It is cool to describe your state as ‘being raped.’ Classics like Rape Me top playlists and now we have a game to demonstrate the brutal act. Post the US satirical article we may need to introspect on the liberal use of the word rape, says iknoor kaur
Rape is no joke.’ People have to resort to social media, create their own websites and even begin what can be called as virtual movement to convey this message. It seems like the bigger agenda right now is not to get on the streets and protest against the increasing number of rapes in India, but to discourage our own people and the rest of the world to take the word rape seriously. You cannot take liberty to demonstrate rape in a virtual game or enjoy the worldwide feeds with it as a subject of satire. like it was done recently by a US website. Their article on the Assam Rape Festival triggered a massive debate in India. The Assam government reacted aggressively to the article. Bharat Narah, Press adviser to Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, tweeted: “The Assam Rape Festival is not humorous. It is distasteful, unethical, abominable, despicable and must be abhorred by all sections of society.”
This was accompanied by protests in the state, the CID’s cyber crime cell has taken up suo moto investigations into the website article which was found to have been sourced from Uganda and hosted from Houston in the US.
Has rape really become such an easy term to play withIJ According to Rana M, an online commenter, “Rapes in India have not yet gained festival status but with the way things are going, we are rapidly getting there. India is a socio-economic mess coupled with bad governance, corruption, and cultural indigestion of various influences, where rapes are indeed rampant.” Suresh another online commenter aaded, “No doubt, it’s a stupid article but the fact that there is no such festival called ‘Assam rape festival’ does not negate the reality that many rapes happen in India and the so-called law and order machinery stands by and watches, like bystanders watching a festival.”
Some feel that we have become too comfortable to use the word as a slang and that gives liberty to many. Shivangi Tripathi, an ex student of Delhi University feels, “At present, in India the educated are far more irresponsible than the uneducated. The term ‘rape’ has become frivolous. We find it cool to use it as part of our daily lingo.”
Rape is not something limited to one country or ethnic group. Thus, India is not the only country in question here. According to Dave Prager, the American author of Delirious Delhi, such crimes that “wouldn’t garner even a sentence in an American paper because so many bigger crimes would elbow it out of the way” are obsessively reported in Indian news publications. Post the Delhi gang rape, Indian media has faithfully recorded each and every rape case, highlighted them for the world and continue to do so. In the three months after the Delhi gang rape, the number of such acts reported in the city more than doubled to 359, from the 143 reported in January-March of 2012. This doesn’t necessarily mean more rapes are happening now, just that more women are emboldened to come out and report.
A video game called Grand Theft Auto 5 (GTA 5) on Sony PS3 uses rape as a medium of entertainment. It shows a gangster raping a woman as a part of the game. Sahil Saxena, a video gamer said that because of such games the youth has started taking the word rape lightly and are excited about it. “People specially zoom into the rape happening in the video game and laugh. If you are going to present rape as such a casual thing, even we will take it casually,” he said.
Apart from the game, there are songs like Rape Me by Nirvana and interesting revelations by icons with huge fan following like Madonna, that have made rape such a happening topic recently. The popstar revealed she was raped at knifepoint. Everything related to rape has become an obsession, that might cost us heavily in the near future.
At present, in India the educated are far more irresponsible than the uneducated. The term 'rape' has become frivolous. We find it cool to use it as part of our daily lingo
Shivangi Tripathi
People specially zoom into the rape happening in the video game and laugh. If you are going to present rape as such a casual thing, even we will take it casually
Sahil Saxena