Over the Christmas holidays the story of a single rape in Delhi has led to much debate in the world media, as well as a social uprising brought by the citizens of India themselves.
Rape, though, is not something that can be confined to a few countries. As Libby Brooks identified, this is a “global crisis” in which no country can claim to be civilised, least of all the UK. But the topic of global rape is too huge to be addressed in this single article and examining the treatment of rape in the justice systems of the world is already under intense inspection in light of the case. What I want to tell you is that this is a news story that affects us all on this campus. Considering the fact that the victim was a medical student (though rape and sexual harassment have never been solely aimed at a single group), let’s ask how this case affects us: students.
Britain is a country that, like the rest of the world, likes to ‘victim blame’ when it comes to sexual harassment. The first criticism this statement might bring is that ‘sexual harassment’ is too broad a term – it can mean wolf-whistling to one person and groping to the next. Nevertheless, sexual harassment is continued and unwanted attention that is never asked for, much as we like to think that it is. To say that a woman has had her behind pinched because she looks “hot” is much easier to say than stating that she exists in a false society where she is considered free but in fact does not possess the rights over her own body. By this I mean that, when a woman is dressed in any fashion (not necessarily tight-fitting), she loses the right to express herself for her own pleasure in favour of the world stepping in to have a grope. We all know this is false: women and men should be able to dress however they please without being told that they look in some way daring or promiscuous. Besides, people don’t get sexually harassed for the way they are dressed, as the website Everyday Sexism proves. It is filled with stories of women harassed while going about their ‘Everyday’ lives, and if you don’t believe me, read it.
The idea that people are harassed for expressing their sexuality in attitude and appearance is ridiculously false. It is also just as wrong to say that, if a person is violated when tipsy, drunk or worse, it is their own fault because they did not take due care over their own alcohol consumption. A drunk person in a vulnerable situation is not a joke, and if you think so, then consider the drinking habits of students generally. If you consider that there is a risk you will be sexually assaulted when you are busy socialising, does that curb your drinking? No, and neither should it, because it is considered your right to be sociable and to be able to let your hair down. Another person has no right to infringe on that because you‘ve been drinking. This is a problem for young people across the Western World and was recently highlighted in a case in Steubenville, Ohio, where a 16 year old girl was originally blamed for her own rape after drinking. The fact that she was “dragged, drunk and unresponsive, from party to party, [to be] sexually abused” (The Guardian) was seemingly irrelevant.
If this seems quite distant from the case I started to talk about, then let’s bring it back. Seemingly “petty” comments and groping on nights out do turn students into nothing more than objects, in the same way that a person is turned into an object when they are raped. You cannot divide women into stereotypes of those who “had it coming” and those “innocent victims,” because nobody deserves their rape.
I have concentrated a lot on women’s issues of sexual harassment in this article, but I wanted to finish by saying that global rape can never just be considered a crime committed solely against women, as men too are victims. Rape is a sexual pleasure derived from forcing yourself onto another in a way that is not consented, and it happens to both men and women. Our idea in the UK of laughing off sexual harassment against women is perverse because in doing so you class women as nothing more than objects and men as nothing more than owners: it’s wrong for both genders.
If you’ve reached the final paragraph then I hope you agree that no one, male or female, deserves to be defined by their gender. But then we should ask: why does sexual harassment and rape happen in Britain, America, India, the world? It happens because it is allowed, because you are supposed to be nothing more than an object. Hardly fair, is it?
IMO the link between “objectification” and sexual harassment/rape is pretty tenuous.
Rape/sexual assault happens more because the perpetrators are dangerous criminals. Unless you want to label rapists as hopeless romantics, tarnished by a society gone wrong that teaches them to “objectify” women.
I think that a large majority of people will agree that people should be able to where what they like when they go out, and that they shouldn’t expect to be slapped on the bum or put up with ‘unwanted sexual contact’. (Although I do genuinely dress differently when I am looking for sexual attention, nobody seems to say that.)
But the boundaries are confused somewhat when we get down to the lower levels. Clear indications of sexual desire are an important factor in starting a physical relationship, be it a one night stand or a lifelong partnership. And while I wouldn’t slap somebody across the bum, is touching somebody on the arm or lower back too far?
Similarly the campus survey mentioned ‘comments with a sexual overtone’. This could mean a whole range of things, and whether it is viewed as either harassment or sexy is almost entirely down to the context and the level of attraction between the two parties.
To never express sexual desire would simply confuse interactions between potential partners even further. But I can honestly say that the more I read about the boundary ‘grey area’ stuff, and I do make an effort here, the more confusing the line gets.
First line should read “wear” not “where”…