Daily Times
The rape debate in India just started sizzling. Former adult film actress Sunny Leone, who is of Indo-Canadian origin, has been dragged into the rape fiasco that is being heavily debated in the Indian media especially after the string of brutal rapes taking place all over the country, particularly in New Delhi. The actress has left her blue-movie past and has entered the Bollywood mainstream. The porn star is being linked to the rape wave because of her history in the adult film industry especially after the anti-porn campaigners in India — as in many places the world over — started blaming porn films and clips as being behind the startling frequency of rape in the country. The vicious attack on a five-year-old girl by five drunken men, who, apparently, were aroused by adult movie clips on their mobile phones just before the rape, has strengthened this argument and it is Sunny Leone who has been caught in the crosshairs. Efforts are also being made to ban pornography in India.
Whilst no one is advocating pornography, it feels as if campaigners in India are barking up the wrong tree. There have definitely been studies that link pornography with violent sexual crime but, the world over, adult movies do exist and rape also exists but nothing except for the crime is dealt with and punished. The trouble with India is that rape is an epidemic and Indians are misdirecting the blame. It is the attitude Indian men have about women that is the problem. It is the fact that anything as trivial as what a woman wears seems to trigger the primal male instinct, which results in the most atrocious of crimes. The fact that Delhi is known as the rape capital of the world seems to point to something more embedded within the Indian psyche than anywhere else in the world. Banning pornography and targeting an actress, who is a woman herself, seems to be lifting the responsibility off the shoulders off the man, who is the perpetrator of the rape. The oppressive and patriarchal view that Indian men have of women needs to change otherwise the news headlines never will.
The rape debate in India just started sizzling. Former adult film actress Sunny Leone, who is of Indo-Canadian origin, has been dragged into the rape fiasco that is being heavily debated in the Indian media especially after the string of brutal rapes taking place all over the country, particularly in New Delhi. The actress has left her blue-movie past and has entered the Bollywood mainstream. The porn star is being linked to the rape wave because of her history in the adult film industry especially after the anti-porn campaigners in India — as in many places the world over — started blaming porn films and clips as being behind the startling frequency of rape in the country. The vicious attack on a five-year-old girl by five drunken men, who, apparently, were aroused by adult movie clips on their mobile phones just before the rape, has strengthened this argument and it is Sunny Leone who has been caught in the crosshairs. Efforts are also being made to ban pornography in India.
Whilst no one is advocating pornography, it feels as if campaigners in India are barking up the wrong tree. There have definitely been studies that link pornography with violent sexual crime but, the world over, adult movies do exist and rape also exists but nothing except for the crime is dealt with and punished. The trouble with India is that rape is an epidemic and Indians are misdirecting the blame. It is the attitude Indian men have about women that is the problem. It is the fact that anything as trivial as what a woman wears seems to trigger the primal male instinct, which results in the most atrocious of crimes. The fact that Delhi is known as the rape capital of the world seems to point to something more embedded within the Indian psyche than anywhere else in the world. Banning pornography and targeting an actress, who is a woman herself, seems to be lifting the responsibility off the shoulders off the man, who is the perpetrator of the rape. The oppressive and patriarchal view that Indian men have of women needs to change otherwise the news headlines never will.
No comments:
Post a Comment