There is nothing useful in responding to rape and sexual violence against women with mindless outrage, or uninformed alarmism — there is certainly nothing useful, or feminist, in the demand for blood. Bloodlust — ‘HANG THE RAPIST’ — believe it or not, does little or nothing for women’s rights. In fact, it just does more harm than good.<\/p>\n
Sri Lanka has been swept up by the recent incidents of rape in Jaffna and several varying, though mostly violent, responses to those rapes. As far as I can tell, due process has been followed, perpetrators arrested etc. The finer details and nuances of the actual rape, the latest one, remain shrouded in mystery — for example, is there an element of caste in this case? All we’ve seen is the wave of adamant and aggressive protests without a clear message or intent. It’s happening in Colombo too.<\/p>\n
In India, we’ve seen this exact same trend. The discourse about women’s rights has become more and more wrought with the call for blood; becoming diluted and poisoned with what is actually, evidently patriarchal intent. It is evident in this specific kind of ‘mob’ response to violence against women: when mobs of men take to the streets to ‘avenge’ victimized women, or to shout about how ‘they’ should ‘protect their women’, go about rabble-rousing, asking for the death penalty. Pitchforks don’t do a damn bit of good.<\/p>\n
Please be watchful about which protests you join, what the messages and demands of those protests are; WHAT they are actually protesting. Be sure you aren’t party to anything with underlying patriarchal intent, caste-politics, and most importantly, that you are NOT party to anything with any Tamil nationalist agenda. Be watchful for political machinations and for whose agenda you may unknowingly be plugging.<\/p>\n
Protest sexual violence. Ask for equality and gender justice. Ask for gender-neutral rape laws, even! Use the opportunity productively; don’t throw it away for the mindless mob.<\/p>\n
We lived under various tyrannies for many decades. We should be wiser to it now.<\/p>\n