Rape, as defined by the dictionary means, 'the crime of forcing another person to submit to sex acts, especially sexual intercourse'. But in reality, it means much more. It means traumatizing a girl mentally and physically to such an extent that she gets nightmares about it all her life. She feels so insecure to walk alone, and trusting another man in the future becomes her biggest fear. And what was her fault? It's only that a sex-starved monster failed to control his sexual desires and made her a prey of his lust!
We hear of rapes every coming day. Every rape leaves another family begging desperately for justice, hoping to see some stringent laws and praying that no other girl meets the same fate as their daughter or sister. But what happens in the end? The monster is released on bail or sometimes just walks scot free if he has some political clout. The brutality of the Delhi rape haunts the whole nation even today. I am sure, even animals would have not committed such an act even with their worst of enemies!
Our society has always been conservative about sex and other topics related to it. We live in a sex-starved India, where we consider things like prostitution as social evils but on the other hand have free and unrestricted access to porn and adult magazines. The "sex-starvation" of our society is being used openly as a marketing tactic as well. Every product is being advertised by a hot looking babe, sometimes skimpily dressed. Our films have made it a norm to have one item number at least, proving the common belief "sex sells"!
According to Maslow's Hierarchy of needs, Sex is one of the Physiological need along with food, water, air and sleep. Every individual, after a certain age, feels the need to have sex. But not all are able to keep this urge under control. And watching porn or the sexist ads only increases the libido and the uncontrollable urge manifests itself in the form of rape! India is no alien to sex or the pleasures and complications associated with it. Our's is the land where Kamasutra was born and sex was considered as a sacred act. But over a period of time, due to its misuse and misunderstanding, sex has become a social stigma. Something that everybody does behind closed doors, but is reluctant to accept!
The best alternative to get rid of this growing sex starvation would be to legalize prostitution. Controlled prostitution with proper norms, health check-ups for the sex workers and proper hygiene would help to provide an outlet to these men who find it extremely difficult to control their rising libido and target innocent girls. So also, having strict laws or even capital punishment for a rapist would prove to be a strong deterrent and the person will be forced to think twice before committing this act.
Many of the rapes take place since our children have less or absolutely no sex education. It's high time we speak openly with our children about all these things and educate them. It's very important that a child, especially girls are taught to distinguish between a caring "touch" and the one which is an attack on her dignity. It is indeed sad to see that in our land, where woman is worshipped, is becoming increasingly unsafe for women and they are being treated as an object of personal satisfaction. Even children are not spared and their childhood and innocence is devoured by the lust of some animals in the garb of human beings!
The world has changed and so has our lifestyle and our dressing. I do agree that modesty is a distinct feminine virtue and trampling our culture and blindly aping the west by women is not acceptable. But it's disgusting to see that even in this modern, civilized and educated India, a female in western clothes is looked upon with perverted thoughts and her morality is degraded even without touching her. We have a rich culture. A culture that dates back to centuries and something we can feel proud of. Our culture and our values teach us to respect a woman. As the saying goes:
yatra nāryastu pūjyante ramante tatra devatāḥ|
yatraitāstu na pūjyante sarvāstatrāphalāḥ kriyāḥ ||
Which means, 'The divine are extremely happy where women are respected ;where they are not, all actions (projects) are fruitless'!
Its time the Government and the concerned authorities take this seriously and come up with ways to make our land safe for our women.
