Srishti Dey, LLM, UPES Dehradun
ABSTRACT
Rape is defined as anal, oral, or vaginal penetration without consent of a woman. It is one of the most heinous crime amongst all crimes that takes place in this world and the victims of rape are the women largely. Whereas, the myths about rape, which still exists at both the individual and institutional/societal levels, are one of the reasons for whichl violence against women has been sustained and justified throughout history and is in continuance in this contemporary world. Beyond studying the general attitudes and characteristics like gender, several existing traditional customs and values, existing weak laws in the present scenario. The study in this paper is on rape myth history, victim blaming, and rape myth acceptance, focusing specially on India, United Kingdom and the United States. This paper tends to make a contribution in the study of the present phase of issues in India, followed by the lack of knowledge and awareness regarding rape and to promote empathetic understandings towards the victims. The paper concludes with some suggestions and describes how existing evidence could be used as an aid in removing myths regarding rape at both the individual and institutional/societal levels.
Keywords: Rape, Rape myth, Rape myth acceptance, Victim blaming, History, sexual violence, policies, India, United States of America, United Kingdom.
