Why Do Men Rape?

Men rape for various reasons. I am not trying to justify what they do, definitely not. All I’m trying to understand is why they do what they do. I will also not venture into the psychological aspect of it. I didn’t go to protest, hence, writing something about it is the least I can do. I guess.

Fact: There will always be rapes.

Come what may, there will always be bad elements in the society. There will always be people who would hurt others. People will always be murdered, robbed, fleeced, and conned. There will be that odd war every now and then. And then there will always be rapists.

In my very personal, humble, honest opinion I do not think we can even dream of eradicating all that is wrong from this world. I don’t see it happening anytime soon. I know it is the ideal scenario that we would want to see in this world but if you think about it practically and objectively, it’s almost impossible.

What we can and need to do is reduce the numbers, the frequency, and the rate at which these crimes are happening. Whereas there is nothing wrong with fixing the deep rooted psychological complexities of these criminals from the root, we must also figure some practical solutions which fix the situation we are in, immediately. Simply assuming that there will always be men who would want to rape women can help us in making this city/country/world a better place.

Why are there so many rapes in Delhi? I think it is because there is lack of fear. These men are not afraid of the consequences. The consequences might or might not be harsh but that is really not the point here. Even if we have capital punishment for a convicted rapist, till the rapist does not fear getting hanged, he will not stop.

It is very simple and basic. Remember, back in school, how it was easy to cheat in a certain teacher’s class whereas much more difficult on someone else’s? Their levels of attentiveness and strictness determined whether a student could cheat or not. Both these factors are equally important. Just being strict (say, capital punishment) isn’t enough because a student would still want to cheat thinking ‘Ahh, I know she’ll beat the hell out of me, but hey, she won’t catch me only.’ Similarly, on the other hand, just being attentive is also kind of useless. The kid would obviously give cheating a shot since he won’t be afraid of the consequences, thinking, ‘Let me try and copy some stuff, even if the teacher catches me, I’ll be let off easily.’

Now use the same rationale for a rapist. Both raping and cheating are wrong, on different levels, yes, but still wrong. Till the Delhi rapist is not afraid of both getting caught and the following consequences, women will keep getting raped. It is as simple as that. So when we ask for capital punishment for rapes, we must also ask our government to ensure that the culprits are actually caught and hanged.

In the meanwhile it is fine to fix the mentality of the people and spreading education and ensuring the problem is eradicated from the roots for a better future. But for a better present, we must take swift actions against these rapists who go on their joyrides raping women without the fear of getting caught.

I’ve only stated the obvious and there’s so much more I’d like to say. But then there’s nothing here that I’ve written which you already didn’t know but I guess I had to document this all.

Much thanks for your time, I hope humour is back into our lives soon. There’s too much darkness around.

Also, a suggestion, we need a little girl to sweetly walk up to the Chief Minister Sheila Dixit and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and give them a tight slap in full public view. That level of humiliation might affect them; or might not actually.

They’ve failed us. They’ve failed us bad.