‘Change your dress
dear, it is very fancy’, ‘do not put this lip color, it is eye-catching’-
hardly a girl can be found out who did not get such lessons from the mother.
Girls often face people’s awkward staring when she wears jeans, t-shirts, bold lip colors and even a Shari. Society seems to be seriously concerned about what
girls wear rather than her protection.

 There’s basically no difference in between rapists and people who think wearing red lipsticks and
fancy dress is an invitation to rape, both thinkings support and leads to a
common factor ‘rape’. Blaming a rape victim instead of the perpetrator, on the ground of ‘dress’ or ‘appearances’ is the most unfortunate fact we have ever
discovered nowadays. &nbsp;&nbsp; 

Unfortunately, when the
rapists should be mocked and socially abandoned when the law enforcing
agencies’ failure to catch the criminal or their inactive roles should be criticized-
we keep ourselves busy in mocking and measuring the victim’s appearance or
dress at first hand. ‘Dress’ is being showcased and believed to be a major
factor to increase rape in many societies, especially in the Indian
subcontinent. 

A raped woman is seemed
like the most unpleasant ‘thing’ in a society. She is seen as an untouchable
entity, a symbol of impurity, having no grace rather a disgrace to her family,
being bashed, socially abandoned, threatened by wrongdoers’ family. Socially,
physically, mentally, she becomes a ‘living dead body’, often resulting in
incidents like suicide or an attempt to suicide. She suffers acute trauma,
identity crisis and has to go through unimaginable mental agony. But the
unbearably ugly matter is, despite understanding her or applying sympathy on
her wounds when people accuse the victim as guilty herself- the guilt of not
maintaining properly the socially declared ‘dress code’. This is one of the
most blatantly stupid perceptions that justifies rape. &nbsp;&nbsp; 

The society presupposes
that when a man rapes a woman, the woman might appear in such kind of dress
that created a sexual impulse, bodily attraction and made the man compel to
rape her. Where you should prevent a person or stopping him while sexually
harassing or touching a woman, you are accusing a woman of wearing a dress,
all your focus and attention are being given to the attire, not to the offense
committed. 

When your attitude is
hooked upon a mere outfit, unable to see the misdemeanor- you really need to
fix up your sight and rethink your purpose on earth being a human. It is the
thinking, not the dress that needs to be changed. Wearing office-wear or
western costumes is the one of the gross accusations thrown at a rape victim.
People are quite ignorant of the fact that attitudes like- ‘if she wears a colorful fancy dress she will definitely be got raped as it attracts boys and men’
works as a social approval to the rape culture that certifies the rapists’
activities. 

We need to put caution
in the mentality and wrongful activities of men before accusing a girl of a
dress. When we blame a girl for dress, the rapists get the excuse to repeat the
act he has done. We have to create fear in the rapist's mind by establishing
judicial independence, immediate stringent action, police indulgence and
constant check on perpetrators as well as our own cautiousness and that is how
we need to combat with rape culture. But the dangerous input of ‘dressing
sense’ in the brain is a devastating attitude that can only motivate and produce
more potential rapists as output. 

There is innumerable
evidence that reassures us that dress is not a factor in rape rather the
perverseness of the rapists. According to a horrific statistics of Manusher Jonno Foundation, there was 2973
negative news reports in 2018. There are 345 rape case news was found in 2018 analyzing
6 national dailies of our country in which 356 rape victims were a child and
among this 356 child, 22 died after a rape, 334 were seriously injured and
53 attempts to rape cases. Studying the facts of these rape cases, it was found
that the rapists were neighbors, relatives, family friends, apart from
strangers. 102 child was raped by their neighbors- the study says.

 The Study also says
among these victims 46 were aged between 1-6 years, 137 aged between 7-12
years, 131 aged 13-18 years. Moreover, 10 children were reported to be raped
who were boys. The foundation also depicted that as per non-governmental
information source, from January-May in the year 2019, 233 child rape cases
were reported among which 6 were boys. Thus, it is as clear as daylight that
dresses is not at all in any way be linked to rape. 

We show finger at the
duty of the victim to dress properly but do not realize reminding the duty of
the person not to cause harm to another person (women), to look a girl as
human, not to rape her. Unknowingly or knowingly, we are promoting rape culture-
not only by our failure to protect or taking measures but also by our words,
thinking, and attitudes towards rape victims. The matter is worst when people
even defend the rapists as if raping the girl is the right way to make her
understand her mistake of wearing fancy dresses. We should condemn the rapist rather
than questioning the outlook or attire of the victim.

 Often the family is not
very happy to get the raped child back, a man is rarely willing to accept a
rape victim as a bride, society is seldom ready to accept her as a human anymore,
and by whom the society is made of? Somehow, we all are liable to what
situation a rape victim has to go through and the insecure position of women in society. Be it nasty character assassination, thousands of piercing
glances or scolding questions- all are thrown at a rape victim, not a rapist.
Even sometimes women are not seemed to be empathetic rather insult a rape
victim. 

 We have the Penal Code,
1860, a special law like Nari-O-Shishu Nirjaton Daman Ain, 2000 inflicting
heavy punishments and even death penalty, to deal with rape but could neither
satisfactorily succeed in reducing the number of rape victims nor in ensuring
punishments to the perpetrators.

So, it is to some
extent obvious that only law is not sufficient to control the barbarous minds
of rapists. We should both civilize and humanize ourselves first because of rapists
look alike human and live among us for which we cannot identify them unless
they expose their brutality. We need to detox our thoughts and conscience by strengthening
our moral and ethical values through proper moral education besides academic
learning, counseling, and creating legal and social awareness to tackle rape
culture.

As a first step, a
basic legal education in the national curriculum is a reliable way to deal with
rape culture. Educating boys and men especially as to how rape is a human
rights violation can be a fruitful approach to change the social stereotypes
and put a full-stop in rape culture. Rape is a violation of a crucial human right
that is Right to Life enshrined in Article
6 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 (ICCPR).
As well as Article 7 on Freedom from
Torture or Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Article
9 on The Right to Liberty and
Security, Article 14 on Right to
Fair Trial, Article 16 on Right to
Recognition Everywhere as a Person Before the Law, Article 24 on Rights of the Child and most importantly Article 26 on Equality Before Law of
ICCPR.

Rape is also a
violation of the rights given and acknowledged in Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (UDHR), 1966, The Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), 1979 and
Convention on the Rights Of the Child (CRC), 1989, in case of child
rape.

In the supreme domestic
law, ‘Rape’ is a sheer violation of Article 32 of The Constitution of People’s The Republic of Bangladesh which reconfirms the&nbsp;Protection of Right to Life and Personal Liberty. The state
acknowledges all legal rights of a rape victim in Article 27 of the Constitution,
that is Equality before Law and Article
31 that is Right to Protection of
Law.

&nbsp;Article 11of the Constitution signifying
human rights declares that-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 

“The Republic shall be
a democracy in which fundamental human rights and freedoms and respect for the
dignity and worth of the human prison shall be guaranteed…”&nbsp; 

Instead of justifying
rape, we must start teaching the male first to respect every woman, differentiate
between consensual and non-consensual sexual intercourse, when sexual
intercourse is called rape, why rape is a heinous crime.

 We always teach our
daughters to walk, sit, talk, behave, dress properly but rarely teach our sons
to behave gentle, respect and think decent. One of the most important thing we
need to fix in our belief, perception, and behavior is the practice of
recognizing, believing women as ‘human’, because in the 21st century
still, women are seen as ‘product’, abused as a ‘squeezed orange’, used like a ‘tissue
paper’. The statistics of domestic violence or rape are pretty evident in the
fact of what extent we are respectful to our womenfolk. Thus, a sense of respect for
women is something our boys should be educated with.

 Religious education is
the second and relatable with the first one in a moral sense. We should teach our
children to be pious and follow religious rules accordingly to their religion.
Though religion is the most misquoted issue in terms of dressing sense for a
girl, it is important to know that religious rules like modesty, decency,
mutual respect is not only for females but also for males. Both male and female
should maintain decency not only in attire but also in thinking and controlling
their own minds.

 Child Upbringing is an indirect yet impactful factor to influence a mind to a certain practice good or
bad. If a boy child is taught ethical issues, how to treat and respect a girl
child, it leaves a grave impression upon him and his personality is built upon
that childhood practice and lessons given. Infect, teen boys need to be given
the lessons as to how to treat a girl as ‘human’.

 It is true that the family
does not make rapists but the environment does. It is seen that usually if
girls return home late, they are seen skeptically by society and need to
face questions in their families. But parents need to make accountable not only
the girls but also boys as to why they returned late at home. In the case of their
lifestyle, friends, and activities, parents should keep a constant eye on them
and need to be as vigilant as they can be.

Parents should scold
their son teasing a girl rather than scolding the daughter for wearing jeans.
It is good to teach the daughter self-defense but it is best to morally educate
the son not to be violent to girls, to show due respect to females, not to
abuse or hurt them. 

Yes, failure to create the soonest check upon criminals, establish strong administration, investigational
transparency, fostering speedy trial in rape cases, removing political
manipulation, ensuring safe and comfortable medical examinations, reducing
practice of using victim’s character as evidence to create objections,
providing highest security to rape victims, are the prime reasons for injustices
to rape victims, but social and mental causes are well-connected with rape
culture and cannot be overlooked too.

The mentality and
attitude of a society towards a rape victim need to be changed at first to
secure our girls and women. We must use ‘the boy raped her’ instead of ‘she got
raped’. There are so many things to do to change our perception, to stop rapes,
to protect our girls, women or girl child whatever we say. If we really want to
heal society from the noxious grip of rapists, we need to think, rethink, act
and react neutrally, logically with due respect to each and every single person
in the society, and yes ‘person’ includes girls, women too.

Don’t Wear Red: Insights on Social Attitudes Instigating Rape Culture and Way to Tackle

Useful links

Company

Information

Content Writers

Freelancers

Freelance Jobs

Online Jobs

Designers

Developers

Translations