The
term sex is still considered as a taboo in India. The attitudes toward
sexuality have changed to a certain extent, but it is not enough to decrease
sexual crimes in the society. The recent gang rape in a bus in Delhi has
sparked anger among the citizens of India and it has led to various protests to
implement a strict law to punish the rapists. It is necessary to punish the
sexual offenders, but more than that stopping sexual assault should also be
taken into account seriously.
In
ancient times India followed a liberal attitude towards sexuality, Kamasuthra
which was still considered as the best text on human sexual behavior is from
India, and one can see nude sculptures in Indian temples. After the invasion of
Muslim rulers followed by British, India reversed its attitudes towards
sexuality. India at present is caught in a confused stage because of its
progress towards sexual revolution.
Sex
plays a major role in marital relationship. One of the reasons for the break up
between couples is due to sexual problems, they feel ashamed to admit it due to
fear of ridicule by the society and put the blame on something for their separation.
Couples rather than approaching a professional to solve this problem, seeks
advice from their known one’s who misguide them due to lack of understanding on
this issue. Many people were reluctant in sharing their sexual desires even with
their partners and repress it, which leads to various problems.
Indians
are suffering from gymnophobia.Nudity is seen only in a sexual perspective ,so
in circumstances where nudity is required they feel very uncomfortable and also
whenever there is a wardrobe malfunction or undressing takes place, people
involve in voyeurism. Due to voyeurism, many Indians are unwilling to do
certain task in public.
Sexual
assault has been increasing day by day in India; many cases were unreported
because of the fear of the process a victim has to undergo to get justice and
sometimes law will not take any action because of the influential background of
the offender. There are many cases pending in court and in many incidents the
offender has not been punished and left free. Media also fails to follow the
issue. In many cases the offender will be close to the family members, so the
families itself decide not to report this issue because the society has created
a fake image as if sexual victims have no future and also families consider it
as a shame to expose the crime.
Whenever
there is an incident like this, the opinions of people will differ. There are
some narrow minded people who without knowing anything about the History of
India but in order to achieve fame and political gain blame the modern
lifestyle of women in India for the cause of sexual crimes. These people play a
major role in distorting the Indian culture, they self claim themselves to be
righteous. Unfortunately, there are many women who talk in this way because of
the jealousy on other women. Until India gets rid of these people, who was a
stumbling block to the nation’s development, sexual assaults will continue in India.
I don’t understand how these people talk ill of the western culture but use
western inventions, products and get loan from western countries.
A
woman scientist made an utterly illogical speech about women being raped, she criticized
women for the cause of sexual assaults, for which she faced lot of criticism
but was reluctant to apologize, but one of her statement can be taken into consideration.She said that the Delhi rape victim could have surrendered to the
rapist in order to save her life. In case if there is no option available to
escape in a sexual assault, surrendering is considered to be one of the
options. A woman will not become immoral because of surrendering; she
surrenders not for the pleasure but to save her life, in order to fight back
effectively against these sexual offenders. Many women feels that a woman
should rather die than surrendering but when you see it in victims family perspective,
they would have never wanted the victim to die, no one wants our near or dear
ones to die in these barbarous acts. There are many women who have surrendered
to sexual assault and fought back bravely to get justice, these women did not
become impure but more pure by helping other victims to lead a normal life.
Surrendering has its own pros and cons, sometimes surrendering saves life but
sometimes it may lead to death.
The tragic incident in Delhi has brought to light many incidents happening in our country. Politicians as usual tried to escape from this incident, but the continuous, energetic, and courageous protestors sent a shock to them. The protestors demanded Death penalty or Castration for the offender. India very much needs severe punishments for these offenders but this alone will not decrease the rate of sexual crimes. In countries where punishments are severe, still sexual crimes are prevailing, in these countries media is censored, so many incidents does not come to light. A person who is involving in sexual crime, at that moment will not care about the punishments. In some countries where the rate of sexual assault is low does not have a strict law for sexual crimes, but their approaches towards sexual attitudes are moral, liberal and broad minded.
Adolescent
stage determines one’s attitude towards sexuality. In this stage curiosity
about sexuality will be higher, if proper guidance is given in this stage, it
will play a crucial role in decreasing sexual crimes. In India, adolescents are
not given proper guidance, Parents and teachers who have the responsibility to
guide in this stage, fail to do it. They treat sex like an abomination. So
naturally the adolescents start to explore about sexuality by themselves and
lands in pornography which not only misguides them about sex but divert their
concentration, leading to academic failure and those who avoid exploring by
themselves and was successful in academics, fails in family life.
One
of the main reasons for the increase in sexual crimes is due to lack of
understanding about sexuality. In order to remove this lack of understanding
government should implement sex education not only in academic institutions but
also in work places and special concentration should be given to socially and
economically backward population and the task of teaching should be handed over
to social organizations. The NGO’s should help the victims in the process of
getting justice and people should be taught to approach the right place to get
an effective justice. If someone comes across this situation, they should first
approach some social organizations and with their help should file a complaint
to the police. Only proper understanding about sexuality will lead to gender
equality.