prasad1
Active member
I am sorry it has come to this.
Are you saying that in our "heritage" (whatever that means) there was no crime in this land?
Violence against women is an international phenomenon. In India, rape, sexual assault, physical and verbal abuse become especially pervasive given their strongly roots in India’s history and societal norms. The issue of violence against women grows increasingly urgent, statistics illustrating that violence against women is on the rise. Between the years of 2001 and 2011, the number of crimes against women has risen an alarming 59%, the number one crime being rape (John 2013).
Within the Vedic Period (1500-800 BCE), however, society became increasingly structured. Despite women being honored as sacred within the Hindu culture, this time period also saw the establishment of the institution of marriage. This developed the obligation of women to remain in the household, and to birth a son. Following the Vedic Period, from around 500 BCE to 1850 CE, this dichotomous role for women was further cemented. Women came to be regarded as both an object of control and one of worship. Required to serve as both a submissive wife and a beacon of chastity, women soon became defined by the standards set by their husbands and families.
Furthermore, women also saw the separation of the two. On one hand, they were revered as goddesses, while on the other, their presence and participation were forbidden in religious practices. The Post-Vedic Period also saw the arrival of sati: a Hindu funeral ritual in which a widow was forced to commits suicide by way of lighting herself on fire.
Though India developed Kama Sutra, a literature on sex, and has ancient texts that speak of sex freely, foreign presence saw to the stigmatization of sexual liberalism. Since this time, Indian culture has been marked by conservatism and proceeds to consider sex a taboo. Indirectly, this perception offers cause for violence against women (Sharma 2014). Also during this time, women strongly became considered representatives of Indian culture and spirituality, and consequently were often kept at home in order to protect and preserve these entities from foreign influence.
The reason for this violence against women are:
Patriarchy
Often the most commonly referenced cause of violence against women, the patriarchy can be defined as a social system in which men are placed above women. This being so, group mentality and social practices follow suit, often resulting in the oppression and exploitation of women. India maintains a strong cultural expectation of women to be chaste and obedient. The normalization of this expectation manifests into women’s acceptance of their prescribed gender roles. This is not to say that women approve of nor appreciate their subjugation, but rather they are socialized to tolerate and even rationalize it.
In the aftermath of the 2012 Delhi rape, Kavita Krishnan, secretary of the All India Progressive Women’s Association, gave a speech entitled “Freedom Without Fear...”. The speech was largely publicized for its unique focus on the government’s misguided attempts to blame victims for the nation’s high rates of rape. Further, Krishnan references their public statements in which they reason that rape incident are largely because of women dressing certain ways or choosing to be out late at night without escorts. She argues that women need not justify being out late, but rather “women have a right to freedom without fear”, and that is what requires protection and respect. Krishnan evidences how the patriarchy indirectly blames women for the violation of women’s safety.
http://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/globalstudies/images/livne-gs-capstone-paper.pdf
In the ultimate analysis, there can be no two opinions about the need for stringent laws, sensitive judiciary, effective law and enforcement machinery and vigilant women's groups to deal with such atrocious crimes against women. But what is needed more than anything else is a total revolution in the thinking of our society that always blames the woman for the crime of which she is the victim, not the perpetrator.
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