Myths About Rape Victims in India: Understanding the Stigma and Misconceptions
摘要
Rape myths have been present in India throughout history and have been used to justify the violence and atrocities against women. The authors of this study worked with rape victims as part of a law enforcement project and witnessed rape myths during the trial and sentencing of the victims. The paper describes the different rape myths and their origin from a feminist theological perspective. The rape myths were gathered from listening to family members, judges, police officers, attorneys, medical practitioners, neighbours, media representatives, and rape survivors. The study employed a three-phase methodology starting with a literature review of rape myths, followed by a survey with a purposive sample of 221 stakeholders comprising 91 females (41.18%) and 130 males (58.82%). The final phase consisted of an additional literature review aimed at validating the source of myths identified through the survey. The analysis revealed 10 major themes, and 43 sub-themes, categorizing them into various thematic areas. The myths were categorized according to different thematic areas like—marriage myths, victim blaming myths, dignity and honour myths, rape dynamics myth, socio-cultural myths, healing and recovery myths, dehumanization myth, evidentiary myths, geographical, spatial, and temporal myths, and religion-related myths. The findings extend to understanding the deep-rooted socio-cultural and religious origins of rape myths in India through the lens of feminist theology. The study concludes with suggestions for further research and how the understanding of these rape myths can be used for their eradication at social, cultural, legal, policy, educational, psychological, and religious levels.