The growing problem…..By Sean Reeder

When speaking of India and Indian culture, we think of its richness and its effect on the world historically. However, like many other cultures and countries, this civilization has its fair share of demons. Among these negatives, is the sensitive topic, of rape of woman and children in there culture.

Rape is forced sexual acts towards another individual without the persons consent. This has been an issue since the beginning of time, and for the most part has been ignored throughout history for the betterment of the country.

In a recent poll taken by more.com, in 2010, Rape and violence were up 7.1 percent against Indian woman. “Nearly one in three rape victims in India are under the age of 18”. “One in 10 are under 14”. “Every 20 minutes in India, a woman is raped”. (More.com)

The question posed is, why isn’t anything being done about this? The answers vary, could it be that it is deemed as an embarrassment of the country, the men are feared and woman and children are powerless, or is it simply an irrelevant matter in the real world of India.

We have heard many of cases of rape in America, however, in the western world, we seem to lend a blind eye to this growing problem. Media circuits haven’t done enough because they run with the stories they deem most relevant.

For this problem to shrink in mathematical matters; we must use our voices, push petitions, use media sites positively, instead of for just our own individual purposes.

Overall, not be afraid to be different, just like the people of India, who took a bold stand in the case of Jyoti Singh.

Jyoti Singh was an aspiring medical student, looking forward to a better life away from the poverty stricken area where she came from.

On the night of December 12 of 2012 Jyoti Singh was walking with a male friend, when a bus with six men rode up beside them and offered them a ride, claiming to be heading in the same direction of Delhi, they accepted. What happened next was so sick and unthinkable to even describe, however for the informative nature of this project, I will elaborate. The men attack the gentlemen that Jyoti was with, knocking him out. Then began to brutally attack Jyoti one by one, beating her and taking turns raping her, while telling the driver of the bus to continue to drive. Finally one of the gentlemen as one of the six men on the bus that night reached into Jyoti and pulled her intestines out of her before dumping both her and her male friend out on the side of the rode to perish. Jyoti Singh died 13 days later from her injuries. The six men are now currently on death row.

Another stand out incident in the culture of rape, is the case of Suzette Jordan. In February 2012, while attending a bar in Calcutta with friends, she met a male stranger who she deemed as being nice, they talked, and there were positive gestures between the two, so when offered a ride she accepted not knowing what was bound to take place next. When they left for other men jumped into the vehicle, one began

Reeder 3 to grab onto her breast, she screamed, she

attempted to get away, however it was too late. She was beaten and raped inside the car at gunpoint. When she tried to go to the authorities, she felt embarrassed as she proclaimed in the YouTube clip (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA-n4FyIYA8).

The police asked her questions like “You were in the nightclub drinking”? “Is beer your favorite drink”? “What is a 37 year old woman of two daughters, doing in a nightclub anyway”? So instead of showing consideration for her as the victim in the attack, it was seen in their eyes as being her fault. Even the chief minister of the West Bengal government used insensitive remarks when asked about Suzette’s case, deeming that it was false and a way to malign her government for her political competitors. However, it came out that Suzette was indeed telling the truth, as police used video from that night to capture the suspects, Suzette is now an activist against rape, using her voice as well as her experience to protest and educate rape victims and young ladies of West Bengal.

The questions presented for this topic are “What propels men towards the culture of rape? And do you think the causes are rooted in Culture?

Could it be that it’s being taught to be okay for recreation, or could it be the fact that half of the rape cases presented are falsely reported? This creates a “boy who cried wolf” mentality for authorities. This explains the growing shift in judgment of rape victims and there cases. That’s why there is an increasing growing problem in gang rapes in India.

These men believe that they can get away with it, it is common activity to take advantage of a woman, its fun to them, if you continue to give these men repetitive opportunity to use these rapes for sport, the problem will continue to expand. Rape is never funny; it’s nothing to joke about.

The insensitive nature at hand is a slap in the face of real rape victims. One thing we must do as I have mentioned before is use our voices as Suzette Jordan has done and continue to do, not use rape as a joke, allow the facts to play out before we place judgment on victims or potential victims, and lastly use the technological tools that are with our reach to spread the word throughout the world.

http://news.yahoo.com/india-s-daughter-documentary-about-2012-delhi-gang-rape-and-murder-204806009.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA-n4FyIYA8

http://www.more.com/news/india-rape-capital-world

http://world.time.com/2013/11/08/why-rape-seems-worse-in-india-than-everywhere-else-but-actually-isnt/