'Patriarchal views against rape are anti-feminist'

You speak about the emergence of the term lsquofeminismsrsquo in plural mdashis this recent What are the most common points of disagreement in feminist thought here ldquoFeminismrdquo and ldquowomenrsquos movementrdquo have always been plural Historically the idea of ldquoequal rights for womenrdquo is initially articulated by women from dominant classcasterace groups but soon complicated by voices of women from subordinate groups who question the notion of gender as a shared unitary identity In India some of the questions that complicate feminist thought are caste religious identity class and sexuality Hence the debates over a uniform civil code versus genderjust civil codes that may not be uniform across communities whether sexwork is lsquoworkrsquo or lsquoviolence against womenrsquo which complicates gender with class whether transgender people are part of the ldquowomenrsquosrdquo movement or whether feminism in India ignores the caste solidarities between upper caste feminists and the men of their own caste positions Could you elaborate on recent battles that may have been fought by those ldquousing feminism for antifeminist endsrdquo as you mention in the book That was in the context of the witchhunt against Julian Assange Wikileaks founder accused of sexual harassment Many feminists feel that while rape in general continues to be neglected the charges against Assange are being used to persecute him for the damage that Wikileaks did to the US establishment More recently in the countrywide protests over rape in India we saw some utterly patriarchal views against rape being aired that in fact are antifeminist How do you address the fact that crimes against women have become more gruesome over the past few years mdash khap panchayats or the brutal beating up of a girl during and after the rape Irsquom not sure that violence against women has gone up or become more gruesome Caste and class based sexual violence against women in rural areas including terrible acts of humiliation has been routine but does not come to the notice of a literate urban public or is not taken seriously even if reported So I reject a view expressed by some commentators that migrants to cities are responsible for increasing violence against women because they leave behind the accountability provided by village communities Actually powerful castes and the rich in villages have no accountability at all nor do men raping women of their own caste and class In cities most rapes happen among acquaintances or within the family The figure of the working class rapist unable to deal with the freedoms of the modern Indian woman conjured up by such analyses has no takers among Indian feminists Most working class rapists are raping women of their own class mdash nonwesternised poor and justu00a0like them It seems that more women are reporting such incidents today refusing to stay silent Unless we have concrete evidence to the contrary I think it is this factor that accounts for the apparent increase in violence The increasing violence by khap panchayats reveals the growing resistance to their diktats from within their communities For every act of violence that we read about there would be at least one ldquoillegitimaterdquo marriage passing without notice How does feminist thought analyse the lsquosolutionsrsquo suggested by the angry mobs after the recent gang rape that once again concentrate on the lsquowomen who lost her honourrsquo For patriarchal forces rape is evil because it is a crime against patriarchal family honour while feminists see it as a crime against the autonomy and bodily integrity of a woman This difference in understanding naturally leads to diametrically opposed proposals for fighting rape In the patriarchal perspective rape can be avoided only by locking up women within the family The woman is responsible for rape because either she crossed the lakshman rekha of time by going out after dark or that of respectability by dressing unconventionally or by leaving her home at all This understanding is common in the judiciary and police too Feminist campaigns against sexual harassment and assault however contend that the more women are out at night and in secluded places the safer all women are Prompt redress is essential for checking sexual violence mdash which the Indian justice system does not offer How does feminism lsquowalk a tightropersquo when it comes to demystifying rape Rape is only one aspect of a pervasive misogynist culture that severely restricts womenrsquos access to public spaces The belief that the threat of rape is everywhere and can happen at any time or that it is the worst fate that can befall us is enough to make women police ourselves restricting our own mobility Feminists also want to demystify rape to see it not as a unique and lifedestroying form of violation but as merely another kind of violence against persons Men too are raped but this is rarely acknowledged for the dominant commonsense is that only women are always rapeable Does the real damage of lsquorapersquo lie in the web of meanings around it rather than in the act itself People recover even from murderous assaults but once identified as lsquosexualrsquo even a less physically damaging attack becomes magnified due to the resulting shame and pain of the victim Freeing ourselves from the very meaning of rape as violation as the most deadly of all forms of violence is therefore essential to build up immunity to this virus mdash the fear of potential rape