Monday, November 29, 2010

The Wailing after Rape



I happened to be near a group conversation between some travellers on the train. The subject matter of discussion was on the efficacy and moral strength of death penalty for crimes such as the one that shook Coimbatore when two little children were kidnapped, tortured, molested and murdered. From the lack of deterrence to virtual question of ethics the discussion on death penalty went quite animatedly.

Back home sitting alone I recalled the group and their subject of discussion. Death penalty or its deterrence of crime was a secondary matter as I felt the mangling that ensues mentally to the victim of rape and violation be it, physical, emotional, dispossession or in other forms will not fade away.

Could there be a life after for the victim? Who must be impaled, the perpetrator or the disaffected,deaf onlooker who thumps his nose sky ward with apathy?

What is more heinous and despicable, rape or deriving carnal and perverted pleasure watching the act and the misery of the victim through a key hole, while you had the entire wherewithal and prowess to stop the abhorrence from being enacted?

The word rape is used here in the wider context, a kind of macro level meaning. It necessarily not has to be a physical assault with sexual intent. It can be, besides physical violation, a emotional sodomy,a casual and cool acquiescence, attitude, act or the absence of it that does not interfere or prevent the mauling of another person   sexually,physically,mentally or  emotionally and deprive him of the dignity that is dear to any living being, man or beast.

And is it humanly possible for the victim of rape (again, see it in wider context), to sleep with the perpetrator and more so with the unashamed onlooker ? What if the onlooker is the  victim's own kin?An evangelical answer is not what is required here. Because evangelising to the victim of neglect, atrocity and gross apathy is a sermon that is crueller than the mauling that was inflicted?






13 comments:

Insignia said...

Man is the only species on earth who can inflict pain to his fellow beings with cruel intentions. I wouldnt want to use the word "Human" here.

Insignia said...

Oh yeah, I wont try answering your questions. The answers are obvious to me as to you..

anilkurup59 said...

@ Insignia,
You got it right on both counts in both comment posts.
Though there may be somebody out there who think differently.

dr.antony said...

Rape takes away a part of the person. By force and often violent brutality it severs away a part of heart and soul. Rape victims may experience uncontrollable intrusive thoughts about the rape, essentially unable to stop remembering the incident. Many rape victims have realistic nightmares and dreams about the actual rape. The person begin to view and evaluate life through the grid of the emotional devastation produced by the rape.
It is a never healing wound the person lives with.Like a chronic ulcer,the scabs bleed on picking.

I personally feel it is akin to murder.What is left is a living dead.Perpetrators often get away due to lack of evidence and legal loop holes.If someone enjoys watching the act,I think he doesn't deserve living.I am always for capital punishments for such crimes.
I understand the wider meaning of rape.That is what the so called elite enjoy doing in social circles..They f..the souls and character and derive sadistic pleasure.There is one sin the Bible has prescribed punishment.It says killing the character is same as murder, and such persons should be thrown in to the sea!

anilkurup59 said...

@ Doc
Well we all have heard , read and seen sometimes the agony, the trauma of a victim of rape. But what I was interested was the wider meaning. The
violation as you also agreed can happen in many forms. It happens daily in the society.
Throwing those folks into the ocean is of no avail. Why does such people happen to be in only amongst human beings?

Balachandran V said...

You are not really talking about the physical rape, are you?


"An evangelical answer is not what is required here. Because evangelising to the victim of neglect, atrocity and gross apathy is a sermon that is crueller than the mauling that was inflicted?"

The victim has choices: one, to rape the rapist back; two, fantasize about raping back and hope the rage would subside; three,forget it and try to get on with life; and finally - kill yourself slowly with the dripping acid of vengeance and rage.
Take your pick!

kaalpanique said...

rape is about control.. humiliation... subjugating another person... humans have an ego to boost.. animals are happy with themselves..

anilkurup59 said...

@ Balan,

As the Chinese saying goes," if you cannot avoid rape lie back and enjoy it".
Then yet another way , is to move on , hoping that a "rapist ,par excellence" will soon follow to take care of the perpetrators.

anilkurup59 said...

@ Kaalpanique,

Call me a pessimist - but I love the label if it is for the opinion that the worst form of all creations are "homo sapiens"

deeps said...

I have always raised my voice against capital punishment for grave crimes such as the one you have mentioned here… of course the human considerations and human right activists can have their valid points to make…. But like you said, the plight of the ‘prey’ – I use the term so deliberately as she is a victim of sheer animal instinct sealed with violence and brutality – pronounces nothing less merciful.
Well, for an outsider like me and you can go on with our debates but will never ease or overshadow what she has gone through…

anilkurup59 said...

@ Deeps
The virtual discussion was not just on rape . Nevertheless.
And Deeps the usage "animal instincts"- do you think animals would do anything similar> physical or otherwise?

Sandy said...

This is such a sad thing indeed...All too many times we are raped in more than one sense of the word..You have well pointed out the atrocities of this word rape..

anilkurup59 said...

@ Sandy
That was a pleasant surprise - your visit . You managed to get through!
You have well understood the myriad meanings and context the word can be used