A few days ago a Bangladeshi MP in the parliament accuses rape victims of not dressing “properly”.
He accuses feminists of the increasing amount of rape in recent months. According to him, women should follow a rulebook for their attire. He thinks the recent law enforcement is the exact solution to stop rape.
In that very week, a morgue worker was arrested by CID on charges of having sexual intercourse with corpses at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital. His confessional statement proved he was a necrophiliac.
The question arises- how were the dead bodies of women ranging from 12-20 responsible for rapes? Or is it the rape culture that is to blame?
Now if someone thinks of this necrophiliac guy- a Bangladeshi Ted Bundy, if you will- as different from other rapists, be sure that he got the motivation from the exact periphery from where the other rapists get.
Bangladesh, which has been led by women since 1991, where the speaker of the parliament is a woman, in that very land women are the one to blame for being raped whereas perpetrators should be the one people frowning upon.
According to statistics compiled by the Human Rights Organization, Ain o Shalish Kendra, and other media reports, four women were being raped every day between the time frame of April to August. And even after that, a lot of rape cases were reported and still being filed. Some victims abstain from lodging complaints due to the fear of humiliation and being ostracized by the community.
The number of sexual assault and the culture of victim-blaming is increasing proportionally. Instead of introducing comprehensive sex education, teaching the concept of consent to both male and female children, women are being told to put on appropriate wearings labeled as the only solution.
Whenever a rape occurs in Bangladesh, the victim is the person who is to blame. Because going out at an “inappropriate time”, because of not wearing “proper” clothes makes the victim “asking for it”.
From where does this modest-clothing-to-prevent-rape concept comes from? From Islam or misogyny?
Does Islam justify rape when the woman is not wearing decent attire?
Adulterated interpretations of religions often contribute to the issue and intensify the weak women fallacy.
Surely Islam commands Muslims to lower the gaze and to wear respectable clothes. But people lack to draw attention to the fact that lower one’s gaze means lowering gaze irrespective of the fact that what the other person is wearing. It is a command with no condition.
The biography of the prophet Yousuf teaches Muslims to protect their chastity in every condition. Despite repeated enticement and temptations, a true Muslim should not commit any adultery.
The recent law of death sentencing rapists is not enough unless actions are being taken. Just passing laws does not surpass the matter. Opening one-step-crisis centers and counseling centers do not weigh out the burden of that traumatic experience victims go through.
Questioning the character of the victim makes men think that they can treat women the way they want. Hence, violence becomes the language for them.
Masculinity in its explicitly toxic expression encourages perversion against women, who are considered to be weak in many societies.
Especially developing nations, where the uneducated mass comprises a large portion and beliefs regarding women are often prejudiced.
So as long as people don’t understand the concept of consent, as long as people don’t stop putting the honor of a woman and her family in her attires, a MP can nonchalantly blame the feminist standing in the parliament of a women-led state.