Rape and Mainstream
Malayalam Women Magazines
Rape is a
tool of patriarchy, but also of racism, colonialism, nationalism, and other
pernicious hierarchies. These and other power relationships in turn make women
and girls even more vulnerable to rape. In virtually, any situation where women
and girls belonging to especially, desperate or powerless populations are at
the mercy of men in authority. Some of those men use their authority to force
or extort sexual access. The rape trend is irresistibly increasing in our
society. Soumya murder and Delhi gang rape were two of the shocking examples of
this increasing rape culture. Even as the nation was protesting against the
Delhi gang rape, more and more cases of sexual assault began to find column
space in media. The utter failure of the law enforcement to curb such crimes is
reflected in the very low conviction rates. The record has gone from bad to
worse in the past decades.
Rape is a violent form of oppression and is a mechanism by which
individuals or groups gain, express, and maintain their dominance and power
over others. This is evident when rape is used as a tool of war, when men are
raped in jail, or when rape occurs on the basis of someone's race, age,
ability, or sexuality. Rape is about the use and abuse of power to intimidate,
degrade, or control others with less status. The fact that women and children
are raped more often than men is a manifestation of their lesser power and
inferior status in society.
Structural and institutional powers and social beliefs maintain a
culture where women have less power and status. Also Power imbalance is
practiced on the race, class, sexuality, age, and ability. Sexual violence for
women then, is not only an extension of sexism, but often exists in conjunction
with the other forms of oppression.
Rape is not inevitable, but rather rape and other forms of
oppression done by men are the result of learned attitude and behavior which
are forced by a society that defines and prompts manhood masculinity through
domination. Too many men use sexual violence to exert power over others. The
attitude of many men who rape is that, they have the right to own, dominate,
and punish women and use rape as a tool to control. Here two important
questions arise. That is: 1- where would such an attitude or rape culture come
from? 2- How does it show itself in everyday life?
Researches shows that approximately one third of young men
believe that it is Okay to force a young woman to have sex if she has led him
on. Also they believe they have the right to use violence to make a girl to do
what they want.
The belief in their right to rape and dominate as boys or men will
continue to occur unless we challenge and change the rape culture that sustains
it. Despite some changes in last century, when we look at who has power
in society and who makes the major decisions, we see that men still dominate
our institutions - government, legal, media, religious, educational and the
family. This male power is connected to historical, religious and cultural
faiths that it is suitable for men to dominate and control women and children.
Men are the heads of the household; his word is law; men lead in dancing;
women take male family names when they marry etc.
Everyone concede that the reason is
connected with socio-political context in our country, which usually reinforce
the message that it is natural for men to dominate and control women and
children, even violently if they choose. Another reason of this attitude is
gender inequality. Different types of oppressions leads to the rape.
Those are:
Systemic Oppression
Control
over women maintains the structures of gender oppression; it would be carried
out by individuals in private or by institutional forces in the public sphere.
Families, communities, and social, legal, and civic institutions may secretly
and openly support it. Even as violence commands greater attention and fear;
sexism and misogyny do their share to shape inequality, by defining and
continuation of restrictive gender norms.
Power
Power as
factor of control over women, it sets the agenda for patriarchy. But,
conflating it with misuse or masculinity is problematic and need a more complex
analysis of the typical power and control explanations. Feminism, which is
about women claiming their rights to self-determination and equality, confronts
gender conformity and aims at replacing relationships of power with
relationships of meaning.
Culture
Culture
is used to justify gender inequality and violence by evoking traditional
cultural beliefs about how women should be treated. The defense of the culture
of a place, country, religion, etc., is in fact a defense of the culture of
patriarchy in that country, religion, identity; and the culture of violence
everywhere. The culture of patriarchy is not static. It is different from one
place to another.
Racial Oppression
Analyses
of violence by men of colour against women of color tend to over-emphasize how
racial oppression contributes to men’s use of violence. But, within communities
of color, women and non-abusive men who are exposed to similar social histories
of oppression do not resort to battering to cope with racism. While oppressions
based on race, class, gender, heterosexuality, etc., are undeniable;
explanations relying on oppression are inadequate. Because the intersection of
race and gender are complicated, race is all too often privileged over gender.
Holding this and other intersectional ties together offers a more effective
route to accountability and transformation.
Kerala awaits (Kerelam
kathirikkunnu)
Grihalakshmi, published on March 2011 carried an
article about Soumya murder in their ‘society’ category. The story is written
by Reeshma Damodar. The article starts with few dialogues by different people
from different part of the Kerala. But it does not assume any serious thought
or solution for this rape culture.
The dialogues are given below.
- A young
male person says that Govinda Chami would not do all this things without
Soumyas consent.
- A family
man shares his anger that he would kill Govinda Chami if he gets him.
- Article
Basic expanses aims at collecting the opinion of about the Soumya incident
women’s from different part of the Kerala.
In this article the reporter pointed out the
carelessness stand of Railway Guard. When one of the passenger asked to pull
the chain to stop train as he saw two persons were fell down from the train.
General said that: please don’t care that would some Tamils or gypsies. Another
important facts written in the article is
even though through different options, some women express their worry
about the future journeys, the pathetic condition of the society etc.
In the article there is column about Sister Filo
George. Here she explains her experience
that, when she saw a
girl being beaten and hit by a
handicapped man in the train; She
hit the man and helped that girl to escape by pulling chain
and took her to the hospital.
This is what the article says about. There are no
comments of writer, no serious discussion about the severity of the issue.
Magazine did not carry the details of issue. Therefore they couldn’t analyze or
find the real problem inside the problem.
Everlasting anger
(Anayaatha rosham)
In December edition of vanita carried two reports
of Soumya murder. This was just after the disclosing verdict of Soumya case.
The column headed in “anayatha rosham” Written by Monsy Joseph. In which she
shortly analyzes the socio-cultural situation of our country, the limitations
of the law and emotional pain of the family etc. and explains the pathetic
condition of Kerala. There are no more descriptions of the facts in it. Even
after such a shocking incident vanita gave only a space of one page. Here
itself clear the importance of this issue according to vanita as a women’s
magazine.
Hang the rapists
Just after the shock of Delhi gang rape, VANITA
published an article in January 2013 by the staff reporter. The question in
this article is: is death sentence is an enough punishment for rape? The
reporter asks opinion to different types of people and collects answers. When
we analyses the content article mainly says that, it was the largest mass
protest incident in independent India that house wives and students were
together protested, for 23 year old paramedical student, who was brutally raped
by a wicked group on 16 December 2012.
This gang rape ignited public anger; the mass
protest demanded capital punishment for rape. Delayed justice is denied
justice, human justice for human beings. How could we call dirty creatures who
torn a girl without any mercy as human?
The young women died after fighting 12 days. The
brave, bold girl wept only once, for her mother when she opened her eyes. Her
words were heartbreaking: mem... mem... jeena chahte hum... (I would like to
live). With her injured head, body and internal organs, she manifest her desire
to live.
The article arise a question that who will answer
for her sobbing words? The mass protest was an evidence for the fact that
Indian people are not ready to wait the killers hands come to their life. The
politicians who insult the protesters never know the pain of Indian mother who
have a girl child.
There is a statistics given in the article about
the rape cases in India. That is; among the total rape cases in India there are
only 25% culprits were punished. In 2011 itself 26436 cases were registered in
our country. But only 5274 defendants were punished. It is a shell-shocked fact
from India, the largest democratic country in the world.
The article suggests some directions at the end.
Those are: every district should have fast track court and should assure
privacy on enquiry and trial. Then only we could maintain maximum disciplinary
action to the accused one. Otherwise the mentally depressed girl and her family
could not stand on the case. Authority and judiciary should ensure time bound
on the rape cases. These are the suggestions.
What we do now?
In February 2013 Grihalakshmi carried a report
related with Delhi gang rape written by its staff reporter. The story starts
like: ‘the girl who tattered by some cruel hands passed away from this dirty
world’. The story tries to catch
readers by describing emotional details. Writer arises some questions those
are: after the endless discussion of media why our society doesn’t try to
change? What would be the situation of the remaining women? Etc.
Also reporter mentions that the world is still
exist because of the women, so everyone should respect them. Article advises
the mothers that they must keep equality on their son and daughter, and it ends
with giving an optimism that everything will ok.
But here also the reporter fails to reveal the real
problem of our society. Both vanita and grihalakshmi wouldn’t dare to look at
the problem in its root level. They always try to satisfy the readers not only
women but also the patriarchy. So they select a safe zone to stand.
Under the manipulation of so called “women‘s
issue”, these mainstream magazines carry stories which are satisfying the
upper-middle class families. The subtracting women’s issue as women’s own issue
and deducting its discussion only to the opinion of some women are not that
much fair. Both VANITA and GRIHALAKSHMI carry stories without make any attempt
to study its psycho-socio-cultural and
political aspects, always they writes collection of opinion. The serious less
approach of these magazines are clear, because they do not reveal any
insightful idea or thought of people who express their words.
Another fact is all of these mainstream magazines
shrink the duration of discussions related to a serious issue to the few days
or weeks. And they would not make follow up of the issue. By detail analyzing,
the researcher found that most of these magazines used to increase their
circulation by creating publicity in the name of women.
When we observes the leaders and editors of VANITA
and GRIHALAKSHMI she found that all of them are male-centered and market
oriented people. It is not a negative fact that a male editor for a women’s
magazine, but they never try to make a change for this social system, and
stories are being male centered in deeper level. Magazines always choose a safe
zone in serious issues. Therefore, they are unable to put an idea or solution
for this threatening issue in front of the wide range of readers.
According to many lawyers suggestion; the
government must constitute Fast Track Courts in every districts and there
should be a psychological expert in judging panel.
These two mainstream magazines frequently try to
make women as a better house keeper. They always go through the thoughts of
elite-pseudo males and follows capitalized market trend. For their preplanned
agenda they just sell the word ‘women’. Also there is a tendency of tiding
women with few words like ‘so called’ love, house making, emotions etc.
At the end of this analysis,
we can find that the magazines tend to
1.
Systematically
enwrap women within the private sphere of home, by connecting them to the
institution of marriage, domesticity, familial values, etc.
2.
On the surface, in these magazines, males are
doing the agential position like editors, managers etc. they think, and
write only in patriarchal level of thought.
3. Every
opinion they selected from women or men clears that the men rape women only
because of his sexual need. But it is a system of establishing ‘there is no
other politics for rape’.
4. Model of
femininity is constructed over certain parameters which are based on gender,
class, and caste which defined by a patriarchal society.
5. At the
outset, these magazines make claims on the social positioning and capabilities
of women which posit them as nowhere
inferior to men; nevertheless, we can also see that associate women
with love, matrimony and motherhood, house-making, housekeeping, etc.
