Image by adriannesquick from Pixabay 

"Rape is not just a women's issue. It's about men who stop behaving like human beings and start behaving like animals."

This statement is now proven to be false as nowadays animals have also become the victims while those inhuman men are next to demons, enough treacherous to give people nightmares. Recently, a minor girl from a village in West Bengal, India was raped by a minister's son followed by burning the victim's corpse in order to destroy any kind of proof. A few years back, a young veterinary doctor from Shamshabad, near Hyderabad was raped by four men and was burned. But the incident whose reminder shakes the country from the core till date is the Nirbhaya rape case. In 2012, Nirbhaya was brutally beaten, raped and tortured by six men. Later she died in the middle of the treatment procedure. Sometimes a few-month-old child or sometimes an old lady has to go through these brutality. There are a lot more cases. But all these victims were at least human beings. 

Recently some other cases made it to the newspapers and social media and are bringing storms all around the globe. A Bengal monitor lizard was raped by four men in Maharashtra. In that state only a 45 year old man was arrested for raping a street dog. A man was arrested from Kerala for raping and killing a pregnant goat. A kitten was gang-raped by a 15 years old teenager and his friends in Lahore, Pakistan. These cases prove that inhumanity is at its peak. It is not only a shame on human society but also raises a question towards the security of girls, women and even animals. According to a recent database, cases of rape and sexual assault on women in the National Capital has seen a hike of 63.3% and that too in the first six months of 2021 as compared to 2020. As per the 2019 annual reports present by National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), an average of 88 rape cases were reported daily across the country. The total approximately ranges upto 32,033. But these numbers are just official numbers. If the unofficial incidents are taken into consideration then the total approx will increase at a surprising rate. The United Nations presented a database that is compiled from government resources depicts that more than 250,000 cases of rape or attempted rape were reported by police. This database took into account a total of 65 countries. According to some reports available online, South Africa is reported to have the highest number of rape or attempted rape cases. Now questions like 'how can a person be so cruel' or 'what was the motive behind it' etcetera may occur. Everyday we come across so many strangers or our own relatives. It is nearly impossible to tell who is having a tendency to rape someone. Different person have different ideology and similarly different rapists have different mental condition or motive behind raping someone. 

As many have noticed that each rape case varies from each other in some manner. In one case we can observe a lot of physical brutality. The offender in this case grabs, strikes and knocks the victim to ground. Humiliating and hurting the victims become their goals and their minds work accordingly. In order to express their contempt they choose physical violence and profane language. The rapists having this kind of mental condition falls under the category of 'angry rapists'.

Some men commit rape because of their mindset. They think that they are entitled to their own pleasure even if the victim lacks feelings or sexual desires. They comprise a lot of inner issues like mastery, dominance, intimidation, strength, capability etcetera. Hence, in order to coverup for these issues, they commit rape. Offenders who tend to have this kind of intentions are known as 'power assertive rapists'. One more interesting fact about this category of rapists is that they seem to have rape fantasies and some sexual conquests.

Next comes the third category of rapists. The two mentioned earlier were brutal but not brutal enough to murder their victims. This third category of rapists consists of those who get full satisfaction only after murdering their victims. Their sexual excitement has a direct relationship with the sufferings of the victim. The more the victim suffers from torment, distress, anguish, helplessness the more they get pleasure from it. One important fact about this kind of rapes is that they are usually deliberate, calculated and pre-planned. Offenders using these tactics to rape someone are called 'sadistic rapists'.

According to Shannon M. Barton - Bellessa, professor of criminology at Indiana State University, there exist a fourth category of rapists known as 'sexual gratification rapists'. Their one and only motivation is to obtain sex. In this case, the offenders may be dealing with the issues like loneliness or having difficulty in relaxing their sexual desires. 

In surveys it has been found that many adults tend to rape someone or sexually assault someone or even molest children in order to overcome their own childhood traumas. They must have faced the same situations in their pasts and hence they continue to do the same when they become adults.

There are many other factors that push a person towards committing a crime like this. To a certain extent, our socio-cultural environment is to be blamed as it creates many false beliefs regarding gender-relations and misdirected objectives (i.e., only for having sex one needs to date someone). If one's neuropsychological processes are taken into consideration then a lot of issues will come forward that may lead to sexual assault. Difficulties in self regulation, perception/memory system problems, around/motivation system deficits and problems in action selection system etcetera. These problems specifically occur when sexual aggression faces difficulty in understanding their emotional states. So when they come across a situation when their arousal/motivation system is being triggered, they get confused and couldn't control their behavior. It is also seen in the research that some people who commit sexual assaults get sexually aroused by non-consensual sexual interaction rather than consensual sexual interaction. In some of the rape cases it has also been seen that the victim is someone known to the offender. In such cases, they usually hold some personal grudges against the victim or the victim's family. And as a result, rape takes place in the form of revenge. Many will also agree on the theory that rapes increase in number due to the increase in circulation of pornography. These videos divert society, especially the younger generation, in a very wrong and disgraceful direction. These are just a few situations regarding the psychology of a rapist as there are thousands of other reasons.

As it has been mentioned earlier that it is not at all possible to tell a person which person is more vulnerable to commit a rape just by the outside view. But it is also not a right step to be scared of everyone or look at everyone from a suspicious viewpoint. In situations like this, it is better to remain self aware. It is difficult to say whether this social issue can be removed from its root or not but it can be reduced to a certain extent. Early sex education is a very important part and it should be taught from the beginning itself to end up this gender discriminations. No matter who the victim is, people should always encourage them to stand strong and don't let a rapist destroy their futures. Various campaigns by certain NGOs and the government itself are continuing to do their work of educating people not only in this country but all around the globe. For those offenders who show their level of insanity by raping animals, the only place for them is in a mental asylum and getting treated by a psychiatrist. Once they come back to their normal human self, police can further take their actions. "We must send a message across the world that there is no disgrace in being a survivor of sexual violence - the shame is on the aggressor" are the words of a famous actress and humanitarian, Angelina Jolie. One should not be sympathetic towards the victim but should be empathetic. People should understand the hardships they went through and should encourage them to move on rather than just blaming them. Afterall it is baseless and a foolish thing to do. We shouldn't blame anyone for anything that they didn't do on their own will. Once every human starts thinking like this, the world will become a better place to live in.

.    .    .

Discus