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And each time I felt mixed emotions.

SlutWalks are taking place all over the world as a way to protest the “she was asking for it” mentality used to justify rape by various people, from rapists to officials to politicians. It’s a well-articulated fact that rape has nothing to do with lust, love or attraction. In fact, a number of feminists – one prominent one being Susan Brownmiller – have argued that rape is actually about power and control. Brownmiller says that men use the threat of rape to control women, and that rape is an act of aggression and brute force, not lust or sexuality. This explains why rates of rape soar when male aggression is high, such as during civil wars and riots. So, while an easily overpowered victim is attractive to rapists, whether that person is dressed “appropriately” or “inappropriately” is of little concern.

The sexual nature of rape implies that the victim is sexually inferior or vulnerable to the attacker, since this is what is hurt. For a long time, it was believed that only women could be raped, thereby relegating them as passive and inferior in sexuality to the aggressive criminal, who’s using “his” sexuality as a tool to hurt another. This logic reinforced the sexual stereotype that women’s sexuality needed to be guarded, while men’s sexuality was dominating and a powerful tool to exert control over women.  It also turned women into sexual objects, defining them by their sexuality and positioning them as inferior to men. Threat of rape forces women to pay unusual attention to their sexuality and to guarding it, and that, coupled with the dominant perception that “women can be raped”, is lethal for women’s personhood.

I live in a city gripped with a fear of unknown men and the threat they pose to women. The chief minister of the city (the head of the governing council of the city) makes no qualms about suggesting that women should “play it safe”. We – myself, my sister, my female friends – have learned to do just that. The threat of rape and the question, “Is it safe?” encircle our mobility, life choices, life styles, everything. We dress modestly, travel in segregated compartments reserved for women passengers, keep company in a herd of women, huddle in “safe spaces”, keep our activities strictly within the limits set by daylight, never talk to strangers or even think of helping them – all in the name of playing it safe.

Amidst all this, I often stop and ask myself, “Is this a healthy life?” I can’t help but draw a creative representation of women as cattle – tied, controlled, huddled in a herd and definitely in the shed before dusk. What’s the point? Women in my city live only half the life men do, sometimes even less, all because we could get raped. In other words, the threat of rape is a threat to my personhood, to my right to actualize my potential as a human being.

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