The day after the Indian government banned the BBC documentary India’s Daughter, on the horrific gang rape and killing of a student in Delhi, a 10,000-strong mob broke into a jail in a town in Assam, dragged out an alleged rapist, beat him to death and hung his body up for public view.
Does this mean that people in India are now so outraged by violence against women that they are seeking rough justice of their own? Sadly, no: the patriarchy and abuse of power that created the conditions for that appalling act in Delhi are alive and flourishing, and indeed are expressed in both this lynching and in some of the more aggressive reactions to the film. Indeed, the notion of rape as particularly bad because it affects the “honour” of women, rather than their basic personhood and physical security, is a leading cause of such reactions.
India’s Daughter: ‘I made a film on rape in India. Men’s brutal attitudes truly shocked me’
The documentary, made by a woman who is herself a rape survivor, has surprisingly been criticised by the government and women’s activists, including some who were at the forefront of the widespread public protests after the rape and murder of Jyoti Singh in December 2012. The banning of the film (because of shocking interviews with one of the rapists and his lawyer, who in effect argued that the woman had asked for it by resisting and being in public places at 9pm) has been justified on the grounds that it provides a platform for the most appalling and regressive views, and amounts to an incitement of violence against women.
The Indian government’s real concerns are less about the safety of women than the international image of the country. They worry that the documentary will continue to present India in a bad light rather than showcase its achievements and new government. (The fact that such achievements – especially for women – are few and hard to find is not really considered.) Full story...
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Does this mean that people in India are now so outraged by violence against women that they are seeking rough justice of their own? Sadly, no: the patriarchy and abuse of power that created the conditions for that appalling act in Delhi are alive and flourishing, and indeed are expressed in both this lynching and in some of the more aggressive reactions to the film. Indeed, the notion of rape as particularly bad because it affects the “honour” of women, rather than their basic personhood and physical security, is a leading cause of such reactions.
India’s Daughter: ‘I made a film on rape in India. Men’s brutal attitudes truly shocked me’
The documentary, made by a woman who is herself a rape survivor, has surprisingly been criticised by the government and women’s activists, including some who were at the forefront of the widespread public protests after the rape and murder of Jyoti Singh in December 2012. The banning of the film (because of shocking interviews with one of the rapists and his lawyer, who in effect argued that the woman had asked for it by resisting and being in public places at 9pm) has been justified on the grounds that it provides a platform for the most appalling and regressive views, and amounts to an incitement of violence against women.
The Indian government’s real concerns are less about the safety of women than the international image of the country. They worry that the documentary will continue to present India in a bad light rather than showcase its achievements and new government. (The fact that such achievements – especially for women – are few and hard to find is not really considered.) Full story...
Related posts:
- India's Daughter...
- Indian mob breaks into jail, beats rape suspect to death...
- Gang rapists sentenced to death, but India's denial will continue...
- UN: 77% of teenage Indian girls endure sexual violence...
- India rape: screaming woman ignored by passers-by in social experiment...
- Behind India's shocking gang rapes lies a deep crisis among young men...
- India's politicians aren't talking about women, but everybody else is...
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