Women Strip and Beat Indian Congressman Accused of Rape
“Congressman Bikram Singh Brahma was attacked by a mob of women in northeastern India before being taken into police custody after he allegedly raped a woman in her home.
Women in northeastern India took the law into their own hands Thursday, attacking a politician accused of raping a woman in her home. Congressman Bikram Singh Brahma allegedly assaulted a married woman while staying at her family’s home in Santipur, Assam. When villagers learned of the rape accusation, a mob of women surrounded the politician and attacked, stripping him of clothing and slapping him. A local television station captured footage of the assault.
The mob was in the process of lynching the congressman when police arrived on the scene and arrested him, according to the Indian Express.”
This story is directly from buzzfeed. More information regarding it can be found by clicking “Indian Express” above.
Speak.
Reading Rick Ross’s lyrics to U.O.E.N.O made me think about one of the few dark moments that occurred in my life . Now, it wasn’t just the lyrics, it was the responses that had me in deep thought…
These were comments that I’ve read from Necole Bitchie’s and Philly’s Power 99 FM’s articles:
“It’s not even that serious”
“People are so sensitive” &
“Idk why people are getting worked up about this, in the end he’s still getting paid” .
You’d be very surprised how people think. I guess it’s not a big deal unless they’re a victim. It’s not a big deal unless Rick Ross actually raped someone . That’s how people think.
It had me deep in thought because I was once a victim. Reading those comments made me feel nothing else but anger because that was the reaction I received 3 years ago:
“Well at least it wasn’t rape.” “People go through a lot worse” “Your situation isn’t that deep.” , they said. I was even told that maybe it was my fault for being in his bed in the first place.
The only person who understood me, and told me to report it then was his girlfriend. Because I wasn’t raped, it wasn’t that deep. Because I was only molested or violated its not as bad as rape. No one encouraged me to call 911 because they told me there wouldn’t be a case. I told myself not to report it, 3 years later I now regret and wish that asshole was in jail or dead. No, I wasn’t hospitalized. No, I’m obviously not dead. Yes, I’m paranoid and it took me a long time to trust people. I still jump from time to time. That’s a big enough deal to me.
Why does rape or any form of assault that results in death or injury, only have to be a big deal? I was even told because I was 19 at the time, molestation , or being violated only counts if you’re a minor . I should just get over it because my experience happened when I was a young adult & not a child, right?
If you feel uncomfortable by the way someone is touching you, at home or even at work . Please call 911 . Or a hotline , a friend, tell someone! And if a friend responds like my so called friends did , report it anyway. It may happen again , but this time you may not be so lucky .
And as for Rick Ross saying that was a misinterpretation, that’s like a man raping someone and he says “she & I clearly had a misunderstanding.” It doesn’t make sense right?
Please let my situation motivate you to tell someone and not be afraid of what people think.
(tw rape)
As if I’m surprised that these bros are disregarding every history of the “movement” they have deigned to lead, as if I am surprised they choose to so consistently deliberately push out the voices and wishes and bodies and concerns and histories and works of every survivor.
How can you miss all the criticisms of the “‘yes means yes’” epidemic? What kind of grasp can you have on consent if you don’t understand that sometimes yes doesn’t mean yes? What does it say about you that you can’t fathom a “yes” that is anything but enthusiastic? It says that you’ve never considered, you know, power relationships, it says that you have never listened to survivors, especially survivors of prolonged domestic abuse, it says you have not read literally any literature about the dynamics of rape, like, ever. (It also says you might be a rapist, let’s be honest.) Most importantly, a men’s group fighting to preserve the “‘yes means yes’” slogan which is already controversial among survivor advocacy groups just highlights how important it is for would-be rapists to have this tool in their belt. Men and/or rapists need us to keep saying “yes means yes” because that means that all they need to do to attain total amnesty is get you to say “yes” at any cost.
I just—naively—never thought I would see a semi-institutionalized anti-rape group telling me that “no means no” doesn’t apply anymore. “Enthusiastic consent” means “you no longer can use ‘no’ as a potential response.” What are we supposed to say? Does enthusiastic consent mean we have to be enthusiastic in nonconsent? That we have to say “I am not gonna have sex with you and I swear I have a good reason”? What about silence? If “no” isn’t enough, what good is silence?
It makes me think about how, to these people, the tools of consent, the tools of “stopping rape,” are really really really really not supposed to be accessed by people who have already experienced rape. Because when they read the slogan “no means no” they read it as “when someone says no I am supposed to listen to them,” they are reading it from the perspective of the potential rapist, or the already-rapist. The potential violator of consent, the person who needs to learn how not to rape. And certainly there is a strong history, and an urgent need for that reading of “no means no.” But “no means no” is mostly an old tool for survivors, to assert “rights,” coming (first) out of contexts where some people aren’t allowed to say no. It was, in one permutation, a liberal rights affirmation addressing marital exemption laws (especially in affirming their repeal over the past thirty years or so). In other cases it has been used to resist situations where people aren’t given the “right” to say “no”—a resistance to political structures that invalidate the “no.”
So often, though, “no means no” is like, one of the only things survivors-who-said-no-but-still-got-raped-and-still-got-no-justice have to cling to. “I said no,” while a really limited device that has often hurt the survivors who didn’t say no, is a classic part of the reparative process. “I said no” is a validation for survivors who blame themselves. It’s not necessarily even that useful, and it doesn’t change anything, but it has operated like this for a long time. It should be something survivors can use to heal, if nothing else. I just can’t even believe some dudes are like “nope, that doesn’t count anymore. you don’t get to use this.”
