routledge, 2022.
Nicholls, Tracey. Dismantling Rape
Culture: The Peacebuilding Power of ‘Me Too’. Routledge, 2021.
Smith, Lisa R. The Blaming and Shaming
of Defenseless Victims in America’s Rape Culture. Lexington Books, 2022.
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