The year 2015 has given the Indians many
things to boast on. The most recent one is our age-old yoga becoming an
international event and then entering the 2016 Guinese book of World records
because of the massive turnout last week on 21st June – The
International Yoga Day. It is the first time that a trans gender stepping onto
a Principal’s chair of a college and trans gender students getting enrolled
into University of Delhi’s courses not under the categories of male or female
but as ‘Others’.
The Narendra Modi’s government has
indeed been able to add new chapters to our history books. In this year the
trans genders got their separate identity as ‘Others’ in academic field that
will surely help them to come over the social stigma that they have to face
daily. However, Modi seem to have forgotten to put the other groups who
comprise the LGBT group.
While the Modi’s government have got enough
achievements to put in their next election manifesto to win the next election,
however,some groups of Indian citizens -the lesbians and Gay communities - have
nothing to feel happy. They remain to their negligible status and recognition.
We have just heard of ‘corrective rape’
on the lesbians and gay people - which was coined in South Africa –in Hyderabad
after a shocking revelation by an NGO that this act has found its way to India.
What is Corrective Rape?
It is a case whereinrape is used as a tool to correct the sexual orientation of lesbian and gay people with the objective of getting them to toe the societal norms. It is a practise to rape the gays and lesbian to ‘cure’ them of their sexual orientation.
It is a case whereinrape is used as a tool to correct the sexual orientation of lesbian and gay people with the objective of getting them to toe the societal norms. It is a practise to rape the gays and lesbian to ‘cure’ them of their sexual orientation.
The term was coined in
S. Africa where such crimes are rampant. This criminal act has mostly,
according to various research reports, been reported in five countries –
Thailand, Zimbabwe, Ecuador, Uganda and South Africa. Often it is the family members of the victim
who facilitate it.
As per the statistics of
Crisis intervention team of LGBT Collective in Telangana, there have been 15
instances of 'corrective rapes' that have been reported in the group in the
last five years. "We are sure there are many more cases, but they go
unreported, says VyjayantiMogli, a member of crisis intervention. “We came
across such cases not because they reported the rape, but because they sought
help to flee their homes."
In most cases of corrective rape, the perpetrators are family members because of which the victims refrain from seeking legal recourse. "Victims find it traumatising to speak of their brothers/ cousins turning rapists and prefer to delete the incident from their memories and cut off ties with their families. Which is why such cases almost never get reported," Vyjayanti says.
In most cases of corrective rape, the perpetrators are family members because of which the victims refrain from seeking legal recourse. "Victims find it traumatising to speak of their brothers/ cousins turning rapists and prefer to delete the incident from their memories and cut off ties with their families. Which is why such cases almost never get reported," Vyjayanti says.
Here parents request the
youths of their relatives to have sex and 'straighten' the sexual orientation
of their gay children, girls in most cases. They being parents want their
children to become a ‘normal’ human like others. According to a report, a gay boy was forced to have sex with his mother
to 'cure' their homosexuality.
What's more alarming about
this dangerous practice is that as many as 15 cases have already been reported
and many homosexuals are silently bearing the pain, fearing to report against
their own parents. Those who approached the NGO through the city based LGBT
communities preferred to run away from their homes and take shelter with
their partners.
Film on corrective rape
Hyderabadi filmmaker
DeepthiTadanki's upcoming film, Satyavati deals with the subject of corrective
rape. The film is based on some "shocking real life instances" that
took place in Bangalore. She said,"When I was researching on this subject
for my film, I came across two gut wrenching stories of corrective rape — one,
where a gay girl was raped by her cousin so that she could be "cured"
of homosexuality; and another, where family members forced a gay boy to have
sex with his mother, in a bid to turn him 'straight'. I tried reaching out to
these victims, but they refused to talk".
Explaining how difficult it is to find statistics for a topic so taboo, Deepthi says, "I wrote to NGOs who work with victims of such hate crimes seeking help with statistics. but to my surprise, not one organisation got back. Many rapes go unreported in India, and it will take years before something like corrective rape even gets talked about. That's why I wanted to tell this story. I knew it is a sensitive subject, something that has never been dealt with before. I didn't even have any statistics, but I had the conviction."
Satyavati talks about a lesbian couple and their straight friend. "When the family members of the 'straight' girl visits her, they doubt that she is in an 'unnatural' relationship with one of the lesbian girls. And so, they plot a 'corrective rape' on their daughter as well as the gay girl," reveals the 27-year-old Guntur native, who has turned to crowdsourcing to raise funds for the film. "Forty per cent of the film is now complete, but I am facing a financial crunch. I have been trying to crowd source money to complete the rest of the film," she says, adding, "While lot of people said 'kudos' and 'hats off', very few are willing to make monetary contribution. But I won't give up because a discussion on corrective rape needs to be initiated."
Explaining how difficult it is to find statistics for a topic so taboo, Deepthi says, "I wrote to NGOs who work with victims of such hate crimes seeking help with statistics. but to my surprise, not one organisation got back. Many rapes go unreported in India, and it will take years before something like corrective rape even gets talked about. That's why I wanted to tell this story. I knew it is a sensitive subject, something that has never been dealt with before. I didn't even have any statistics, but I had the conviction."
Satyavati talks about a lesbian couple and their straight friend. "When the family members of the 'straight' girl visits her, they doubt that she is in an 'unnatural' relationship with one of the lesbian girls. And so, they plot a 'corrective rape' on their daughter as well as the gay girl," reveals the 27-year-old Guntur native, who has turned to crowdsourcing to raise funds for the film. "Forty per cent of the film is now complete, but I am facing a financial crunch. I have been trying to crowd source money to complete the rest of the film," she says, adding, "While lot of people said 'kudos' and 'hats off', very few are willing to make monetary contribution. But I won't give up because a discussion on corrective rape needs to be initiated."
Advertisement
Recently a well-known
online fashion portal, Myntra came up with an advertisement titled – The Visit
-featuring two lesbians. ‘The Visit ‘ an advertisement though promoting the
brand Anouk showed the beautiful and pure love shared between a lesbian couple.
The two lovers supported each other as they were going along the dark road,
innocently giving utterance to words of happiness which rose to their lips like
the refrain from a forgotten song.
The advertisement
showing a couple preparing to meet their parents has gone viral and has become
the country’s latest social media phenomenon.
The advert was made for
an ethnic wear collection for a leading fashion portal. It got over 2 lakh hits
on YouTube in over 10 days.Ethnic wear brand Anouk, retailed on fashion portal
Myntra, released India’s first lesbian ad. “The ad has
got 3 million views across social media like Facebook, YouTube etc,” says
Manish Aggarwal, VP (marketing) at Myntra Fashion which is promoting the ad the
visit - BOLD IS BEAUTIFUL.
So India may feel proud of having trans
gender students under the special category and even a trans gender principal.
However, the smiles on the faces of the lesbians and Gay group will only come
when the Supreme court recognizes them and government makes advertisements to
make people aware (like they did to eradicate polio and myths about HIV) that –
People who are Gay and Lesbian deserve to be treated as what they are and they
are also part of our community. But for them it is ‘Dilliabhibahaut door’.