A significant number of the country's people appear to have suddenly become used to pandering to their baser instincts. Given the sharp increase in the incidence of assault and defilement of girls and women, one might feel tempted to draw a troubling conclusion: the nation is fast passing into a demonic spell comprising suppressed libido, perverted pleasure and, also, a violent form of misogyny. Women are not safe anywhere in the country. Paedophiles and sex maniacs are on the prowl. Children as young as 6 are falling prey to abuse, teenage girls and women are lured into traps --- with many meeting their untimely deaths. Sexual assaults have lately emerged as the outbreak of a horrid national scourge. Both rural and urban areas are presently afflicted with the pandemic.
Sexual assaults on women are not unique to any country. Irrespective of socio-economic attainments, all societies are vulnerable to this type of persecution. In the western countries, premarital intimate relations between young males and females are free of social constraints. Despite widespread 'free-mixing', sexual attacks on women do also occur there. Such incidents are mostly prompted by extremities in the behaviours of psychotic patients and psychopaths. In the bygone days, drunkenness contributed a lot to the incidents of sexual assault in some societies. In the recent times, it has been supplemented by the abuse of psychotropic or mind-altering drugs. In the tradition-bound less developed countries, the scene is different altogether. Strict segregation of women and men outside home adds to the many woes already plaguing the lives of the former sex. Men in these societies are free to ride the roughshod over women in everything in day-to-day life. It results in women's or girls' being relegated to a disadvantageous position. Thus when a woman is sexually abused in a South Asian country, the whole male-dominated society points the finger at the victim.
The insinuations at play in a community judgement are mostly biased against the woman or the girl concerned. Although not pronounced in many cases, it becomes implied that the woman is at fault as a temptress. This type of a social judgement has long been in practice almost formally in the rural areas of Bangladesh. Few of the village arbitration councils in the country are found bringing the male culprits in women assault cases to book. In the South Asian and Sub-Saharan African countries, stunted cultural growth emerges as double whammy along with other grim social realities. In today's Bangladesh, this situation is fast appearing to be symptomatic of a pervasive decadence.
In spite of the omnipresent dictates of tradition, resulting in the restrictions on womenfolk, young women began enjoying certain freedoms after the country's independence in 1971. Sexual assaults remained isolated cases for long. They were far from being a social menace. That it struck the country with a vengeance in the 1980s was widely blamed on drug abuse, and the screening of pornographic movies at public video shows. As social experts view it, the scene has not changed much. With the entry of social media sites, the plight of women and teenage girls continues to get worse.
What defies logic and the definitions of the rot of conscience seems to be society's laidback attitude towards sexual violence. The media people hardly think twice before using the word 'dhorshon' (rape) while narrating such incidents. Even participants in TV talk shows appear to have no qualms about using this highly obnoxious and derogatory Bangla term. With its young women and underage girls being assaulted in increasing numbers, this country may be set to earn the notoriety for its gross insensitivity towards women. Only an effective social resistance can work as atonement for this despicable act.
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- Saturday, 27 April 2024 |
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