Recognising rape culture
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Wednesday
February 08, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 08, 2023
Recognising rape culture

Thoughts

Nazmun Naher Shishir
30 December, 2019, 11:05 am
Last modified: 30 December, 2019, 12:23 pm

Related News

  • A woman’s dreadful night in Dhaka
  • 68 women, girls raped, 25 journos tortured in Jan: Report
  • Afghan female students not allowed to sit university entrance exam - Taliban ministry
  • UN deputy secretary-general in Kabul for talks on women's education, work
  • Romanian court extends detention of ex-kickboxer Andrew Tate in rape, human trafficking case

Recognising rape culture

A report of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad says 731 rape incidents took place in the first half of 2019 in Bangladesh

Nazmun Naher Shishir
30 December, 2019, 11:05 am
Last modified: 30 December, 2019, 12:23 pm
File Photo.
File Photo.

What can you do with a man's need….  She wanted it….  Her dress was provocative - So goes some of the responses from people who readily dismiss that "rape" as such is frightening and destructive.

There is more to it than just the devastation of the victim as a human being. When the society downplays its role and some voices begin to sound as if the rapist need to be tolerated, if not condoned, and to this end, they keep talking nonsense. Rape culture, in the end, becomes accepted though such nonsensical barrage of words.

Rape is thus trivialised and normalised. As the horrific event, as well as the victim, is belittled, recognition of rape culture remains elusive and resistance against it loses its intensity.

Yet, questions arise – what is rape culture and how does it operate?

Rape culture is a social practice that allows sexual harassment, violence against women, and rape as if there are normal incidents. It justifies rape by blaming the victim instead of the perpetrator. The blaming starts from questioning the character of the girl – was she wearing anything revealing? What was she doing at the spot where the rape happened, or she should have known better, etc.

Rape culture is ubiquitously prevalent. Rape culture operates in society in several ways: patriarchy, hegemonic masculinity, passive behaviour of women, and representation of rape in the media, language politics, and rape myths. Regardless of geopolitical situation wherever around the world men are dominating the women are the places rape culture happens as aggression towards women. 

Bangladeshi society is predominantly patriarchal. Being dominant, tough, aggressive and loud is what being men is about. "Women are supposed to live inside the house. Women of my family do not go out for work. We (male members) do not allow them. If women are going out for work, an incident like rape would happen to them. Not venturing out is for their safety," says Abdul Wahab, a businessman in Dhaka's Dhanmondi area.

As horrifying as it sounds, this is the predominant sentiment, even today with men taking charge of women and without rectifying what is wrong in their attitude towards women. When society regularly accepts such dominating behaviour as normal, rape culture nonetheless is a common pattern of behaviour that may become a subject about which one either speak in drivel or simply remain silent about. 

A report of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad says 731 rape incidents took place in the first half of 2019 in Bangladesh. About 942 women were raped in 2018.

Before we get one's head around such a rising rate of violence against women, one must realise that these statistics are based on the reported rapes only. There are many that go unreported. 

Rape culture continues when we allow hegemonic masculinity (actively or passively). Violence is a tool to use as a means of 'teaching' women a lesson against her 'inappropriate behaviour'. Raising voice against toxic masculinity and thus violence would value the patriarchy less.

The myth that the victim is responsible for her victimisation portrays the woman as a seductress. What can be odder than this reality of victim-blaming? Speaking out against the root cause and campaigning by countering the fact that men and boys must not require showing their power just for the sake of boosting their ego.   

Zero tolerance has to be practised against rapists from root to policy level. All and all broadening understanding about rape culture would be the first step towards recognizing thus abolishing the rape culture from the core of its root.

Top News

rape / rape culture / women

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Photo: PID
    LNG import on track to support power generation, PM tells JS
  • Rescuers look on as they sit on rubble, following an earthquake in Hatay Province, Turkey, February 7, 2023. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
    Turkey-Syria earthquake: Clock ticking for untold numbers buried under rubble, death toll crosses 11,416
  • BB makes diploma mandatory for promotion of bankers
    BB makes diploma mandatory for promotion of bankers

MOST VIEWED

  • Kamrul Faisal, doctoral researcher at University of Helsinki. Illustration: TBS
    Bangladesh's cognitive dissonance in its data privacy commitment
  • Sketch: TBS
    How should you talk to ChatGPT? A user's guide
  • Photo: Collected
    Pakistan’s apology might help improve its relationship with Bangladesh
  • Sketch: TBS
    Time for the developed world to rein in the debt crisis
  • Illustration: TBS
    The supply chain crisis opens door to resilience
  • Illustration: TBS
    Preparing for the future of AI in the job market: How Bangladesh can thrive in a tech-driven world

Related News

  • A woman’s dreadful night in Dhaka
  • 68 women, girls raped, 25 journos tortured in Jan: Report
  • Afghan female students not allowed to sit university entrance exam - Taliban ministry
  • UN deputy secretary-general in Kabul for talks on women's education, work
  • Romanian court extends detention of ex-kickboxer Andrew Tate in rape, human trafficking case

Features

Illustration: TBS

Planning to study abroad? Explore these four underrated scholarships

12h | Pursuit
Representational image. Photo: Collected.

The understated perks of journaling

11h | Pursuit
Photo: Reuters

A tragedy that will also shake up the region's geopolitics

1d | Panorama
Nimah designed by Compass Architects- Wooden tiles. Photo: Junaid Hasan Pranto

Trendy flooring designs to upgrade any space

1d | Habitat

More Videos from TBS

Unknown facts about Sid-Kiara wedding

Unknown facts about Sid-Kiara wedding

6h | TBS Entertainment
Rescuers dig through rubble as death toll passes 9,000

Rescuers dig through rubble as death toll passes 9,000

6h | TBS World
30% companies see double-digit growth even in hard times

30% companies see double-digit growth even in hard times

1d | TBS Insight
Challenging time waiting for RMG

Challenging time waiting for RMG

1d | TBS Round Table

Most Read

1
Photo: Courtesy
Panorama

From 'Made in Bangladesh' to 'Designed in Bangladesh'

2
Master plan for futuristic Chattogram city in the making
Districts

Master plan for futuristic Chattogram city in the making

3
Photo: Collected
Crime

Prime Distribution MD Mamun arrested in fraud case

4
Leepu realised his love for cars from a young age and for the last 40 years, he has transformed, designed and customised hundreds of cars. Photo: Collected
Panorama

'I am not crazy about cars anymore': Nizamuddin Awlia Leepu

5
Photo: Collected
Startups

ShopUp secures $30m debt financing to boost expansion, supply chain

6
ICB to withdraw Padma Bank investment as return eludes
Banking

ICB to withdraw Padma Bank investment as return eludes

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]