A 23 year old girl in Delhi got assaulted and brutally raped a few days ago. She is battling for her life. And the nation is battling with itself.
RAPE. A four letter word which comes with a stigma attached to it, has the public, cops, the judiciary and the government dancing to its tunes. No sooner does an event create enough buzz, that it spurs a series of debates, discussions, write-ups and posters all over.
I read an article from a spiritual community, which said that rape had nothing to do with sex. Sex is passionate and involves love while rape is a blend of hate, anger and disrespect for another human being. Hence both are on opposite ends of the spectrum.
I neither completely agree nor disagree with the above point. Rape is definitely a problem. The increasing number of incidents and lack of control on the situation is a bigger problem. But, an even bigger problem is our misconceptions of this social evil and our narrow minded approach to it. We are still conservative while dealing with problems affecting the society. We see the symptoms and mistake it for the disease. Hence we fight the symptoms while the disease prevails.
The concept and definition of rape needs refurbishment. Can an act of sexual violence be classified as rape, only if there has been an intercourse? Even though the stats prove that it is usually the males who are rapists, can we say with absolute certainty that a woman cannot turn into a rapist? Can a male be raped? Are the boys who are victims of sodomy considered as rape victims?
If we look at the problem from different angles, each one of them is sure to open up a fresh set of questions.
My idea of writing this blog is not to find answers to all the questions pertaining to the problem but to analyze the root cause of such deviant behavior. What makes a person a rapist? Some say that it is a psychological disorder and that rapists are insane. Some others are of the opinion that these people are not insane but victims of certain social problems. Another viewpoint is that they are sexually deprived and hence desperate.
None of these schools of thought are completely wrong. It is hard to point out any one reason. But we can be certain that even though the act is sexual by nature, it has very less to do with sex itself.
As I see it, this pseudo-sexual act comprises of two parts. The primary factors or ingredients (as I would call it) and the catalysts. The catalysts are many (social, economic, political etc.), however we may be able to spot high levels of similarity among the primary factors lying at the base of every rape case. My point is that instead of just fighting and suppressing the catalysts, we must target the primary factors even though they maybe extremely difficult to uproot.
One of the most prominent primary factor according to me is the 'need for POWER'. The complication here is that this need is engraved into most of us, not just the ones who commit the crime. Deep within ourselves, there is a need to prove either to ourselves or/and to others that we have POWER and that we are in control. The concept of power too is multidimensional, hence the way in which we satisfy this need would vary from person to person. This need maybe dormant in some while it maybe prominent in some others.
Rapists would fall into the latter category. The catalysts, whatever they may be, would trigger the action. But as I mentioned, the root cause lies in the strong desire to prove that one has power over another. And this necessity to prove usually originates from a deeply set inferiority complex. Hence, anyone who suffers from this complex would mostly try dominating someone who is physically, mentally or emotionally weaker and fool himself or herself into enjoying the feeling of superiority. There are numerous situations around us where we witness or may even be a part of domination or submission. Rape is one such extreme act which allows the perpetrator to channelize his aggression through a sexual medium and derive sadistic pleasure in the misery of the victim.
It would be myopic to believe that the human race lies in pure contrast. We all have shades of grey. Most of us, at a conscious level are oblivious to the dark sides of our own selves. Like the popular TV character Dexter Morgan says..."we all have a Dark Passenger inside". Its hard to predict when will this passenger wake up.
This blog has not come to a conclusion. It has only turned the board around so that the readers can take off those tinted glasses for sometime while analyzing the concept of rape in the light of the current scenario. As I write this, the media is buzzing with fresh cases of rape.
There are too many Dark Passengers waking up. The question is...will we be able to identify and keep a check on them?
