A few days ago, a girl immolated herself, after two young men, aged 22 and 19 barged into her house and raped her. This case again brings to the light, the rising incidences of sexual violence against women, where perpetrators have been juvenile or young men in their early twenties. It sends chills down one’s spine, to merely think that boys in schools and colleges; the so-called future generation of our country, is showing an increased tendency of sexual violence.
Young men have no empathy towards the opposite gender in certain states even in 2018
The rising crime rate, especially in states like Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, which are notorious for their failing sex ratios, is worrying.
It nags us to think why our young men and boys have no empathy and respect towards the opposite gender?
In times when the drive to increase gender equality is stronger than ever, why the country with world’s youngest population fails to sensitise its boys and men about women’s rights?
The rot that is patriarchy and the constant pampering of a male child in average Indian households, is finally crumbling our society. All we do year after year is wave the NCRB reports and dance around the figures of improving the gender ratio in these states. What is the point of motivating people to produce a girl child, if you can’t teach the boys to treat them like humans?
To the boys who grow up seeing women reduced to nothing but vessels to produce more male progenies and objects to fulfil their carnal desires, the emotional numbness comes hand in hand with the sense of being the superior sex.
What kind of adults will our young boys become?
According to the 2016 NCRB Crime in India Report, 233 boys in the age group of 16-18 years old and 85 boys in the age group of 12-16 years, were arrested on charges of rape. Apart from these, 312 boys from the age group of 16-18 years and 52 boys within the age bracket of 12 to 16 years, were arrested on the charges of Assault on Women with Intent to Outrage her Modesty.
A boy who is not even out of school, can harbour the intentions of rape and assault of a girl or woman, speaks volumes about how we are ignoring the raising violent tendencies in our boys.
What kind of men do we expect them to grow into?
Day after day these boys watch their predecessors commit heinous crimes like gang rapes, genital mutilation and acid attacks. They watch their elder brothers, fathers and even grandfathers treat the women of the house like ragged dolls in the clutches of rabid dogs. But the worst part is that they watch them get away with it.
The law of the land puts women in the category of sub-humans. Since a very young age these boys have grown up seeing normalisation of violence against women, stopping them, and putting them behind the bars or juvenile correction facilities is not the solution. Sensitisation against violence is.
We have to teach them that it's not okay to mutilate or rape girls out of curiosity or on a whim. Also that it's not okay if others do it and get away with it. We should teach them to empathise with the opposite gender. Moreover, they need to understand that what they have grown up believing normal, is something which is unfounded even in animals.
Also Read : Rape, Murder Of 7-Yr-Old Pakistani Girl Sparks Outrage
Dr Yamini Pustake Bhalerao is a writer with the SheThePeople team, in the Opinions section. The views expressed are the author’s own
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