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Victim blaming must stop

Published : Monday, 11 January, 2021 at 12:00 AM  Count : 647

Victim blaming must stop

Victim blaming must stop

The rape and death of an O' level student at Kalabagan of the capital has been the talk of the town. It is yet another shocking example of how rape culture has pervasive and normalized in our country. The detail of the brutality and the way the victim was assaulted has made us outraged and speechless. The Dhaka Medical College forensic department head has confirmed that the victim died of haemorrhagic shock and excessive bleeding from injured genitals and other body parts. However what is more disturbing is that the social media is being flooded with misogynistic comments where people are supporting the offender and blaming the 17-year-old victim.

Well, it is not an uncommon phenomenon of our country. Whenever we witness any rape incident, some mentally distorted people start blaming the victim by showing their thoughts on social media posts. And unfortunately many women also blame victims and question their upbringing and family background. But the scenario should be reversed where we are consoling and being empathetic to victims and showing outrage for such heinous crime and wanting punishment for the rapists. However, very disappointingly the damnation through words on the victims' character perceived not only shows the tendency of victim blaming but also encourages sexual violence. These attitudes are clear indication that how people are encouraging rape culture by their own ignorance.

Repeatedly, human rights activists have pointed out, it is the crime that must be condemned, not the victim. It has been uttered several times that sex without consent is rape. In the current case, the victim's injuries for which that she died after excessive bleeding is enough proof that this was a violent rape. We all may remember the 14 year-old child bride who died of excessive bleeding after her husband continued to force her to have sex despite her injuries. She appealed, "God sake, please leave me." But, all her pleas went unheard. On that time, we also witnessed that people were in denial to understand marital rape and some people also blamed the child bride by saying that a husband can't be a rapist.  However, this is really frustrating that even in this time we have to justify what is rape and who is rapist.

We have reiterated in our previous editorials that rape has to be considered a crime that demands punishment for the rapist regardless of the relationship between the rapist and the victim. We urge that the government, the courts, educational institutions and society must all work together to protect our girls and teach our boys the meaning of consent and respect for women and girls. The culture of victim blaming must be stopped.






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