Delhi and Steubenville: lessons lost in the process of comparison
In recent days, journalists and media outlets have been doing a side by side comparison of the way that the sexual assaults in New Delhi and Steubenville have been framed for the public. In late December, a 23-year-old student was gang-raped on her way home from a movie, assaulted so viciously that she died two weeks later. In Steubenville, Ohio, high school football players are accused of repeatedly raping an unconscious 16-year-old girl, instigating ensuing commentary from other team members and community members. The recent debate has focused on why the media portrayal of the cases has been so different. Some articles have claimed that American media sources are quick to point the finger at India’s flaws while neglecting to admit that we in the United States have a lot of work to do to improve victim services and overall response. Others have written about the need to report on the two incidents differently, to reflect cultural values and the cultural context in which the assaults occurred.
I think the debate on the framing of the two assaults is circling around and subsequently missing the main take-away: violence against women is endemic in the culture we all collectively share, and our corresponding collective level of outrage dwarfs in comparison.
As Nicolas Kristoff pointed out in his recent opinion piece:
Not only did [Congress] fail to renew the Violence Against Women Act, but it has also stalled on the global version, the International Violence Against Women Act, which would name and shame foreign countries that tolerate gender violence.
Congress even failed to renew the landmark legislation against human trafficking, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. The obstacles were different in each case, but involved political polarization and paralysis (NY Times)
Our outrage has been focused on two assaults and we’ve neglected to report on the thousands of incidents of sexual violence that are perpetrated against men and women around the world every day. Kristoff made this point in his second opinion piece (written in response to the first). Here are some of the stories he learned about in recent days that received little to no media coverage (especially in comparison):
A 13-year-old girl dying of injuries caused by rape in Liberia. A separate incident in which an 8-year-old girl is kidnapped by a pimp in Liberia. A woman in San Francisco allegedly doused with gasoline by her boyfriend and set on fire. A girl in Nepal burned alive because she refused a marriage offer. (NY Times)
As Jessica Valenti points out, we are also missing an opportunity to discuss victim blaming and the way we respond to survivors of sexual assault. We are missing an opportunity to talk about social injustice and gender equity. As David Lee noted last week, we are missing an opportunity to talk about lessons for prevention.
One opportunity that we cannot afford to risk? Utilizing the momentum and interest generated by these two news stories to advance the sexual violence prevention and intervention movements. CALCASA has designed a number of tools to help rape crisis centers, advocates, and preventionists connect with their local media outlets to gain attention and built awareness (the first step towards primary prevention). We plan on utilizing these tools to connect with media outlets, legislators (on both the state and national level), and community members to reinforce our message: it is time to end violence against women.
What are your main take-aways and how will you build upon the momentum generated by recent assaults to increase support for the violence against women movement?
Photo courtesy of: http://www.flickr.com/photos/garryknight/4427315172/
I think there is an issue too with over-generalising – actually while the two incidents named above both feature the rape of a young woman by multiple men, the cultures surrounding the two incidents are completely different and need unpacking.
What are the messages we get about alcohol and sex in much of the western world? About men having to “always, anytime” be ready to be sexual? What happens in men’s sports teams that teach men they must support and have loyalty to one another, no matter what, to be a real man and belong? How do we build more healthy norms into men’s sport? Why do we put such emphasis on sporting prowess for young men in the process of learning masculinity, and what impacts does that have in terms of excusing all kinds of unacceptable behaviour, just because they are good at sport?
I’m not going to presume I understand the cultural supports for the gang rape in Delhi, as I’ve never been there, but they are certainly likely to be quite different.
[…] response to sexual violence desperately needed in our nation’s capital. As Alexis Marbach recently wrote, the recent high-profile cases of sexual assault offer the chance to garner momentum to support […]
Have you ever listened to pop music today, how women are called “hos” and “bitches” not just by the rappers but also by white singers in the metal and other genres? Sex isn’t just a romantic notion but a conquering ideal, raping and pillaging or being a stud and inseminating as many chicks as possible in the clubs or at parties. This isn’t the making of music, this is a reflection of the thinking of men who are out there and how they fantasize. Sadly, many of our children have easy access to porn via the internet and they will have an even more distorted view of women and how to treat them due to seeing this garbage in the formative years of their sexual identities. Having met a few men such as this in their twenties, they have no idea of how to relate with a woman one on one, as a person, only on a sexual level. Woman have been degraded to a sex object. Have a large group of men together with a gang mentality, egging each other on, a woman does not stand a chance. There will be no empathy, absolutely nobody will see her as a person, only as a receptacle for their sperm, their anger towards all the women who have spurned them before, and add to that a desire to outdo each other in brutality and that poor woman upon whom they focus their anger hasn’t a hope.
In the Middle East and China, there is also the hardship of the lower ratio of women to men due to female infanticide (the murder of female infants due to their sex) or abortion of female fetuses due to a preference for males. This has left a void for the adult males….no wives for many to wed so there are many frustrated young males left without a channel to vent their sexual desires. Their culture makes it ok to blame the women if the man cannot control himself. She must retain her virtue until marriage or the family will lose honour. Men of these cultures have used this as a “get out of jail free” card, knowing the woman will pay the ultimate price for being the victim. Win-win for the guy! Things must change in those countries!!! It is so cruel and unfair.