THE R-WORD

Rape; what an ironic word this is - happens far too often and is spoken far too less. After all, wouldn’t uttering this word deeply stain the white flag of perfection that our society likes to carry? Isn’t it uncomfortable to talk about it?

Isn’t it shameful and embarrassing? Wouldn’t we disturb the falsely satiating social construct of peace, safety and moreover, “decency”?

Seems about right! We really should look in the other direction when families tell their daughters to silence their voices, because of course, if people found out, who would marry them? We should overlook men being told that they cannot be sexually harassed and that if they have been, they are weak. Where does the utopia of the society dissipate when we choose to blame the rape victim instead of punishing the rapist?

81 per cent of women and 43 per cent of men were reported this past year to have encountered some experience of sexual harassment. An exorbitantly large number of cases go unreported each year, each day and every minute; moreover, as high as 20 per cent of women and almost five per cent of men are known to have reported rape in most countries last year. With all this glaring blatantly at us, we still cannot accept the reality of the ‘R’ word. Children, women, men, the transgender community are all victims to this brutal crime and yet our pseudo liberal society wears a blindfold.

Mothers hush us whenever the ‘R’ word comes into discussion. It is something that only “adults” can talk about behind closed doors and survivors are burdened by a “simple” six-letter - “victim.” The need of the hour is dialogue.

Stop blaming the victim. Start punishing the culprit. Support the rape survivors. They’re strong but they need you to get past the social dilemma of being treated as outcasts. They need us to tell them that it was not the length of their dress, too much make-up, walking home alone, rejecting some unworthy guy or not wearing a hijab that brought this on them. They need to know it wasn’t their fault. Rape should be discussed openly without any shame like any other crime. It should be reported and rapists should be punished.

It’s not the ‘R’ word. Its rape, it’s real and we need to do something about it.