samizdat

In each case there has been an explosive clash between the rapidly modernizing city and the embattled, conservative village culture upon which the capital increasingly encroaches. The victims are almost invariably young, educated working women who are enjoying freedom unknown even a decade ago. The accused are almost always young high school dropouts from surrounding villages, where women who work outside the home are often seen as lacking in virtue and therefore deserving of harassment and even rape.

What a refreshing lens: using women’s bodies - specifically, violence perpetrated against women - to illustrate a broader ideological or cultural battleground.

Sexual violence and rape do not symbolize a precipitous conflict between old and new. Tradition and culture are not sole custodians of the misogyny and oppression on which ‘civilization’ (read: westernization, modernization) ‘encroaches.’

No, sexual violence is the result of societal misogyny that is not limited to ‘Old’ India or India alone. Around the world, the shaming and blaming of rape victims and lengthy, arduous legal procedures discourage victims from seeking help or reporting their rapes. That’s the real battle here.