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Rape and Repression By - Rina Mukherji Rina Mukherji has spent more than one a half decades (17 years to be precise) in the Indian print media. She has written on practically every topic under the sun- business, politics, science, gender issues, child rights, the environment, films, literature, public health and human rights so far. She has worked for several national newspapers in Mumbai and Kolkata, and freelanced for nearly all major newspapers and magazines in the country. She also holds a doctorate in African Studies, and has several academic articles to her credit

Rape as a weapon of war has been tacitly accepted by all nations. The rape of the Sabine women by Romans, the rape of the Trojan women by the victorious Greeks, the rape of Chinese women in Nanking by the advancing Japanese army, and the rape of German women by the Allied troops have all been recorded in the past. In recent times, we have had countless women being raped during the Bosnian crisis. But it is only now that the international conscience has been aroused against the violation of women in conflicts.

A sculpture depciting the rape of the Sabine women by Romans when the former lost out in their war with the latter, resulting in the Roman empire being established.

It was hardly an auspicious beginning to a New Year. A non-resident Indian lady was drugged and raped by two pub-hopping men on a visit to Mumbai.

The incident followed in the wake of two incidents in the last month of the earlier year that proved the futility of the just-concluded UN Fortnight to Protest Violence Against Women. A woman was reportedly raped aboard the Pushpak Express near Bhopal, while a tribal woman had her hand hacked off for daring to complain about having been raped.

Soon after, a call center employee was abducted, raped and brutally murdered in Bangalore.

For feminists keen to point out the positive outcome of decades of protest against sexist attitudes in our social set-up, the recent incidents were a sad reminder of the vulnerability of one-half of the Indian population. It is all very well to feel optimistic when one sees power-women make their presence felt in business, aviation and hitherto male preserves. But when one dwells on the sad plight of these women, it is akin to being brought down to ground zero with a thud.

Rape is the most brutal expression used by the strong to teach a lesson to the physically or socially weak. It is a language that can humiliate as no other and put down someone perceived as an usurper of the public place which only a male has a right to. It is the same mentality that has some condemn a woman for having invited bestiality due to the wrong attire, or unseemly behavior.

It is the same mindset that targets women at the time of pogroms against a social or political group during civil strife, and war. Thus, we have the Nepalese government forces raping, mutilating and killing Maoist guerilla women to terrorize the rebels to submission. The idea is to shame an entire group by defiling their women, who are perceived as the custodians of the honor and respect commanded.

Rape as a weapon of war has been tacitly accepted by all nations. The rape of the Sabine women by Romans, the rape of the Trojan women by the victorious Greeks, the rape of Chinese women in Nanking by the advancing Japanese army, and the rape of German women by the Allied troops have all been recorded in the past. In recent times, we have had countless women being raped during the Bosnian crisis. But it is only now that the international conscience has been aroused against the violation of women in conflicts.

This again stems from the age-old perception of women being the property of their men, their family, and the community. No woman is an individual. She is a wife, sister, daughter, daughter-in-law, or mother. Her identity as an individual is of no consequence. It is her virginity and purity that defines the bloodlines of the family and group.

Nowhere else has this come out as openly as in Darfur, where armed Arab militias made it their business to rape Nubian women and declare: "Now you will produce Arab children."

This, in itself, has a lesson for all of us. It is only when we start defining ourselves as individuals in our own right, rather than wives, daughters, daughters-in-law or mothers will we cease to become easy targets of humiliation meant to assuage the bruised morale of those defeated by their own wrongs.

Rape and molestation will also cease to be used as a weapon to threaten women who want to venture out unescorted and demand equal rights as citizens of this world.

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