Because of my work with V-Day, i hear about a lot of horrifying rape and abuse stories. But it’s been a long time since one just floored me. An article came out this week describing how a grandmother, in desperate need of her crack offered her granddaughter as payment. She sat there and listened as the crack dealer brutally raped her granddaughter and then forced her to urinate and shower to conceal the evidence. When it was reported to the cops, she identified a different man to protect her dealer. OMG.
Though the event described is extremely horrifying, this atrocity could have been committed just as easily against a grandson, rather than a grand-daughter, in the US.
In India, such crimes are common and often committed on a premediated, communal basis by people dependent not at all on crack. And always against women. Rape is used more as a tool of social domination than currency. Though the latter takes an equivalent toll on the individual level, it likely does not, on the social capitol or on gender identity, as does the former.
Just a thought, not a justification and by no means a negation.
Sue – i am not denying all of the other atrocities in presenting this one, or all of the potential ones. But it is very rare for me to run across situations where female family members objectify other female family members for economic (in this case addiction) gain. This is why they always surprise me. Of course, it is very sad that most rape situations don’t surprise me these days. But then again, i spend my days trying to stop it from happening.
One horrifying community level example of the same is the “Devdasi” system in some Western States of India. Here, girl children are given over as Devdasis (Servents of God) to be “married” to God. These unfortunate children are brought up by temple priests and upon reaching puberty, or even earlier, are made to prostitute in the glory of God. All of this goes on openly and the saddest part is that it is often the womenfolk in the community who offer up the girls from their families into this prostitution.
When I spoke with my mom about this post, she told me about a case in Rajasthan, where a woman sold her daughter to a tout openly in a street market to raise enough money to bail her husband out of jail, he had been jailed for peddling drugs.
More power to you in your efforts, is the Monologue performed internationally? Might be some people here in India who would be interested in organising a show or even a string of them.
Sue – it makes me so sad to hear of such stories. Of course, it says something powerful that your mother can remember a specific incident that happened as opposed to just remembering that people do horrifying things generally.
As far as “The Vagina Monologues”… Recently, V-Day has been paying special attention to acid attacks, infanticide and other horrors that are particularly of interest to India. Hibaaq Osman has been focusing on Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Last V-Season, there was at least one event in India, but we are always looking for leaders to gather to produce events, raise awareness and help end oppression everywhere. Might you be interested? One way to get involved would be to participate in the Worldwide Campaign!