With gender skewing in India. The following is my summary and commentary of a report from NPR. A young woman was raped repeatedly by a group of men, one who was a distant cousin of hers. In reaction to this event, the woman's friends ceased speaking to her, she is now being shunned by all of the community. I cannot help but wonder how this continues; how women are blamed for being taken advantage of in a predominantly male society. In India and other Asian countries, males are preferred to females, so female babies are aborted most times, and this skews the population dramatically. In addition to the population inequality, men are public figures and community leaders who decide what is right and wrong, perhaps promoting an anti-female atmosphere and creating the basis for these hate crimes. Hate crimes that bring shame to the women, and not the men. In India, sometimes men rape women of lower castes to show "superiority" and to establish themselves.
I cannot imagine living in a place where I could be dragged from my home at any time of day, beaten and raped, and in addition to the physical and mental trauma, BLAMED for being raped. It would not be a place I'd want to live in. The young woman's response was the same as mine; if not for her family, she'd kill herself. I dearly wish that change be brought about in the future and incidents like this become nonexistent, for this woman and her children, for the hundreds (and maybe thousands) of women in India fighting this fear-filled battle every day, for my children and grandchildren.
