Blaming rape victims is a form of societal gang rape

A recent BBC documentary recounting the high-profile 2012 gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old Indian woman committed by six men on a bus in Delhi has drawn widespread attention and renewed an impassioned global debate on the topic of rape.



The Indian government has banned broadcast of the controversial film, titled India's Daughter, in which Mukesh Singh, one of the case's convicted rapists, commented that the victim was to blame for her death. "A decent girl won't roam around at 9 o'clock at night," he said.



His words sparked further public outrage, but sadly, blaming the rape victim instead of the perpetrator is all too common even in these modern and enlightened times.



Last month, a gynecologist with a public hospital in Shanghai's Hongkou district told me about a local rape victim who had been treated there. After notifying the police and making the case known to the public, the young woman was faulted and ridiculed by neighbors and even her own relatives. Her parents later sent her abroad to escape any further shame.



Rape victims such as the lady in Hongkou are typically blamed for wearing short skirts or hanging out in the evenings, which many societies, including China, believe are improper behavior for women. As the defense lawyer on the Indian gang-rape case publicly stated, "I would have burned my daughter alive if she went out late at night with her boyfriend."



As a woman and a human being with a heart, I of course don't have to point out the outrageousness of saying that rape victims "deserve" what they have suffered. Suggesting that "wrongly behaved" women "tempted" their perpetrators to violate them is as insolent an alibi as one can make. Nonetheless, in many male-dominated cultures, it is often effective in gaining public sympathy for the perpetrator.



Many rape victims the world over have said that the criticisms they have received from society are even more painful than the rape itself. They hence become overwhelmed with fear, guilt and shame, and find it difficult to return to a normal life. Some, such as the Hongkou woman, choose to move abroad just to avoid additional denigration.



Worse still, public criticism has forced untold numbers of rape victims to remain silent. According to a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) survey of 130 countries and regions released in 2012, the Chinese mainland reported 33,835 rapes (2.1 cases per 100,000 people), ranking 81st that year.



But let's be clear: this comparatively small figure and low ratio does not mean that there are less rape cases in China. It only means that, fearing public condemnation, many Chinese women whom have been violated would rather keep silent than call the police.



According to a 2011 report by the Beijing News, a man in rural Anhui Province had raped 78 local women between 1993 and 2009. Police said that the man was never accused of his crimes until a recent victim notified the authorities. Even after the case was made public, most of his past victims remained unforthcoming.



What those women tragically failed to realize is that each of them were successively responsible for allowing the man to continue his reign of terror.



In Canada, a policeman came under public fire a few years ago for advising students to "avoid dressing like sluts" in order to evade sexual attacks. His words later sparked protest marches called "SlutWalk" among several countries in Asia, Europe and the Americas. "Our culture needs to change," said one SlutWalk activist in London. "Teach people not to rape, not how not to be raped."

