by Mary Griggs
The Indian woman who was gang raped on a bus on December 16th died from her injuries. She and a male friend were traveling in a public bus in New Delhi after watching a film when they were attacked by six men who raped her. They also beat the couple and rammed an iron rod into her body resulting in severe organ damage. Both of them were then stripped and thrown off the bus, according to police.
News also broke of the teenager who was gang raped in Punjab committing suicide after the police failed to act on her information and charge her rapists. Far from prosecuting the rapists, the police had been urging her to either accept a cash settlement or marry one of her attackers.
Here in the US, we have Sen. Eric Cantor holding up the Violence Against Women Act because of a provision that closes the loophole for non-Native men who sexually assault Native women. Tribal courts do not have jurisdiction to prosecute non-Indian defendants and federal and state law enforcement have limited resources and might be hours away from a reservation. According to a General Accounting Office report on “Department of Justice Declinations of Indian Country Criminal Matters,” federal prosecutors declined to take action on 52 percent of violent crimes committed on tribal lands. Of those declined cases, 67 percent were sexual abuse and related cases.
Rape and other sexual assaults are crimes of VIOLENCE. Sex is the rapist’s weapon to gain power and control, or express hostility, anger, and resentment towards women or society as a whole.
It is a myth that it matters what attire was worn, what drinks were consumed or how much, or how many previous partners she had. A Federal Commission on Crime of Violence study that found that only 4.4% of all reported rapes involved provocative behavior on the part of the victim whereas in murder cases 22% involved such behavior.
Why aren’t men insulted by the implication that their self control is so weak as to endanger any woman who walks down the street?
I would think they would be disgusted whenever they hear somebody suggest that they cannot restrain themselves from raping. Unless it true that men’s natural state is rapists and they lack any control over their penises.
Is it, guys? Is it really that hard to refrain from raping people?
There are one billion women who are rising in revolution against rape. Join V-Day on February 14, 2013 in a global strike to demand an end to violence.
I hope to see many men out there, too, standing up against a grievous wrong, interrupting their day to protest the rapists who are giving their gender a bad reputation. We are in desperate need of more men who will value women as equal human beings. I hope you are one of them.
And, if you’re not, please remember that the number one way to prevent rape is to stop raping people. Surely, you can do that!
Mary Griggs 