Sexual Assault— “That One Normalized Issue in the South Asian Community”
It’s the year 2021, yet we still live in fear that one of us may or may not be a sexual assault case target for the day. At least one in five women in a college class have been sexually assaulted, but it’s become so normalized we tend to forget that this issue is bigger than it seems. Sexual assault can occur anywhere, ranging from the workplace to inside the home and has been a worldwide conflict for centuries and is still being overlooked as a modern day problem. Many women are urged to not speak up against the situation due to their reputations being at stake, but currently it is becoming more open to conversation. This is a normalized situation, especially in South Asian culture that needs more significance and stricter rules to defend women.
All throughout my life I’ve personally dealt with harassment and came across friends who had stories to tell about their body being violated without consent. It almost felt normal talking about these situations growing up and sometimes still does but we remind ourselves it’s not. My friend and I would witness many male figures in our lives that would be personal friends with our parents and make sexual advances both verbally and physically towards us but our concerns on this weren’t taken seriously by our families. We were labeled to be “just kids” who didn’t understand anything and believed the uncles lies over our truth. This is because the culture finds males to be the dominant gender and have roles set which allow for them to take advantage of specific situations. Due to these cultural beliefs women are unable to speak out towards males because any solution to the problem leads to other conflicts. They may also feel uncomfortable speaking out because they are the sole caretakers of the family and try to avoid creating rifts that can affect their reputation. Many males place themselves in a power of being the only source of income which makes it easier for them to take advantage over women and fulfill their sexual desires. Many are unable to speak their truth due to the system having them trapped being under their male partners influence and suffering traumatic sexual experiences. Due to these circumstances and cultural beliefs, many women globally face these issues alone on a daily basis and aren’t able to speak up about it. Or if they do, they are dismissed for whatever unjustifiable reason there may be. These generational cultural cycles need to be put an end to and it starts with one bold conversation to make change.
There are new cases ongoing everyday about sexual assault cases whether it’s public or private. In a Ted YouTube video, “On Her Honor: Combating Gender Inequality in Asian Culture”, there was valuable information mentioned about sexual assault in the South Asian community. This video was spoken by Aiman Shahab— a student who graduated from Georgia Tech and associated herself in many programs dedicated to sexual violence advisory. Shahab mentions that women in South Asian culture are taught to be submissive and sweet, which indirectly allows males to have permission to behave disrespectfully. Shahab gave prime examples of victims from recent years that underwent this and ended up dying or traumatized. For example, from Bangladesh Nusrat Jahan. She was burned to death because she didn’t withdraw her statement about the headmaster raping her which indicates how significant the gender inequality stands and the position sexual assault lays. Shahab also mentioned women are viewed as sexual objects due to the media always representing them in a sexual manner. Bollywood (Indian) movies portray these scenes in support of men behaving as they please with women, which the viewers internalize without realizing it, therefore act upon it. There was a Gender Based Violence survey conducted which resulted in 42% of the South Asian female respondents reported in the survey that their male partners had abused them. That’s a large percentage and with the pandemic occurring it may have increased. In an early 2000’s stats; every 26 minutes a woman is molested, every 34 minutes a woman is raped, and every 33 minutes a woman is raped. The trauma they must face is great especially if their predator is walking free without consequences. Although there are many females suffering this issue, many mothers treat their sons with more respect than their daughters which allow for the disrespect to begin young. Sexual assault is a result of many males mainly treating women as objects without consider their feelings.
Assault can range from a variety of different things but the importance of having a conversation about it needs to be normalized and done especially in South Asian families. There needs to be a larger discussion about how sexual assault impacts us today and how many suffer from it every day without realizing. The need of one cannot outweigh the needs of many and in modern day people should be able to speak out against conflicts in the system without being judged. Women’s sexual assault experiences shouldn’t be taken lightly, instead make their predators suffer for their actions.
Work Cited
Shahab, Aiman. “On Her Honor: Combating Gender Inequality in Asian Culture | Aiman Shahab | TEDxGeorgiaTechSalon.” YouTube, uploaded by Tedx Talks, 16 June 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOz5GNlcDR0.
