By Rakhi Kundra ’17, News Editor

Over the past month, a documentary titled India’s Daughter has gone viral all over the Internet and social media. This documentary, directed by Leslee Udwin as part of the BBC’s ongoing Storyville series, is based on the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman that took place in India’s capital, New Delhi, in 2012. The film was scheduled to be aired on TV channels around the world on March 8 in order to coincide with International Women’s Day.

The film contains the stories of the victim, the assault, and the protests that followed after the rape. A portion of the documentary contains an interview of one of the convicted rapists and murderers, Mukesh Singh. In the film, Singh blames the victim for the horrors that occurred the night of the rape, making derogatory comments about women and their place in Indian society. He said, “A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy. A decent girl won’t roam around at nine o’clock at night. Housework and housekeeping is for girls, not roaming in discos and bars at night doing wrong things, wearing wrong clothes”. When these portions of the film were released, the documentary was banned throughout India because it “appeared to encourage and incite violence against women”. Meanwhile, this documentary has created intense discussion worldwide.

Aside from the gruesome and terrible details from the incident, the film looks at the bigger picture: the rape culture and societal norms that led to this terrible event. Singh was not the only person who held perceptions that the role of women should be in the household. In scenes throughout the documentary, a defense lawyer described women as flowers who must be protected by men, and another said that he would burn his own daughter alive if she behaved “dishonorably”. The common perception of women in India is that they are weak, insignificant, and cannot be bold or independent. These perceptions lead to the continuous sexual, physical, and emotional assaults on women throughout India and the rest of the world.

This documentary highlights the continuous and persistent issue of sexual violence expressed against women and men. In India, 2 out of every 100,000 people are raped. In the United States, 24 out of every 100,000 people are raped. Morgin Goldberg ’15, club leader of People on Women’s Equality and Rights (POWER), said, “A patriarchal society that reduces women to objects of course normalizes their brutalization. We spoke in a recent POWER discussion about how the very act of non-consent in sexualized: it is “sexy” when a woman doesn’t want sex but can be persuaded.” In a society where perceptions of women are so rigid, things like sexual violence and abuse are not considered to be that problematic. However, we hear a lot about stories of rape and sexual violence when they occur in other countries, but a lot of what occurs around the world also happens right in front of us. POWER has recently raised awareness on sexual violence and perceptions of women in our own community. Goldberg said, “It’s easy to dismiss the messages the documentary presents as an “over-there” problem, haughtily connoting a supposedly inferior and less civilized culture; whereas, in reality, it’s really the exact same as what goes on over here.”

It is important to be aware of these injustices, yet it is also important to realize that our world has taken steps forward in recognizing the occurrence of these issues. Anu Sharma’15, leader of Think Tank, said, “ I believe that the world has come a long way in terms of how we perceive women. The fact that rape stories are finally being addressed and the term “rape culture” is widely used shows how people are finally outraged by the role of women in society.” While the documentary India’s Daughter exposes the harsh misconceptions regarding the role of women and the social barriers that they have to face every day, it does so in a way that raises awareness and directs attention to the root problem.