Rape is about power and dominance, not always sexual gratification
-Anish Pokhrel
In the fiscal year 2019/20, 2144 rape cases and 687 attempts of rape cases were registered as per Nepal Police. The fact that this data excludes the cases of child sexual abuse is mortifying. In recent decades, the number of reported cases have increased by 256 times. However, these are merely a fancy set of numbers since most of such cases are not reported due to social, cultural and religious factors and the actual data cannot be estimated. According to a 2013 Government report in England, only 15 % of total sexual violence incidents are reported. According to The Women’s Foundation of Nepal(2015), a woman is raped every 54 minutes. Although the number of women victims is much higher, men are raped too.
In a male-dominated society like ours, misogynistic attitudes and stereotypes are fed to us since birth. Centuries of hardcore patriarchal beliefs and practices leave a toxic legacy, which helps nurture the rape culture. Rape culture is a practice of social attitude that normalizes sexual assaults or rape like incidents with the use of misogynistic language and glamorization of sexual violence, thereby disregarding the rights and safety of women. This includes covering up for men with slogans like ‘men will be men’, ‘manhood should be dominant and sexually aggressive’, victim-blaming, scrutinizing victims’ outfit, restricting women’s choices in the name of safety etc. Rape is always portrayed as a way of sexual gratification, but it is high time we question, is it?
Rape is less about the uncontrolled desire to have sex, but more about the showcase of power and dominance. Although rapists have their own motives, their actions root down to the same reason, power and suppression. Most of these criminals do not feel remorse for their actions but rather defend themselves within the same old mindset. In India, a convicted rapist who was sentenced to jail for 20 years for raping a minor of age 5 was offered to marry her by the Chief Justice. This is just one out of numerous such instances where it is preconditioned to believe that only the problem faced by a rape survivor is marriage. In the context of Nepal, our cultural and traditional taboos, economic status and nescience of the concept of consent are the responsible causes of rape.
In 1976, clinical psychologist Samuel Dr. Smithyman conducted research on convicted rapists and found that they do not possess specific behavioural characteristics that would differentiate them from other innocent people. He further adds, every individual can turn into a rapist. There are different theories regarding the motivation for such crimes, the two major ones being; the biological theory and the cultural theory. The biological or evolutionary theorists believe that a man tends to rape a woman for evolutionary reasons and such activities evolved with time as a strategy of men to increase their races and families to ensure the continuation of their heredity. This theory also suggests that each individual possesses all the tendencies to perpetrate sexual violence. The cultural or societal theorists believe that such criminals are made by societal and cultural behaviors, irrespective of biological aspect. Clinical Psychologist, Dr. Madhumita Pandey, in an interview with Argute Direction, stresses the cultural theory. She urges that a well-adjusted man would not derive sexual pleasure in knowing that the person they are engaging with, is in distress.
What can we do?
Accepting our society is flawed is one of the most important and foremost things that we can do to help prevent such crimes. We all are responsible for shaping our society the way it is today. We have to be able to acknowledge that it is not only the rapist to be blamed but one way or another, we are the contributors too.
Nurture well
Sigmund Freud claims that the things a child experiences between the ages of two to four gets implanted in the subconscious mind of the child and influences their behavior later. The concept of consent must be taught to a child early. For a long time, we have created an unhealthy gap between men and women from a young age, nurturing them with different sets of values that contribute to preventing them from understanding each other. Their needs and issues remain unexchanged and undiscussed. It is our duty to educate our children about the needs, desires and issues of women too.
Speak Up
Turning a blind eye to issues like eve-teasing might also motivate one for bigger crimes like rape. Continuum of Sexual Violence is a model given by a British Professor, Liz Kelly, which suggests that if one does not call out the people involved in these activities, getting outraged only when a rape case is reported does not help much. Many experts point out the fact that criminals as human beings act in a rational way; they act by weighing the costs and benefits that are crime and punishment in this matter. If there is a chance of getting away after committing a crime, people are more likely to commit the crime.
Nepali laws regarding rape
Although Nepal lacks gender-neutral rape laws, rape laws have been made fiercer. However, the Nepali legal system lacks effectiveness. Positivist theorists on criminology often argue that the criminal justice system should not only punish offenders but also study why a person indulges in such criminal activity. Nepali legal system lacks such caliber.
Nonetheless, several ordinances have been issued with regards to punishing mediation in rape cases and increasing the time period of jail sentences. The amended Muluki Criminal Act 2074 has increased the maximum jail term for anyone convicted of rape from 15 years to 20 years. The government has enacted “Sexual Harassment at Workplace Prevention Act 2071” to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.
Until and unless we stop watering misogynistic mindsets and supporting patriarchal superiority, all other efforts to prevent sexual violence will go in vain. Cultural and societal aspects play a vital role in controlling such crimes and proper upbringing will definitely help.
The opinions expressed in the article solely belong to the author and do not necessarily represent the official opinion of Youth in Federal Discourse (YFD).
