WHAT IS WHY MEN RAPE?
Why Men Rape (formerly/also known as Why Indian Men Rape) is a multimedia gender journalism and activism project spanning books, a documentary and an active online presence that began in 2017. With it, my research team and I seek to thoroughly explore the gamut of ethnological reasons—social, cultural, traditional, legal, economic, geographic, religious, psychological, etc—that cause sexual violence, especially in the subcontinent. In June 2020, Why Men Rape: An Indian Undercover Investigation was published by HarperCollins, and has been widely and well received.
Fundamentally, we expect that a better understanding of the subject of sexual violence and rape will lead to solutions and catalyse vital societal change. Our endeavour is to revolutionise the gender dynamic and improve the lives of women in India and throughout the world.
The project is initially intended to run from 2017 until after the release of the second book and documentary. The dream, of course, is to sustain the project, including our blog Pass the Mic, longer term, into phase 2. Through forums, support groups and awareness programmes, we would like to have it remain as an enduring agent for social change and a leading light in the (Indian) sexual revolution.
WHY RAPE?
Being raped has far-reaching consequences. So does sexual terrorism—the threat and fear of sexual violence. Sexual terrorism is the basis of patriarchy. It defines and determines gender roles, relations and dynamics. It’s what keeps women, their sexuality and their agency in check. Fear, and patriarchal morals of ‘honour’ and ‘shame’ force well-intentioned parents to impose curfews and hemlines; and women spend an inordinate amount of time preoccupied with safety—within and outside their homes. On the whole, patriarchy and the fear of rape keep women of all strata away from fulfilling and adventurous lives, demanding careers, equality, and freedom.
It’s time to take onus away from the victims and survivors, and place it squarely where it belongs… with the perpetrators and causes of gender violence. If there were no rapists there’d be no rape, right? In order to solve a problem—of toxic masculinity and sexual violence, in this case—it is important to understand it first. As a character in Netflix’s crime drama, ‘Mindhunter’ says: “How do you get ahead of crazy if you don’t know how crazy thinks?”
Sample these ‘reasons’ and ‘solutions’:
“The victim is as guilty as her rapists. She should have called the culprits brothers and begged before them to stop.”—Asaram Bapu, ‘spiritual’ leader and alleged rapist
“The rate of crimes against women depends on how completely dressed they are and how regularly they visit temples.”— Babulal Gaur, BJP leader
“Boys are boys, they make mistakes.”— Mulayam Singh Yadav, SP supremo
“Child marriage is a solution to rape and other atrocities against women.”—Om Prakash Chautala, former Haryana CM
“Chowmein leads to hormonal imbalance evoking an urge to indulge in such acts.”—Jitender Chhatar, a local leader from the infamous ‘khap panchayats’
We seek a critical analysis of the real reasons for gender violence, particularly in the Indian subcontinent—beyond the painfully absurd, like “chowmein”; beyond the blame of the woman and her clothes; and also beyond the staple “because they can”, “for sex” or “because, power”.
WHY INDIAN MEN?
Whether or not one wants to believe the report calling India the world’s most dangerous country for women, or deconstruct rape stats across countries, let’s speak in terms of the absolute. The fact is that women face sexual terrorism—sexual violence, or the threat of it—in India. The perpetuators of gender violence on the women, children and men in India are (mostly) Indian men, and—problem-solving 101—in order to solve a problem, it is important to understand it first. To stop it you have to see it.
There are many Indias, living simultaneously in many centuries: I use the term ‘Indian’ as a collective identity more than a specifically national one, while being cognizant of its complex character. Further, I am not suggesting—nor does my title imply—that all Indian men rape, or that only Indian men rape, or that Indian men rape more or less than others, or even that only men rape.
Though rape happens the world over, universality is not the same as uniformity. Theoretical formulations mutate, and mutate differently in different environments; local factors come into play. Just like, for example, the answer to ‘Why are Indians vegetarian?’ would be different from the answer to ‘Why are Germans vegetarian?’.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The core of my research methodology entailed spending up to a week each with nine men who have raped, across different parts of the country. I spent time in their home environments; interviewing and observing them, and their families and friends. Through a study of these mostly ‘undetected’ (the experts’ term for rapists outside the criminal justice system), some unconvicted rapists, I sought to determine how history, economics, environment, upbringing, education (or lack thereof), psychological state, and attitudes towards sex, women and gender shaped their behaviour and impacted their inclination to commit rape. This is in addition to knowledge gleaned from years of reading on the subject (particularly since 2013, when I decided I would undertake this project); experts’ and my own analyses and contextualisation; and survivors’ insights.
In light of deep-seated patriarchy, it is unsurprising that a perspective that remonstrates men instead of women encounters cultural resistance. For this and other reasons, this prevention-is-better-than-cure approach has hitherto been limited to gender studies classrooms, NGOs and other ‘lady-oriented’ arenas; with books written about toxic masculinity having correspondingly serious titles and academic language. While the conversation about rape may be nuanced and evolved among academics, that’s not the case for the layperson. And maybe that’s my only role—nothing new, just bridging the gap, “to make the important interesting” (the mantra of legendary Outlook editor Vinod Mehta). Nor can I hope for much more than to prompt cultural introspection as a step towards solving the problem. Nevertheless, please accept my modest contributions towards our vision of a violence-free India… and world.
… All this, and much, much more, in Why Men Rape: An Indian Undercover Investigation.
READ IT: here. (Contact us here for autographed and/or bulk copies.)
& HELP IT: Share | Media Coverage | Events | Collaborations | Connections (Contact us here.)
—Tara* Kaushal
Mumbai | Gold Coast
June 2020
OUR BLOG: PASS THE MIC
It started with the survivors.
When I started the project, my team members and I were astounded (or not!) by how many people were reaching out to us saying that gender violence had happened to them. And while we had only set out to study perpetrators, empowering and amplifying the voices of ‘victims’ on a safe and inclusive space fit into our macro agenda—to create a healthier, happier gender dynamic through affirmative action.
So, Sowmya Rajaram, the renowned journalist who is also an advisor on this project, and I decided to start Pass the Mic in August 2017. Here, we’d cover Survivor Stories, profile allies in United Against Sexual Violence, do a bit of ACTivism, and empower feminists with FEMdamental rights. However, creating this high-quality content, even video, without financial support became unsustainable. It’s something we’d like to restart, and we have some ideas about how…