My country has diabolical rape rates with a woman being raped every 16 minutes and thats excluding the 99% of unreported cases according to NFHS. Meaning, a lot of cases arent even reported and the rape rate is still shocking.
There isnt a woman here who hasnt faced sa. From catcalling/groping to rape. Im only 17 but have been touched by uncles few times in public spaces and stared at creepily as well. This is in a comparatively safer city in this country so I cannot imagine what I will face when I move out for my education and career.
Yet this is somehow normalised. Its only an issue when a foreigner is groped and it makes international headlines because "oh no what will people think?" mentality. Even under those posts a lot of Indians, mostly men, are insisting other countries have the same issues, people are beign racist for saying India isnt safe for women etc. This leads me to think majority of people reading this dont care. There is also a narrative going around that false accusations are somehow a bigger issue. I wont even comment on that because the men insisting on that are twisting data numbers and are being willfully ignorant. They know the truth, of course they do, but dont care.
Another thing I have observed is that when headlines use religion in their headlines people rush to comment about Islam and how Muslim men suck but that again tells me people dont care. They dont care about the survivor, they just hate muslims. They are using a victim to conveniently fuel their own hate. Notice how in such comment sections, its never about sexual assault and the victim but about muslims. There are also no comments about how it could be a "false case bc false cases are more common" bc in that context, majority people are too busy fighting each other to think about lying and being misogynistic.
I would like to go out in the streets about my daily life wearing what I want without the fear of being groped or raped. I know every woman would want it. I have lost all hope for our society but doing nothing is infuriating.
What’s exhausting is that women aren’t asking for anything extraordinary. We want to walk on the street, wear what we want, and live our daily lives without fear of being violated. That’s it.
This post was typed out after I saw some of the reactions to the recent case and unfortunate acquisition involving actor Dileep. I also saw people more concerned about being embarrassed rather than womens safety when videos of a foreigner here went on international spaces. I was debating wether or not to post this or not because I know some of my fellow country people would be angry. I decided to post this here as well to get a better perspective and discussion.
I’m writing as an American feminist from the US. I don’t know if you are writing about most people not caring as in the world or mainly talking about people from India.
I can’t speak to how the majority of men feel in the word but I do think that most women who are aware of the rape crisis in India (and not just women who identify as feminists) find the rape culture of India to be really terrifying.
Speaking for myself, my heart goes out to Indian women. While I think rape culture exists in most countries, it does seem the problem is especially bad in India. I also don’t necessarily know the best way to help.
I was talking about Indian society. I wish things could change but it wont anytime now. I love my culture and language and everything but I really wish I lived somewhere else. I cant even wear the things I want to. Im lucky bc my city is somewhat safer (comparatively) yet the situation is bad.
I do think the world knows, I don’t know how much is reported, or how much people care. Women’s issues get ignored, and it is far worse in India where “traditional values” seem predominant (I could be wrong, that is an outsiders perspective). Traditional values just seem universally in every country to keep women doing all the work, and being kept under the boot.
I just don’t think anyone knows how to change something so deeply embedded. I don’t know if change is happening at all, or if misogyny and corruption stops any progress. What I do hear sounds corrupt, with law enforcement in league with the rapists. I guess we (the West) hear about the really shocking cases, but not the day to day fear Indian women face.
I’ve been on holiday to India, me and my (female) friend travelled together. We went to Kerela as it has a reputation for being safer. We were not hassled ourselves, but we were shocked at the local men cat-calling young school girls and just being creepy. It was noticeable that women went about in groups, I assumed to try to be safer, but it really struck me.
I’m sorry you have to live with this society, and I wish there was some way to make women there safe.
Im from Kerala. The cat calling is pretty common. I was leered and hooted at when I was about 10. Its safer here compared to many places but nowheres good. There was a horrible case with an actor Dileep who obviously is guilty but managed to get acquitted. Its so obvious he pulled some strings and made the witnesses go hostile and silent.
And yes ur correct in thinking traditional values that are inherently misogynistic is embedded in our society. The word feminism has a negative connotation here among men.
I’m truly so sorry. I did a six month research project on feminism, sexism and misogyny in India, and it truly breaks my heart how many sexual assaults happen, and the intensity of victim shaming culture. I believe India is beautiful in so many ways, especially in regards to the arts and culture, but it truly seems like a lot of Indian men just refuse to empathize with women and respect their autonomy. I’m truly so sorry that rapes in your country are not used as a political talking point or an excuse to spread hatred about religious groups—this is an issue of human rights and safety, not a chip to be played in religious or cultural wars. I’m sending you hugs and love from Canada. You are so very brave.
💗
I mean.. im in Australia and I care.
I can't do anything about it though.
All my Indian-born friends tell me never ever to go there.
I meant in Indian society...especially men...
and I can see why ur friends told u that...amazing culture and food and diversity but whats the point if u can expect to me harassed or worse?
I've noticed that in the last couple months violence against women increased a lot in third-world countries. I'm Brazilian and the femicide and DV rates increased a lot in comparison to last year
Also the alarming femicide rate in South Africa compared to the rest of the world
Yes its all terrible...It infuriates me so much
I don't know the exact causes for this in India, but in Brazil it has a lot to do with redpill content getting more popular. Recently even a brazilian redpill influencer was caught committing DV with his girlfriend with video evidence
i'm honestly so disgusted that people can just ignore the horrific stuff happening to women in india. as a woman myself, it breaks my heart to hear how normalized this violence is. we should all be screaming from the rooftops about this, not shrugging it off. the fact that some folks care more about optics than actual safety is just sickening.
And like I mentioned, everytime issues are talked about men care more about the few false cases rather than everyday violence.
ugh, exactly! it’s so frustrating how some guys just fixate on the rare fake stories instead of the real, constant danger women face. like, open ur eyes, this is happening every day and it’s heartbreaking. we can’t keep ignoring it!
Today I saw this posted https://www.reddit.com/r/incredible_indians/comments/1plp0n5/this_is_how_the_propogandas_are_spreadby_showing/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
in multiple indian subs. These clowns keep proving me and other women right. I am tired of trying to speak sense under there and start multiple arguments, all of which I would have to eventually give up on and the guy thinks he defeated "those feminist types".
it’s exhausting trying to get thru to these guys who just refuse to see the truth. they cling to their nonsense and act like they’ve won when u step away. it makes me so mad, like, how can they be so blind to what women go through every single day? they're selfish and ignorant to the bitter end. such wastes of space
It's not just India, but I agree, the rape crisis is absolutely dreadful there.
Okay so...I noticed people calling a videos of women in a concert being pushed around and harassed as western racist propaganda. I am losing all hope day by day. The only positive side is many younger girls my age in my state being very aware about feminism but there are still many who see these content...
[deleted]
I’m sure some do, but don’t know how to do it without being labled xenophobic
I don’t want this to come across wrong but I don’t think that is really true. If you have spent enough time in current internet spaces you see people seem to care about it a weird amount because they bring up Indians being gross rapists anytime they see an Indian person regardless of the context. It is being used as an excuse for people to be racist when of course their care isn’t genuine
You’re proving the OP’s point. You care about the public’s opinion of Indian men more than the female victims’ suffering.
I mean just being racist isn’t really good lol is that how you view it?
The OP is an Indian woman in India. This isn’t about racism for anybody here except for you.
Well obviously, this isn’t an Indian sub it is an international one, and the internet has had rampant racism against Indian men and women even more than usual racism in recent years.
So you think because of racism we shouldn't speak about real existing issues in international spaces? Is it embarrassing for you if the world is aware about whats going on? And somehow that matters more than everything I mentioned in the post, right?
This post got removed in one Indian sub and got a negative reaction in another. Some of you men are not ready to talk about this issue honestly without doing everything I mentioned in my post or more.
I mean in the Indian society.