It's time to put the onus of rape on men

Two Dalit girls in their early teens were brutally gang-raped and allegedly murdered in Vijayapura district in May. A grief-stricken Gangamma*, the mother of one of the girls, has vowed not to send her other girl child alone anywhere. Gangamma also fears this could be the end of freedom for many young girls in the neighbourhood, and some families might just pull them out of school.

“Why does the heinous act not haunt the perpetrators and their families, or affect other men?” Gangamma asks in agony, as her son informs her that the families of the accused are trying to get them out on bail.

This unlettered woman doesn’t know about former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir or her reply to her Cabinet, which suggested a curfew on women as a possible solution to curb sexual assaults in Israel in the 1970s: “But it is the men who are attacking the women. If there is to be a curfew, let the men stay at home.”

The administration of Mysore University clearly lacked the wisdom of Golda Meir or the concern of Gangamma, when it responded to the gang-rape of a girl in Mysuru by issuing a circular restricting the movement of female students on the campus after 6.30 pm. The notification was later withdrawn after a public backlash.

"Do we really stand up against rape by discriminating between the privileges of a male and a female?" asks Shreyansh, a post-graduate student in Belagavi who does not agree with this move. "Empower and equip us to ensure that every gender feels safe, and realise Gandhi's ideal of true freedom," he says.

Like in any patriarchal society, almost all agencies in the country think that sexual violence is a women’s issue and curbing women’s autonomy in the name of protection remains the standard reaction to any act of crime.

Each time such an incident happens, the issue of morality comes into play. The debate gets reduced to the time of the incident, dress, and place. The response is to control, shame or blame the survivor.

But are we doing anything to stop the perpetrator or do a course correction by asking why men rape?

Studies show that rapes happen when a man thinks of a woman as a commodity. It is about power and control.

Leaders who do not understand this but still make insensitive statements with impunity, set bad examples and influence people's psyche for the worse.

When Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra, Karnataka State Women’s Commission former chairperson Manjula Manasa and some other leaders blamed the Mysuru rape survivor for being out on that desolate stretch late in the evening, they probably were not aware that a 13-year-old child was raped and murdered in the afternoon on July 23 in Chitradurga district.

Two years after the country was declared open-defecation free, this child lost her life when she had gone to defecate in the open.

"We have strong laws, but both society and the enforcing agencies are rooted in a feudal, patriarchal mindset. This mindset necessitates a public protest after every other reported rape to book the culprit; this makes the law and a court accept marital rape," says advocate Maitreyi Krishnan.

Sustained struggles over the past four decades — from the Mathura case in the 1980s to the Vishakha incident in the 1990s and the Nirbhaya case in the 2010s — have led to the strengthening of laws against sexual violence.

These struggles have resulted in increased reporting of violence and public awareness as well — to an extent that some men who used to prevent women from participating in protests against sexual violence now empathise with the cause.

Root cause

And there we stop, says anthropologist Arun Joladakudligi. “We see our daughters as possible victims, but never think of our sons as possible perpetrators. This leaves a huge gap in addressing gender-based violence.”

Studies indicate that gender inequality and a lack of gender sensitivity are at the root of rape.

Have the governments, educational institutions and other agencies ever prioritised breaking gender stereotypes? What is the role of these agencies in producing abusive individuals?

Democratic debates and discussions on these issues have no space in universities that have been dominated by ideological and identity battles, in addition to moral policing.

Recently, Delhi University dropped three works of feminist literature from its BA English (Honors) course, a move widely seen as one ignoring the harsh realities of women’s life, particularly sexual violence, over the 'discomfort' caused by studying narratives challenging patriarchy.

In 2015, the University Grants Commission started the annual programme: Gender Champions in Institutions.

In 2020, only 56 of over 1,000 universities in the country have implemented it. Just three of those universities are from Karnataka, and none of them are state universities. The number of colleges in the country that have gender champions is slightly over 100.

Karnataka's Education Department also organised a gender sensitisation programme for teachers in 2012-13. And it didn’t continue for reasons that are not known.

Gender sensitisation

People's Movement Against Sexual Assault, a platform of various women’s organisations and concerned individuals, is one of the few organisations that engage children in gender sensitisation. Mallige, a member of the movement, recalls how some schools had sent boys home as they felt only girls need sensitisation.

"When we say gender, people hear women by default," she says, "Of course, women need to be strengthened but it is actually men who need to be sensitised."

Prof Sabiha is among the rare breed of educators in the state who stress on gender sensitisation programmes. She organised workshops on the topic until her retirement last month: First as a professor at the Mangalore University and later as the vice-chancellor of the Karnataka State Women's University.

"This workshop helps students understand the challenges and perspectives of the other gender. From primary level, the schools have segregated them as two separate entities. From seating to extracurricular activities, gender plays a role in what they do and how they think. The sessions here are designed in such a way that they open up and start seeing through the eyes of the other gender," she says. There is also a module on self-defence in this programme.

Mustafa K H, a researcher at Mangalore University, wishes students across the state, from primary school to post-graduation, participate in such programmes, called 'Ghanateya Baduku' or 'A life of dignity'. “From sexualities to breaking gender stereotypes we discuss many aspects of our life and get the right orientation,” he says.

Is the situation any better in the workplace? No, says Dr Shaibya Saldanha, who works with survivors of sexual abuse and is a member of several POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment) committees.

The notions about sexuality are so formally entrenched that the perpetrator is forgiven easily, while the woman who complains ends up losing the job, she says.

Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013 mandates awareness workshops for each member of the organisation. "This is hardly followed. HR departments in many companies avoid putting the names and contact details of the internal committee members on all the notice boards in various languages spoken by the staff, as they feel it will cause 'unnecessary complaints'," Shaibya says.

At the global level, there are initiatives such as HeForShe, which is a United Nations Global Solidarity Movement For Gender Equality. Still, as a society, we are grappling with the objectification of women, glorification of dress code, superficial efforts of empowerment and the justification of male hegemony.

The recent incident has only shown the need to turn the discourse on sexual violence from "Don't get raped" to "Don't rape".

(*Name has been changed to protect identity)