Rape equals domination, not desire

Those who hold unchecked power believe they can get away with rape easily

The recent Sylhet rape incident is now completely fresh news. No screenshot is needed for this.

Is rape merely the gratification of 2-10 minutes of sexual excitement? Do people choose a fugitive life just to relieve this 2-10 minutes of excitement? Even knowing it could lead to the death penalty, do people risk their lives for 2-10 minutes when sex can easily be bought for 50/100 taka? Now consider gang rape. One person infected with gonorrhea/syphilis leaves his foul-smelling fluid, another comes and smears it on his own body, leaving it behind and infecting himself with syphilis/gonorrhea. Does everyone accept this disgusting act merely out of youthful lust? Research says rape is less about sexual desire and more about frenzied behavior to display power. Here someone assumes he has so much power that even if he rapes a weak child, man, or woman, nothing will happen to him, no law can touch him. Rape is the sexual manifestation of power and rage. Know this: sex is not the rapist’s primary or main goal. The rapist rejoices in showing rage by exerting power over the weak. The exertion of male power over weak women, the exertion of a teacher’s power in molesting a child – these are examples. A person does not stoop so low merely for 2-10 minutes of sex.

Indian political leader Yogi Adityanath once said, ‘Dig up Muslim women’s corpses from graves and rape them’ – was that for sexual desire? In fact, even before he said this in 2017, such incidents had occurred in India. A 2015 news headline read: ‘Gang rape after exhuming corpse from grave! The 26-year-old woman had died three days earlier while giving birth.’ What do you think? Do people do this out of sexuality? No, rape is a form of perverse power display. That is why those with uncontrolled power think they can easily get away with rape; it becomes a rehearsal of their power display.

Having sexual desire is not a sin or a crime. But fulfilling or attempting to fulfill such desires against someone’s will is absolutely not the right way. That is a crime; forcing means rape. Even forcing one’s own wife or a prostitute is rape. Likewise, ending desire with children by coercing their consent or forcing someone to give consent is also rape.

Thinking is difficult, and that is why most people rush to judgment before they think. That is why you still hear people saying rapists should be hanged, castrated, etc. Some even ask why lawyers should defend rapists. Such words and thoughts arise only in societies where people forget the rule of law. Even a serial killer has the right to fair trial and to a lawyer. We demand execution before identifying the root problem. With so many crossfires, hangings, and imprisonments, has drug trafficking or rape decreased? A criminal will receive his due punishment – prison, execution. In a civilized society, every criminal must be punished. But if measures are taken to reduce crime, the number of criminals also decreases, no one has to leave the world as a victim, nor live a lifetime hating the world. That is why it is necessary to find the causes of crime. Punishment will happen, but alongside that we must find out why rape has increased so much in the country.

Does rape punishment not happen at all in this country? It does, but very rarely. Rape is reported very rarely. In these cases, there is a useless issue called social honor, which is a major enemy of the rule of law. Those who have been punished are actually ‘generalists.’ Those who committed crimes and got away are ‘specialists.’ In our society, the number of specialists is greater. The few cases we know are of the generalist category. Has rape not occurred before at Sylhet’s MC College? Ask around the college hill area. Now the matter has become so criticized because the victim was married. If it had been two lovers talking in a secluded place before marriage, getting a bit intimate, and some leader punished them, took their mobile, or raped the girl – such an incident might never be known, and even if known, the millions who now stand by the victim would timidly blame the girl for that rape. If a lover, an actress, a theater worker, a prostitute, or in their words a street girl/market woman becomes a victim of rape, not only the whole country but even the local community would remain silent. So what does this show? This society itself is complicit in rape. Their language of protest changes depending on the woman, when in fact it should have been one and the same.

Do not think that as parents of sons you are safe. Investigate and you will see your son has not been spared either. Especially in madrasas and maktabs, thousands of boys are regularly raped by some teachers and seniors. Parents of daughters should not think they are trapped just because they gave birth to a girl. It is not just you, the whole country is trapped; boys too are being raped. Denying that we ourselves have created rapists is of no use. We raise, nurture, and protect them. Demanding justice is useless if the state remains silent. Either fight or perish. You may do whatever is necessary for self-defense, but that fight is temporary. Fighting only with fists is not enough. Giving children the right education is a bigger fight. Teach your children that humanism is the greatest education in the world, nothing else. Break social taboos so that children can share with you any injustice they face. Keep track of your children. Show love, not fear; stand beside them, not push them away. This fight is the fight of our time. Society and the state do not seem likely to act for now, so for the protection of ourselves and our families, we must fight on our own.

Harvard University Research:
https://cyber.harvard.edu/vaw00/theories_of_rape.html