A decade back, or even before that, rapes, molestation, sexual assault cases were relegated to 5 lines on page 2 or the crime page - as a one among the many reported pick-pocketing, robberies, cheating cases. I imagine the crime reporter coming to work only post lunch, calling few of his police buddies and noting down the FIR details. His interest getting piqued only with something sensational - like an acid attack, or double murder, or rape and murder, or some who-done-it; and then rallying with the Editor for some space on the front page.
With the mushrooming of electronic new channels, the pressures of running a 24x7 channel and the hunt for "breaking news", saw crime stories transitioning from relative obscurity to discussions in our living rooms. The Nirbhaya Delhi rape galvanised citizenry. Protests across the country. Demands for better laws, better implementation of those laws. NGOs got more active. Sensitizing the police force. Data got shared. More cases started getting reported. A lot of content is being generated - around self-defence, about asinine comments by those in power, on equality of the genders.
The discussion on sexual assault needs to happen - in our homes and schools - and not only in news studios. The reporting helps other victims come out, reducing the shame. The blame is slowly but surely shifting from the survivor to the perpetrator. And there is no doubt that the media, including digital guys have played a role in creating awareness.
What is disturbing me, is since winter 2012, almost every week there is a rape story in news. Complete with the gruesome details. Consistently, on a clockwork there is a rape story followed by another. Sometimes with dramatic re-creations. One more shocking than the other. Each unique and more disturbing and perverted.
Yes, those crimes are happening. And they need to be reported.
Me, personally - i am getting numbed by the hammering of stories and extensive coverage. To re-live the human suffering, week after week, to know the intimate details of the tragedy, case after case, is causing some sort of emotional bankruptcy in me. I feel that by watching / following the reporting of rape cases, will eventually lead to some kind of self-protective emotional shutdown.
I don't want to not care. But right now, at this moment, i feel sapped. I fear that future sexual assault cases will become a blind spot. The indirect pain as an audience, and the direct shame as an Indian male, are real. There is a feeling of helplessness as there are hundreds of cases been discussed, and new one still comes up. Catharsis works when there is an outflow. Right now, there is an overloaded of inflow and no outlet for expending of these emotions. There is only impotent rage.
I often wish the court verdict and actual carrying out of the punishment, should be discussed by the media as much as the case itself - so that there is some sort of mental closure for the audience.
All this is definitely affecting everyone at a subliminal level. They just don't know it yet.
With the mushrooming of electronic new channels, the pressures of running a 24x7 channel and the hunt for "breaking news", saw crime stories transitioning from relative obscurity to discussions in our living rooms. The Nirbhaya Delhi rape galvanised citizenry. Protests across the country. Demands for better laws, better implementation of those laws. NGOs got more active. Sensitizing the police force. Data got shared. More cases started getting reported. A lot of content is being generated - around self-defence, about asinine comments by those in power, on equality of the genders.
The discussion on sexual assault needs to happen - in our homes and schools - and not only in news studios. The reporting helps other victims come out, reducing the shame. The blame is slowly but surely shifting from the survivor to the perpetrator. And there is no doubt that the media, including digital guys have played a role in creating awareness.
What is disturbing me, is since winter 2012, almost every week there is a rape story in news. Complete with the gruesome details. Consistently, on a clockwork there is a rape story followed by another. Sometimes with dramatic re-creations. One more shocking than the other. Each unique and more disturbing and perverted.
Yes, those crimes are happening. And they need to be reported.
Me, personally - i am getting numbed by the hammering of stories and extensive coverage. To re-live the human suffering, week after week, to know the intimate details of the tragedy, case after case, is causing some sort of emotional bankruptcy in me. I feel that by watching / following the reporting of rape cases, will eventually lead to some kind of self-protective emotional shutdown.
I don't want to not care. But right now, at this moment, i feel sapped. I fear that future sexual assault cases will become a blind spot. The indirect pain as an audience, and the direct shame as an Indian male, are real. There is a feeling of helplessness as there are hundreds of cases been discussed, and new one still comes up. Catharsis works when there is an outflow. Right now, there is an overloaded of inflow and no outlet for expending of these emotions. There is only impotent rage.
I often wish the court verdict and actual carrying out of the punishment, should be discussed by the media as much as the case itself - so that there is some sort of mental closure for the audience.
All this is definitely affecting everyone at a subliminal level. They just don't know it yet.
