Rape Culture: Blaming Rape Victims in Bangladesh Perspective

i
 A Research report on
Rape Culture: Blaming Rape Victims in Bangladesh Perspective
Course Name: Advance Marketing Research
Course Code: Mkt-503

Prepared For:
Dr. Md. Kashedul Wahab Tuhin
Associate Professor
Department of Marketing
Jahangirnagar University

Prepared By:
Shadia Hoque
Class ID: 1462
Registration No: 40902
Department of Marketing
Jahangirnagar University

Date of Submission: 04/12/2020

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 Acknowledgment

Primarily I would thank Allah for giving me the audacity and intellectual aptitude to carry out

such a difficult task of conducting this research.

Then I would like to mention the contributions from my honorable supervisor Dr. Md. Kashedul

Wahab Tuhin , Associate Professor, Department of Marketing, Jahangirnagar University for his

effective supervision, guideline, motivation, control, observation which enabled me to become

worthy of undertaking the vigorous task of the research project. It could not possible to think all

of those people who have contributed for preparation of this monograph. Of course there are

some very special names that can’t go without mention.

Finally, I would like to convey my thanks to my parents and friends who have helped me with

their valuable suggestions and guidance which has been helpful in various phases of the

completion of the project.

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 Executive Summary:

Rape is being alarming condition in Bangladesh day by day. It is the most common and vicious

form of violence against woman in Bangladesh. Rape culture and the practice of victim blaming

are inherently linked phenomena, the existence of a rape culture which normalizes sexual

violence and blames rape victims for the attacks against them create cultural violence in

Bangladesh. Along with the trauma experienced by rape victims due to their assault, many

victims also suffer secondary victimization due to the negative reactions of those around them.

Among these negative reactions, perhaps the most damaging is the tendency to blame victims for

their assault, particularly in cases of acquaintance rape. The current research explores the role of

rape culture coverage in promoting a victim blaming culture in the Bangladesh. In Study, I

review the literature related to rape and rape culture in order to identify factors and influences

contributing to rape-supportive beliefs and behaviors in society at large, including the ways in

which women’s lives are impacted by the constant threat of rape and how male socialization

contributes to and normalizes this threat. Then I try to explore about factors of rape culture in

Bangladesh society based on discourse and content analyses of online comments on report

related to rape and rape cultures. The study also emphasis on victim of the rape, blaming the

victims, denial of gender aspects violence, denial of rape culture, anti- feminism etc.

In Study, I validated that people’s victim blaming tendencies by analysis of comments on social

media. Specifically, following exposure to rape related news, participants were more likely to

blame the victim of an unrelated case of sexual assault, and to endorse rape myths. The findings

of this research demonstrate public perception of rape victims, particularly victims of

acquaintance rape. In this study, I also demonstrated about the relation between rape culture and

cultural violence. I try to prove here existing rape culture contribute in cultural violence.

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Abbreviation

ASK- Ain O Salish Kendra

MDGs- Millennium Development Goals

RMA= Rape Myth Acceptance

DMP-Dhaka Metropolitan Police

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 List of Figures

List of Graphs Page number

Figure 1: The Elements of Rape Culture 16

Figure 2: Rape Blame Attribution Model 17

Figure 3: The factors of Rape Culture in Bangladesh 18

Figure 4: Discursive formation of rape 23

Figure 5: Category of Online Comments 28

Figure 6 : Analysis of the selected comments 30

List of Table

List of Maps Page number

Table 1: Categories of Online Comments 27

Table2: Analysis of selected negative comments 29

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Table of Contents

Lists of contents Page numbers

Title page ⅰ

Cover page ⅱ

Acknowledgement ⅲ

Executive summary ⅳ

Abbreviation ⅴ

List of Figures vi

List of Tables vi

Table of contents ⅶ

Chapter-1: Introduction of the research 01

1.1 Introduction 01

1.2 Background of the Research 02

1.3 Objective of the research 04

1.4 Rational for the study 04

1.5 Research Questions 05

1.6 Hypothesis of the research 06

1.7 Limitation of the research 06

Chapter-2: Review of Literature 09

Chapter-3: Conceptual Framework 10

3.1 Rape: Conceptual Clarifications 10

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3.2 Rape Culture 11

3.3 Types of Rape 11

3.3.1 Date rape 11

3.3.2 Drug facilitated date rape 12

3.3.3 Blitz rape 12

3.3.4 Spousal rape 12

3.3.5 College campus rape 12

3.3.6 Group rape 13

3.3.7 War rape 13

3.4 Punishment for rape under Bangladeshi laws 14

3.4.1 Punishment for rape under Women and Children Repression Prevention

(amendment) ordinance -2020 14

3.4.2 The Nari O Shishu Nirjatan Daman Bishesh Ain 2003 14

3.4.3 Punishment for rape under Penal Code 15

3.5 Elements of Rape culture 16

Chapter-4: Academic Framework 17

4.1 Rape blame Attribution Model 17

4.2 Rape Culture in Bangladesh 18

Chapter-5: Existing Rape Culture in Bangladesh 19

5.1 Rape myths 19

5.1.1 Crime of Passion 20

5.1.2 The Stranger in the Bushes 20

5.1.3 Victim 20

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5.1.4 Consent 20

5.1.5 Legal Process 20

5.2 Male Dominating Society 20

5.3 Commodification of women 21

5.4 Denial 22

5.5 Cinematic Rape 22

Chapter-6: Methodology 24

6.1 Research Type 24

6.2 Sources of Data 25

6.2.1 Sources of primary Data 25

6.2.2 Sources of secondary Data 25

6.3 Methodology 26

6.4 Ethical Considerations 27

6.5 Analysis of Online Comments 27

Chapter-7: Analysis of Online Comments 29

7.1 Anti Feminism 30

7.2 Blaming the Victim 30

7.3 Politicization of Crime 31

7.4 Denial of Gender Aspects of Violence 32

7.5 Rape Threats 33

Chapter-8: Rape Culture Promote Cultural Violence 34

8.1 Cultural violence 34

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8.2 Social and cultural effects of rape on victims: 34

8.3 Sexual Objectification of Women’s Bodies 35

8.4 Rape culture promote Rape offense 35

Chapter-9: Conclusion 37

References 38

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 Chapter: 1

Introduction

1.1 Introduction:

Rape is one of the silent brutal sexual offences. Despite strong laws against it, the evil of rape

continuous to rise. In Bangladesh Rape is one of the most brutal forms of violence against

women. Bangladesh is a patriarchal society. Oppression and subordination by males over

females is the common feature in this society. In a patriarchal society like Bangladesh, women’s

position, prestige, power etc., are generally determined and dominated by males. Accordingly,

male’s attitude towards females is important and it does not generally give equal and due

treatment to the female counterparts. Violence against women is largely embedded in gender

norms. Generally the low status of women – economically, socially, culturally and politically

tend to be responsible for the violation of basic rights of females by males in a society like

Bangladesh. There are many existing factors of rape culture in Bangladesh which create a

situation for victim blaming and increase rape and sexual assaults. Those rape cultures are badly

impact on society and create cultural violence.

Rape culture is also demonstrated in the norms that govern interactions and that are then the

foundation for disputes between women and men, and in the institutions such as courts and

police enforcement that reinforce these norms.

The term victim blaming refers to holding the victim of a crime to be responsible for that crime,

either in whole or in part. In the context of rape, it refers to the attitude that certain victim

behaviors may have encouraged the assault. This can cause the victim to believe the crime was

indeed their fault. Rapists are known to use victim blaming as their psychological disconnect
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from their crimes and in some cases it has led to their conviction. Sexual violence is the

foundation of rape culture and rape culture normalizes sexual violence.

1.2 Background studies:

Rape is a common theme in early mythologies and religious texts. As a result of religion having

such a large influence over culture and society, rape culture is prevalent throughout history.

Furthermore, women were not the only victims of rape; there were children and boys as well. A

total of 892 incidents of rape happened in Bangladesh in the last eight months since January

2020, a report has said. In Bangladesh women have historically been considered second-class

citizens who were not thought to deserve the same rights as their male counterparts. The term

"rape culture" was first coined in the 1970s in the United States by second-wave feminists, and

was applied to contemporary American culture as a whole. Sexual assault and rape are serious

problems in today’s society. Moreover, reporting rates to the police are exceptionally low and

few criminals are successfully prosecuted. Early feminist researchers suggested that rape is an

inevitable phenomenon in male-controlled societies where males are the leading figures and hold

authority over women. ‘Rape myths’, commonly held beliefs about what a typical rape situation

looks like which influence the decision-making process and guilt assessment of lay people as

well as judges have also been identified (Bohner et al., 2009; Temkin & Krahé, 2008; Ward,

1995). According to Janoff-Bulman (1979), blame can be twofold; in the form of character

logical blame, where blame is attributed to a stable factor such as personality, and behavioral

blame, where blame is attributed to a changeable factor such as the way the victim acts and

reacts (Davies, Rogers, & Whitelegg, 2009). Nevertheless, a point worth noting is that many

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studies find significant differences in victim blaming when manipulating various victim

characteristics; yet, generally victim blaming does not occur to an extreme extent. Typically low

levels of liability are assigned to victims compared to blame assigned to criminals; an annotation

that has to be considered when evaluating results.

In addition to the manipulation of victim characteristics, studies often investigate observer

characteristics. Influences of observer gender and professional status, as well as the constructs of

gender role attitudes and rape myth acceptance on rape victim blaming, are frequently assessed

(Davies & Hudson, 2011; Kelly, 2009). Currently, knowledge about the influence of observer

characteristics on rape victim blaming is fairly limited compared to knowledge about victim

characteristics, due to practical, ethical, and sampling issues. Often, only university or college

students are tested, which remains a restricted and unrepresentative observer group. Also, in the

majority of studies that investigate observer groups from specific professions or backgrounds, no

control groups from the general population are used, which sets limits to the generalize ability of

results.

Furthermore, studies often fail to clearly distinguish between victim and observer characteristics,

meaning that both are manipulated and investigated simultaneously, and the results are discussed

as a collective. This makes it somewhat difficult to clearly differentiate the independent impact

of observer or victim characteristics on rape blame attributions. The literature review will clarify

this issue, and discuss what is currently known about victim and observer characteristics, and

their separate effects on rape victim blaming. The two main sections of this paper contain

research findings from studies with a vignette methodology related to victim and observer

characteristics, respectively. Thereafter, the review seeks to outline and describe some of the

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more current and promising methodologies, along with identification of the contribution of such

experimental designs to the rape blame literature.

1.3 Objectives of the Research

The study has been conducted with a view to knowing the overall situation of sexual violence

against women in Bangladesh. The objectives of this research are as follows:

1. To find out existing rape culture in Bangladesh.

2. To know victim blaming process.

3. To demonstrate youth and societal attitudes and behavioral patterns to rape in

Bangladesh.

4. To identify the causes of rape and how to rape culture increase rape and sexual violence.

5. To determine the relationship between rape culture and cultural violence.

6. Make recommendation for addressing rape issued in Bangladesh.

1.4 Rational for the study:

Rape is one of the most widespread get comparatively less emphasized human rights problem in

world. Increasing rape arise alarming condition in Bangladesh. Over the last two decades rape

has become one of the most visible and social issues in Bangladesh. Even in the last 8 months

total 892 incidents of rape happened in Bangladesh since January 2020, a report has said. Today

all section of the society are concerned about the issues are concerned about the issue and

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movements; agitations and legal forms are being made against rape. Rape is the highest sexual

violence against women. Women might face it from her bedroom up to her work place, on bus,

everywhere in society. Age three to fifty every age women can be raped. The perpetrators may

be any male- from strangers to friends, colleagues, and even to family member. That is why now

this is lo tack into account the fact women are safe from rape. Like many women around the

world, women in Bangladesh also face several violence year after year, rape is most common of

them.

In Bangladesh there are several rape supportive norms and culture is existed such as rare myth,

male socialization, subjugation of women, commodification of women, immunity of rapist,

normalization of rape, pornography etc. Those culture and norms is impulse people to rape. It is

the high time to take proper initiative to stop all kind of discrimination, violence, sexual violence

as well as rape against women.

1.5 Research Questions:

The research has been conducted according to giving the answer of a selected question that is

research question. The main research question of this research is:

1. How rape cultures contribute in cultural violence through victim blaming?

The other research questions are:

a. Why do people blame victims of rape?

b. What are the major factors of rape cultures?

c. How does our society respond to rape?

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1.6 Hypothesis of the Research

The hypothesis of this research is following

 In Bangladesh have some existing rape cultures which contribute in cultural violence.

 Rape cultures promote rape offense by the promoting victim blaming.

1.7 Limitations of the research:

1. Secondary data are not so available.

2. Did not get much time. So it is very difficult for me to get findings from that time.

3. I am very new in this field. So there is every possibility to rest some lacking in this

research

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 Chapter: 2

A Review of the Literatures

I discuses some of those literatures that I have studied and reviewed about rape, rape culture,

cultural violence. . As my study is about understanding the cultural factors related with rape,

cultural violence, victim blaming etc. I have studied and reviewed literatures relevant to my

study. My study has been inspired, outlined and thus helped by a number of studies and

literatures who have written extensively on the culture, violence against women, victim blaming

phenomena, societal conditions of women in Bangladesh, rape and rape related matter.

According to Jewkes, Rape as a product of unequal gender relations finds support in feminist

jurisprudence. Jewkes (2002) suggests that rape in South Africa is caused by the gender power

inequalities in the society and is both an “expression of male dominance and an assertion of that

position”. In male-controlled societies, sex is considered to be a male entitlement, which is

reinforced by social institutions such as customary marriage and dating relationships (Ibid).

Cooper (2000) asserts that rape is most often motivated by extreme anger toward the victim or a

need to overpower the victim. The motive is rarely sexual and violence is always involved.

Forced sex is intended to abuse, humiliate, and dehumanize the victim. Liebling, Slegh, and

Ruratotoye (2012) observe that in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), women and girls

bearing children from rape is a poorly understood subject area as a majority of the people hardly

appreciates the underlying causes and consequences of sexual violence, and their impact on the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Rape is also seen as sexual intercourse with a woman

by a man without her consent and chiefly by force or deception (SmarterSex, 2010). The award-

winning documentary film, Rape Culture made by Margaret Lazarus in 1975 takes credit for first

defining the concept. The film's narration relies heavily on jargon such as 'rapism' and

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'phallocentric society' and is more illustrative than definitive in dealing with rape as depicted in

movies, music, and other forms of entertainment. Authors of the popular 'Transforming a Rape

Culture' define the phenomenon as a “complex of beliefs that encourages male sexual aggression

and supports violence against women… a society where violence is seen as sexy and sexuality as

violent” (Buchwald and Roth, 1993).

Thornhill and Palmer (2000) reveal the key flaws in the social science theory of rape, which

argues that rape is a learned behavior, the goal of which is collective political, social, and

economic domination of women by men. However, Cahill (2001) says that rape and sexual

violence are deeply rooted in specific political, economical and cultural environment. That rape

is motivated not by sexual motivation, but by the need for power and domination; and a failure to

account for the cross cultural and cross species occurrence of rape and male sexual coercion.

The perpetration of rape has also been linked to beliefs or myths that condone it (Burt, 1980).

Rape myths are attitudes and beliefs that are generally false but which are widely and

persistently held, serving to deny and justify male sexual aggression against women (Lonsway &

Fitzgerald, 1994:134). Traditional sex role stereotyping contributes to the acceptance of these

myths (Orcutt & Faison, 1988). Thus, people who believe in traditional sex role stereotypes are

less likely to label forced sex as rape (Burt & Albin 1981). Significant differences have been

found in attitudes of men and women to rape (Tieger, 1981; Szymanski et al., 1993). Men have

also been found to view rape as a less serious crime than women (Tieger, 1981; Szymanski et al.,

1993). They are also reported to be more likely to attribute more responsibility to the victim than

women will (Cowan & Campbell 1995; Grubb & Harrower 2008). Since rape is considered to be

a crime committed by strangers often resulting in physical injury, victims who do not conform to

this rape stereotype are less likely to have their cases prosecuted (Martin & Powell 1994).

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Poverty increases a woman’s vulnerability to rape (Armstrong 1994; Jewkes 2002). Poverty

creates a situation of dependency for women making them more susceptible to sexual violence

and exploitation.

Corruption has been found to be a major challenge to rape investigation and prosecution in some

parts of Africa (Jewkes, 2002).. Although not much attention seems to be devoted to the rape of

men, given the lower prevalence rate, the effect of rape of men has been found to be equally

traumatic (Smith et al., 1988). Women at risk of rape are usually young and unmarried.

Holly Kearl (2009) argues that, for women, the threat of rape is “part of the background” of their

lives. Therefore, many women live with this subconscious awareness and take hundreds of daily

precautions, such as not going out alone after dark, carrying mace, buying a dog for defense, not

wearing headphones in public (so as to better hear if anyone is approaching), parking only in

well-lit areas, and even having to guard their beverages to ensure they are not “spiked” (Dickson,

1996; Kearl, 2009; Starling, 2009).

According to Johan Galtung’s theory rape is a cultural violence which related with the societal

structure norms and values.

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 Chapter: 3

Conceptual Framework

3.1 Rape: Conceptual Clarifications

Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual

penetration carried out against a person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out

by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person who is incapable of giving

valid consent, such as one who is unconscious, incapacitated, has an intellectual disability or is

below the legal age of consent. The term rape is sometimes used interchangeably with the term

sexual assault. Rape is a form of social deviancy which varies from one country to another; it

changes overtime.

According to section 375 of Bangladesh Penal Code a man is said to commit ‘rape’ who except

in the case here in after excepted, has sexual intercourse with a woman under circumstances

falling under any of the five following descriptions - firstly, against her will, secondly, without

her consent, thirdly, with her consent, has been obtained by putting her in fear of death or of hurt,

fourthly, with her consent, when the man knows that he is not her husband, and that her consent

is given because she believes that he is another man to whom she is or believes herself to be

lawfully married, fifthly, with or without her consent, when she is under sixteen years of age.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (2013) defines rape as “forced sexual inter course including both

psychological coercion as well as physical force. Forced sexual intercourse means penetration by

the offender(s).”

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3.2 Rape Culture:

Buchwald and colleagues define rape culture as “a complex of beliefs that encourages male

sexual aggression and supports violence against women.” Within a rape culture, sexual violence

against women is both prevalent and considered to be legitimate.

According to Burt “Rape is the logical and psychological extension of a dominant-submissive,

competitive, sex role stereotyped culture.” Thus, rape culture is problematic because it provides a

framework that blames sexual assault on the actions of the victim rather than questioning the

behavior of the rapist, thereby increasing the likelihood of sexual violence against women. Many

feminist writers contend that Americans live in a “rape culture,” and this is evident in our

society’s widespread endorsement of rape myths and sexual objectification of women, which are

further, propagated and legitimized by mainstream media. Next, we describe these basic features

of rape culture and review literature documenting the extent to which they pervade our everyday

lives.

3.3 Types of Rape

3.3.1 Date rape:

The term 'acquaintance rape' or 'date rape' refers to rape or non-consensual sexual activity

between people who are already acquainted, friends, acquaintances, people on a date, or even

people in an existing romantic relationship where consent for sexual activity is not given, or is

given under duress. The vast majority of rapes are committed by people who already know the

victim.

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3.3.2 Drug facilitated date rape:

Various drugs are used by rapists to render their victims unconscious, some also cause memory

loss. This also means that the victim may be unable to resist, what some may consider as

consensual sex. Date rape drug refers to any drug that can be used to assist in the commission of

a sexual assault (date rape).

3.3.3 Blitz rape:

This is also known as stranger rape. It occurs when the rapist assaults the victim on the street

with no prior contact. Generally, the suspect “comes out of nowhere” (Mosadomi).

3.3.4 Spousal rape:

Also known as spouse rape, marital rape, wife rape, husband rape, partner rape or intimate

partner sexual assault (IPSA), is rape between a married couple. The African culture does not

regard a forceful sexual intercourse between a woman and her husband as an act of rape

(Kolawole, 1999). Sex is something a husband claims from his wife as his right any time” (Ata

Aidoo, 2000). Spousal rape is non-consensual sexual assault in which the perpetrator is the

victim's spouse. It is often assumed that spousal rape is less traumatic than that from a stranger.

Research reveals that victims of marital/partner rape suffer longer lasting trauma than victims of

stranger rape, possibly because of a lack of social validation that prevents a victim from getting

access to support.

3.3.5 College campus rape:

Campus sexual assault is the sexual assault, including rape, of a student while attending an

institution of higher learning, such as a college or university. The victims of such assaults are

12
more likely to be female, but any gender can be victimized. Estimates of sexual assault, which

vary based on definitions and methodology, generally find that somewhere between 19–27% of

college women and 6–8% of college men are sexually assaulted during their time in college.

Women aged 16-24 are at the highest risk of sexual assault. Alcohol and drugs are implicated as

playing a major role in rapes on college campuses. The subject, college rape attracts attention

because of the presence of many young men and women, often experiencing their first years

away from home together, in an environment where prior controls, supervision and discipline are

to a great extent removed. The removal of supervision and control often put these youths in a

position to engage in adult behavior, with some anticipating new activities and freedoms, whilst

others are left more vulnerable and less supervised.

3.3.6 Group rape:

Group rape (also known as 'gang,’ 'gang bang', 'run a train' or 'pack' rape) occurs when a group of

people participate in the rape of a single victim. Ten to twenty percent involve more than one

attacker. It is far more damaging to the victim, and in some jurisdictions, is punished more

severely than rape by a single person. Akinwole (2010) states that the term 'gang bang' was a

synonym for gang rape when public discussion of sexual activity in general was taboo; in the

advent of the pornography industry and relaxed sexual tensions, that term is now often used as a

slang term for consensual group sex.

3.3.7 War rape:

This type of rape is also known as 'rape as means of warfare'. During war, rape is often used as

means of psychological warfare in order to humiliate the enemy and undermine their morale.

Rapes in war are often systematic and thorough, and military leaders may actually encourage

13
their solders to the civilian. An example of rape as means warfare seen in the Bangladesh

liberation war when Pakistan military force rape Bangladeshi female in 1971.

3.4 Punishment for rape under Bangladeshi laws

3.4.1 Punishment for rape under Women and Children Repression Prevention

(amendment) ordinance -2020

In the wake of widespread protests against the growing incidents of rape in the country, the

President has promulgated an ordinance allowing death penalty as the highest punishment for

rape instead of life term imprisonment. The Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs

issued a gazette notification in this regard. The ordinance will be known as Women and Children

Repression Prevention (amendment) ordinance -2020. The Cabinet approved the draft of the

Women and Children Repression Prevention (Amendment) Bill, 2020 with a provision of death

penalty as the highest punishment for rape

3.4.2 Punishment for rape under The Nari O Shishu Nirjatan Daman Bishesh Ain 2003):

According to section 9 of this Act -

i. Whoever commits rape with a woman or a child shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment

for life and with fine.

Explanation: Whoever has sexual intercourse without lawful marriage with a woman not being

under fourteen years of age, against her will or with her consent obtained, by putting her in fear

or by fraud, or with a woman not being above fourteen years of age with or without her consent,

he shall be said to commit rape.

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ii. If in consequence of rape or any act by him after rape, the woman or the child so raped, died

later, the man shall be punished with death or with transportation for life and also with fine not

exceeding one lac taka.

iii. If more than one man rape a woman or a child and that woman or child dies or is injured in

consequences of that rape, each of the gang shall be punished with death or rigorous

imprisonment for life and also with fine not exceeding one lac taka.

iv. Whoever attempts on a woman or a child to cause death or hurt after rape, he shall be

punished with rigorous imprisonment for life and also with fine.

b) To commit rape, he shall be punished with imprisonment for either description, which may

extend to ten years but not less than five years rigorous imprisonment and also with fine.

v. If a woman is raped in the police custody, each and every person, under whose custody the

rape was committed and they all were directly responsible for safety of that woman, shall be

punished for failure to provide safety, unless otherwise proved, with imprisonment for either

description which may extend to ten years but not less than five years of rigorous imprisonment

and also with fine.

3.4.3 Punishment for rape under Penal Code:

According to section 376 of this Code -

Whoever commits rape shall be punished with imprisonment for life or with imprisonment of

either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine,

unless the woman raped is his own wife and is not under twelve years of age, in which case he

shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two

years, or with fine, or with both.

15
 3.5 Elements of Rape culture

The rape culture has some elements which are following by figure.

Rape Myths & Media

Victim Blaming

Rape

Culture

Gender & Sexuality Peer Influence

Beliefs

Figure 1: The Elements of Rape Culture

In Bangladeshi societal perspective there are four major elements of rape culture which

contribute to make a rape culture. Those elements are - Rape Myths & Victim Blaming, Media,

Gender & security Beliefs and Peer influence.

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 Chapter 4

Academic Framework

4.1 Rape blame Attribution Model

This model is an exploratory analysis of the relationship between women's rape fantasies, rape

myth acceptance, rape victim empathy and blaming rape victims. This model is provided by the

Amy Grubb and Terri-Anne Tarn. There will be a relationship between rape fantasies and the

way participants form attitudes about rape victims generally. The relationship between women’s

rape fantasies and the way they form attributions about general and specific victims of rape is a

complex one. Whilst it is clear that rape fantasies play some role in the way we make judgments

about rape victims, the direction of influence is diverse and dependent on the type of attribution

being formed.

Attributes Towards
rape victim
Aversive rape
Fantasy

Rape Blame
Rape victim Attribution
empathy

Erotic Rape
Fantasy
Rape Myth
Acceptance

Figure 2: Rape Blame Attribution Model Depicting Relationship between Variables.

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 4.2 Rape Culture in Bangladesh

The major rape cultures in Bangladesh are rape myths, male dominating society,

commodification of women, denial, and cinematic rape. Those rape cultures are discuses in the

next chapter.

Rape Myths

R
a Blaming
Male Dominating
p Cultural Violence
Society Rape
e
Victim
C
Commodification
u
of Women
l
t
u
r Denial
e

cinematic rape

Figure 3: The factors of Rape Culture in Bangladesh

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 Chapter: 5

Existing Rape Culture in Bangladesh

In this chapter I discuss about the existing rape culture in Bangladesh which increase the

dimension of victim blaming.

5.1 Rape myths

A myth is a false idea that many people believe to be true. Rape myths are assumptions about the

act of rape and the victims of rape that frequently reduce empathy for and even shift blame to the

victim. Often unproven or wrong, rape myths are widely accepted.

Rape myths survive in our culture because they allow people to feel safe by believing that rape

rarely happens. They allow us to believe people can prevent future rapes through their behavior

and dress. They place blame on the victim and take the focus off the offender’s behavior.

Because we live in a rape culture, defense attorneys, the media, and society in general often

promote these myths as truths.

Prevailing myths affect the way in which a society responds to rape and rape victims. Our

personal beliefs and attitudes toward rape need to be examined and challenged, so that we can

provide support in a non-judgmental and non-blaming way. If a victim believes in these myths,

gentle education is needed during crisis counseling. Friends or family members may also believe

in certain rape myths, and they need to know the facts in order to best support the victim and

hold offenders accountable. In Bangladesh there exist several rape myths which contribute in

increasing number of rape offence. Some of those rape myths are given below

19
5.1.1 Crime of Passion

5.1.2 The Stranger in the Bushes

5.1.3 Victim

5.1.4 Consent

5.1.5 Legal Process

5.2 Male Dominating Society

Bangladesh is a highly male-controlled Muslim dominated society where men make household

decisions and have property rights. Women are stereotyped as passive, docile, silent, illiterate,

unclean, fertile and smelling of curry. Therefore rural women are imaged negatively, becoming

the invisible and faceless in the society. This gender-based discrimination in Bangladesh has

eroded women’s fundamental rights to life, health, education, security, bodily integrity, food,

work, and shelter. Though half of the population is female there for this society doesn’t believe

equal rights of men and women. This society is not built on mutual respect between men and

women. So that circumstances are leading us to a male dominated society. Here woman don’t get

the same opportunities comparing to a men get. Here women couldn’t do and wear certain things

because this male dominated society doesn’t support it. In everywhere in Bangladesh women are

dominated by the man. In political sector, social sector, economic sector are dominated by the

man. Women are neglected by the man. If any women raise her voice against immoral behavior;

this society calls her bad women. Even Bangladeshi citizens are always having a wrong view on

feminism. This society think women should be quite and modest and they think modesty is all

about how much skin a women cover up.

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Yes, all man doesn’t think like that; want to changes society and believe on equality for both

man and women. But majority of the people is not believed in equal rights of men and women. In

Bangladeshi society gender is constructed by the form of male dominating. In here women grow

up with a concept that they are depressed than man. Male dominating is a major factor of rape

culture in Bangladesh which creates a rape supportive situation in the society.

5.3 Commodification of women

The women body and its parts has long been a target for commodification. Commodification of

women in a society can be reflected in its language and its conceptual metaphors. In our society

women are use as a commodity. Bangladesh patriarchally repressive and sexually exploitive

society itself may be presented in a cute, aesthetic, clean and moralistic way, making it harder for

women to think critically and search for the rhetorical meanings and power of their masquerades.

Technology, media, newspaper, the patriarchal capitalist system, the material culture and even

culture itself are all interconnected in the commodification of Bangladeshi women. Women in

Bangladesh use as object than subject.

The people in the media portray women as sex objects giving society the false impression that

women are inferior to men. In advertisements, women are commonly seen half-naked, their

stomachs and their cleavage bare. Sex is a part of life, but it is not necessary to have the act of

sex visualized in the media. Women should not be portrayed as mere sex objects since such

portrayal suggests they are inferior to men and consumable objects. Advertisements often show

men controlling and being overbearing towards women. Perfume and cologne ads are constantly

using female and male models to sell products. Advertisers use this type of sensuous ad to send

the message that if a male uses this cologne the woman will not be able to stay away from him

21
and vice versa. Such ads convert women into sex objects. They imply that all women want is sex

although we all know that this is not the case. These types of ads portray women more or less in

the same way— tall, thin, large breasted, incredibly beautiful, usually naked, sexual, submissive,

and innocent.

5.4 Denial

Denial is another rape culture in Bangladesh. It is obvious that perpetrators have a motive for

denying rape, but victims and third parties also tend to deny rape. Victims of intimate partner

rape tend to deny the severity of the incident because recognizing it as rape will cause dramatic

change in their social lives and relationships. Denial of rape allows all parties to maintain life as

it was prior to the incident. However, this strategy tends to fail for victims, who eventually

succumb to the psychological effects of rape .Victims tend to deny the incident and blame

themselves for the same reason. Rape causes victims to feel a significant—if not total—loss of

control over their lives. Many victims try to understand what they did wrong to believe that they

can prevent such incidents from happening again.

5.5 Cinematic Rape

Rape, whether as main theme or sub-theme, generally tends to be employed in popular films of

the Indian sub-continent for revenge-motive, where characters other than the victims take

revenge, with the exception of a few. Cinema is important factor of socialization. Cinema tends

to explore the treatment of rape in myriad ways, some focusing on the psychological aftermath of

the victims of this heinous act while others on the physical violence and sadistic eroticism during

the act itself, and a few on all such elements. In cinema uses rape as revenge. The legitimization

22
of cinematic rape-discourse in Bangladeshi popular cinema occurs through the realization of

discursive formation of rape in Bangladeshi popular cinema.

Image

Sing of
rape

Sound language

Figure 4: Discursive formation of rape in Bangladeshi popular cinema.

A cinematic discourse of rape operates in Bangladeshi popular cinema within the cultural and

censor-regulatory norms of our society, which has a deeper connotative representation. It is the

discursive formation, which operates through the signs of rape in the forms of image, sound and

language that legitimizes this heinous and tabooed act on the silver screen in Bangladesh. The

scenario of rape of Bangladeshi films impulse people to rape.

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 Chapter 6

Methodology

This chapter deals with the methods I have followed during the time of conducting this study.

What types of study it is, how I have collected data and from which sources, what method I have

selected for my study etc are discussed in this chapter.

6.1 Research Type

Every study has a distinct methodology, which is determined by the principles of the research.

Method is any technique that refers to the tools of instruments employed by researchers to gather

empirical evidence or to analyze data and a methodology is a group of techniques, is a model,

which entails theoretical principles or framework that provides guidelines about how research is

done. It varies by study, or project to study, or project.

Research is categorized on different basis, like; objective, types of data, and number of contact

with respondents. So, it is necessary to identify the type of my research on these bases.

 The objective of my study is to explore the various aspect of rape cultures and cultural

violence so I must identify this work as exploratory

 In this research, I collected both primary and secondary data for answering my research

questions and I wouldn’t use any statistical or mathematical data. So, my work is identify

as qualitative research. . It is also descriptive study.

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6.2 Sources of Data

Data that are used in any research or study are categorized into two types: primary data and

secondary data. In my study, primary and secondary data are collected from various sources I

have discussed below.

6.2.1 Sources of Primary Data

In my study, I have collected the primary from online comments. I took popular social media

‘Facebook’ to collect comments. Facebook is a famous social communication media; almost

every class of people uses facebook to maintain the communication with each other’s. In

Facebook also have news page, which express news on several issues. In this study I select five

online news portals on base of popularity, those are....

 প্রথম আল ো

 BBC BANGLA

 Independent24.tv

 Ntv

 সমলের কণ্ঠস্বর

6.2.2 Sources of secondary Data

The secondary data for my qualitative research are collected from various sources such as

 Books.

 Journals articles.

25
  Online articles.

 Reports of various newspapers.

 Magazines.

 Reports of various national and international human rights and related organizations

etc.

As my study is about a prominent issue of Bangladesh and I have lack of access to the various

books and journals sites I face a challenge to collect recent data on relevant with the topics. For

the secondary data I was really dependent mainly on the reports of various reports of the daily

newspapers.

6.3 Methods

In this study I chose to analyze online comments in order to identify particular areas of concern

and themes in misconceptions regarding rape, victims and rape culture. The online comments are

chosen from five facebook news page. I choose five news page randomly and tack five news

from those page. I select the news by randomly. I took first 20 comments from each news article.

So I took 5*20=100 comments from each news page. Therefore the total number of comments is

5*100=500.The average online commenter would not only feel similarly comfortable discussing

the subject, but comfortable also offering views regarding rape that are entirely in line with the

norms of a culture that excuses and normalizes the act. These are also, therefore, more reflective

of the commenter’s core beliefs.

26
6.4 Ethical Considerations

As my study is about a sensitive issue, I tried my best to remain myself neutral while analyzing

data. I have also tried to comments from politically unbiased report. I have also tried to select

about the victims who were not politically biased.

6.5 Analysis of Online Comments

To find out answer of my research question I collect 500 comments than I divided the whole

comments into three categories, which are given in the table with the number and percent of the

comments.

Category Number of Comments Percent (%)

Positive Comments 125 25%

Negative Comments 280 56%

Unclear and Irrelevant 95 19%

Comments

Total 500 100%

Table 1: Categories of Online Comments.

In here the positive comments means the comments which is against the rape, rapist and rape

culture. Positive comments are not blame the victim or anti- feminism. The theme of the positive

comments is to claim of punishment of rapist, to ensure a societal situation that safe for women,

to make proper law and implementation of the law.

27
The Negative comments is the mainly area of discussion. The highest number of comments is

counted as negative comments. In the next chapter I’ll discuss broadly about the negative

comments.

In the comments section there have also some comments which is unclear or seemingly

irrelevant perspective. I skip those comments regarding as not of my discussion area. The

number of comments are indicating by pie chart is given bellow.

Comments
Positive
comments

Negative
comments

Unclear &
irrelevant
comments

Figure 5: Category of Online Comments

In pie chart indicate the overall perception of the comments. The negative comments are more

than positive and unclear or irrelevant comments.

28
 Chapter 7

Analysis of Online Comments

In this chapter, I analyze the 280 negative comments of 500 total selected online comments to

find out answer of my research question. I categories the negative comments into five type which

is Anti Feminism, Blaming the victims, Politicization of Crime, Denial of Gender aspect of

violent, and Rape threats. The analyses of negative comments by the basis of five themes with

the number and percent are given below.

Number of comments Percent of Negative

Theme comments (%)

Anti- Feminism 65 23.2%

Blaming the victims 110 39.2%

Politicization of Crime 50 17.8

Denial of Gender aspect of violence 30 10.9%

Rape threats 25 8.9%

Total 280 100%

Table2: Analysis of selected negative comments.

All, commentator’s pick highest comment on the blaming rape victims. The number of negative

comments is indicating by column chart is given bellow.

29
 120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Anti Blaming the Politicization Denial of Rape threats
Feminism victims of Crime Gender
aspect of
Violence

Figure 6: Analysis of the selected comments

In below I discuss about all negative comments:

7.1 Anti Feminism

The first category of negative comments is general anti-feminist comments, such as claims that

feminism is a misandric hate group. The total comments are 65 of 280 comments which are

23.2% of negative comments. The anti- feminism concept set up in root of people’s mind. Some

people think feminism is against of the religion and values of the society. The anti-feminism

comments is the second highest number of negative comments. Feminism is a movement that

demands the right of women to have political, social, and economic equality with men.

7.2 Blaming the Victim

Blaming the victim is the second theme of negative comments. The total victim blaming

comments is 110 of 280 negative comments which are 39.2% of negative comments. Blaming

30
the victim comments is the highest number of comments. Victim-blaming can be defined as

holding the belief or expressing one’s opinion that the person who is claiming they were sexually

harassed, sexually assaulted, or victimized in an intimate relationship, was in some way

responsible for what happened.. Examples of obvious victim-blaming are expressing one’s

opinion that a woman would not have been sexually harassed or assaulted had she not been

wearing the clothes she was wearing. Some victim blaming comments are given below:

“The women was raped because of she did not wear hijab”

“She deserve it”

In our country when any women were raped, than people first try to perceive that, Is there any

fault of women to being raped? People justify women’s dress-code, flirting and others behavior

etc. The victim can be blamed by friends, family, police, society etc. Those blaming encourage

the rapist to rape. Rapists are known to use victim blaming as their conviction. Victim blaming

create cultural violence against women.

7.3 Politicization of Crime

Politicization of crime is another important theme of the comments Politics deals with the

acquisition of State power and Crime deals with the acts or omission those are prohibited by the

law of a State with some sorts of punishment. But in some time people overlap crime with the

politics, political party and political ideology. In generally the term ‘Politicization of the crime’

refers to evaluate offensive act in the light of politics. Most of the people are critics the rapist

basis of his political ideology. The total comments about the politicization of rape crime are 50

which are 17.8% of the negative comment. When a rape is occurred people do not blame the

31
rapist directly, they try to find out the rapist’s political party or political ideology he belongs.

Some comments about the politicization of rape crime like that

“Carry on the Golden boys of the AL”

“It’ not possible another people non but BNP”

This type of people’s perception contributes to increase rape offence. Often rapists get support

from his political party. In rural area of Bangladesh if rapist are a politically powerful the victim

don’t get justice maximum time.

7.4 Denial of Gender Aspects of Violence

The forth theme is that of a tendency to deny the gendered nature of violence in general and rape

in particular. The number of comments about the denial of gender aspect of violence is 30 which

are 10.9% of negative comments. In our societal context people do not want to recognize

violence on basis of gender. One commenter states, “Violence is violence, whether it is

perpetrated by a man, a woman or the government. A commenter comments on a news of

‘Prothom Alo’ about the percentage of case violence against women and rape that “The 98% of

case about violence against women is wrong, rather women should be punished for cheating with

the man”. Another commenter mention “Not only women were inflicted but also men have to

face torture from women; there should be make men torture law also”. These comments confirm

the existence of a widely-accepted myth that women are just as violent as men, but men are

simply less likely to report it.

32
7.6 Rape Threats

In the comments section, there are blatant rape threats. I found 25 comments about rape threat of

280 negative comments. Many women have often taken to social media in the past to narrate

their disturbing experiences with criminals who make them feel unsafe. Threat is a form of

domination. Rape threat to a woman is a violent one. Online abusers who humiliate women with

rape threat do it because it gives them a high, it makes them feel powerful. The play of power is

addictive. If someone believes that his existence or power is in reference to someone else’s

weakness, he will want to dominate the other with some form of threat when he feels violated. In

a society where we are still fighting to overcome dominance over women in many ways, the

freedom social media allows us, doesn’t go down too well with a bunch of hypocrites. All kind

of rape threats effect on women’s mind as they are less powerful than men; it affect

psychologically. Rape threats promote the rape offense.

33
 Chapter 8

Rape Culture Promote Cultural Violence

In this chapter I try to correlate between rape culture and cultural violence on the basis of

findings.

8.1 Cultural violence

Cultural violence refers to aspects of a culture that can be used to justify or legitimize direct or

structural violence, and may be exemplified by religion and ideology, language and art, empirical

science and formal science. The study of cultural violence highlights the ways the act of direct

violence and the fact of structural violence are legitimized and thus made acceptable in society. It

even offers justifications for humans, unlike other species, to destroy each other and to be

rewarded for doing so: it is not strange to accept violence in the name of country or religion.

Direct violence does not affect many people as cultural and structural violence, which are the

hidden part of the iceberg. Physical violence is displayed when, as a result of social stratification

processes, there is a damage in the satisfaction of basic human needs: survival, welfare, identity,

freedom, etc. It is caused by a set of structures, both physical and organizational, which do not

allow the satisfaction of those needs and is the worst of the three violence because it is the origin

of all and kills and affects more people.

8.2 Social and cultural effects of rape on victims

Rape as a concept has a cultural connotation that gives impetus to the way it is socially

perceived. In most Bangladeshi traditional cultures, sexual infidelity is viewed as a serious

infraction against the established community norm of morality. More often than not, the female

34
victim is stigmatized forever with the possible consequences of being socially branded, divorced

or neglected by the husband, where she is already married, sentenced to social rejection that may

deny her the opportunity of getting a suitor to marry where she is yet unmarried. The woman at

times can be sentenced to death where the community is yet fastened to the hard core traditional

ways of doing things.

Consequently, many cases are never reported because parents want to save the honor of their

daughters and protect their family from embarrassment.

8.3 Sexual Objectification of Women’s Bodies

Our society’s obsession with the appearance of women’s bodies sustains rape culture. Girls learn

from a young age that what matters most about them is the way they look, and boys are taught to

value this in girls above all else. Because of our culture’s relentless focus on appearance, women

are constantly turned into objects. Women literally are hamburgers in some advertisements, or

are cut into sexualized pieces in others.

This obsession with women’s appearance causes women to look at their own bodies as sexual

objects, a phenomenon known in psychology as self-objectification. Research shows that self-

objectification is linked to body shame, disordered eating, depression, substance abuse, and

sexual dysfunction.

Once a woman is seen as an object, it is much easier to commit violence against her.

8.4 Rape culture promote Rape offence

In Bangladesh rape culture promote the rape offense. According to (ASK) Ain o Salish Kendra,

a Bangladeshi human rights organization, 907 women or girls were raped in just the first nine

35
months of 2020. Moreover, there have been 142 incidents of attempted rape during the same time

frame. At least 29 people died and five committed suicide after being raped. According to Dhaka

Metropolitan Police (DMP), 184 rape cases have been recorded in the last five months in the

Dhaka Metropolitan area. Of them, 12 rape cases were filed in April, 15 in May, 46 in June, 53

July, and 58 in August. The surge in rape cases in every month is evident. A 2013 UN multi-

country survey found that among men in Bangladesh who admitted to committing rape, 88

percent of rural respondents and 95 percent of urban respondents said that they had faced no

legal consequences.. In rural Bangladesh 47.4% of rapists perpetrated more than once, 3.7% had

four or more victims, and 40% first raped as a teenager. 82% of rural Bangladeshi and 79% of

urban Bangladeshi men cited entitlement as their reason for rape. 61.2% of urban Bangladeshi

men who had raped did not feel guilty or worried afterwards, and 95.1% experienced no legal

consequences. 3.7% of men in rural Bangladesh had raped another man. 89.2% of urban

Bangladeshi men answered 'agree' or 'strongly agree' to the statement 'if a woman doesn't

physically fight back, it's not rape.'

Culture in Bangladesh indirectly promotes rape, because society degrades the victims more than

the perpetrators. There is no effective law in place to safeguard the safety, dignity and ensure

proper justice for the victims. For instance, the "two finger test" in rape investigations not only

demeans the victims, but also runs the risk of concluding the incidents based on the victims'

background. Domestic rape involving husbands is also an issue that existing law fails to address.

36
 Chapter 9

Conclusion

Victim-blaming is a serious social problem of Bangladesh. It not only causes significant harm to

victims of rape and sexual assault, it also creates a culture where rape can be committed without

consequences for the perpetrator. Bangladeshi society should be educated about the reality of

rape to reduce the acceptance of rape culture and thus reduce victim-blaming. Special efforts

should be made to educate men about what constitutes rape. Perhaps most importantly, the media

and police must stop focusing on stranger-rapes and be more realistic in their interpretations of

rape. If such efforts are made, change will still be slow and hard-won. As long as the majority of

society is unaware of the reality of rape, no change can occur.

The Social position of women in Bangladesh do not let them to be outspoken, rather remain them

in a fearful environment, therefore even after being raped, they prefer not to complain against the

ruthless culprit, fearing possible defamation and threats posed by the perpetrators and other

groups. In this respect, the government and law enforcement agencies need to play a crucial role

from capturing the criminals to punish them under perfect laws. Rape culture creates cultural

violence through victim blaming. The root of the victim blaming disperses with the societal

structure.

37
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39