RESEARCH CRITIQUE: MEDIA

June 12, 2017

    On May 29, A 23 year-old Indian mother was forced to begin her travel by metro to a Delhi hospital with her dead nine-month-old daughter in her arms. Not only was this woman a newly grieving mother, but a recovering rape victim.

    The previous evening, the young mother left home to travel to her parents home after a heated argument with her husband. She planned on staying the night in their home. Once she left her village she found it difficult to find a late-night lift to her parent’s home. She first approached a man with a truck, but after being sexually harassed by the drunk driver, she decided to leave the vehicle. She was then approached by three men in an auto rickshaw offering her a ride to her destination.

    The men agreed to take her and her daughter to her parent’s house who live in another village. When her infant daughter started to cry, they threw her daughter out of the moving vehicle onto the road. After a few minutes on the rickshaw they drove her to a secluded area and began to rape her. Once they were finished viciously raping for four hours the predators threw the infant’s mother onto the road as well. She later regained consciousness and found her motionless daughter near the highway. She grabbed her daughter corpse and trekked to the nearest hospital hoping the infant could be saved. The first hospital declared the infant dead to which she then decided to travel on the metro with her deceased daughter in her arms to another hospital in the nearby city of Delhi. The physician at the second hospital declared her daughter dead. She later travelled on the metro to meet her husband and the Gurgaon police, who conducted a post-mortem of her daughter. She initially neglected to tell the officers about the rape. It was not until a few days after the incident when she decided to report the crime. This is one of the four cases of gang-rape in the area of Gurgaon that have occurred in the past month.

    Although the article did not discuss the physical or mental state of the victim after the event, it is important to consider the effects of this occurrence on the victim’s overall general health. There is a lack of recent research on the effects of rape trauma on a survivor’s mental health. I was able to a few studies with interesting findings but many were conducted more than ten years ago. One study found adults in their sample with a history of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse were more likely to develop anxiety and depression (Spataro, Mullen, Burges, Wells, & Moss, 2004). A indirect but very possible threat to a rape victim’s physical and mental health are findings that support an association between abuse and risky health choices (i.e. increase alcohol intake and smoking) (Dobie et al., 2004). Another study found the percentage of women who consumed alcohol was higher (62.33%) in women who had been sexually abused than those who were not (52.9%) (Sachs-Erricson, Kendall-Tacket, Sheffler, Arce, Rushing, & Coresentino, 2013). Physical health is also affected by this heinous act. Those same participants who were raped on average, also reported more sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) (Sachs-Erricson et al., 2013). In 1994, Golding found women who survived rape were more likely to experience chronic and acute physical health problems than women who did not experience a rape (Golding, 1994). In 2007, Kendall-Tacket conducted a study which results suggests rape survivors are at an increased risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease (Kendall-Tacket, 2007). These findings suggest the importance of addressing this social issue because of its effect on overall global health.

    I write this post with a heavy heart. I can not even begin to imagine how grief-stricken this woman may be. What saddens me the most is the likely chance that she and her family may be blaming her for the death of the child. In Indian culture, women are told to stay in their homes after nine in the evening and those who do not stay home are at fault if they are sexually abused. Many of those reading the coverage on this story may feel this woman is responsible for her child’s death. I ask myself: would this incident be covered by the national news if the infant was not involved? Is she being scrutinized nationwide for her decision to leave her home late? Are her community members supporting her through her recovery or are they ostracizing her for her decision?

     My experience in India has taught me a great deal of indispensable lessons. Yet one of the toughest lessons I have learned on this trip is that I am a woman. In the United States, although gender disparities are extremely evident and rape incidents often occur, I, in a sense, feel somewhat equal to a man. I show my legs and shoulders confidently. I laugh loudly and argue for what I believe in proudly. 

     The first day after our arrival, I found covering my shoulders counterintuitive. Coming from a subtropical area where shorts that cover your knees are practically unheard of, I was mainly worried about comfort and the right to plan my outfits according to the weather. After a few weeks in India, I now prefer to be covered when walking down the streets.  My female classmates and I have experience a range of unpleasant encounters: from catcalling, to uncomfortable stares. We have all experienced first hand the objectification of women in a patriarchal society. Yet I am starting to realize how similar the Indian culture is to the United States. Instead of stares there are subtle suggestions with eye contact and instead of catcalling there are Instagram comments. I an beginning to learn understand the effect gender roles and gender discrimination plays on global society. 

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Works Cited

Dobie, D.J., Kivlahan, D.R., Maynard, C., Bush, K.R., Davis, T. M. & Bradley, K.A. (2004). Posttraumatic stress disorder in female veterans: Association with self-reported health problems and functional impairment. Archives of Internal Medicine, 164 (4), 394-400.

Golding, J.M. (1994). Sexual assault history and physical health in randomly selected Los Angeles women. Health Psychology, 13, 130-138.

Kendall-Tacket, K.A. (2007). Cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome as sequelae of  violence against women: A psychoneuroimmunology approach. Trauma, Violence, and Abuse, 8, 117-126.

Sachs-Ericsson, N., Collins, N., Schmidt, B., & Zvolensky, M. (2011). Older adults and smoking: characteristics, nicotine dependence and prevalence of DSM-IV 12 month disorders. Aginging & Mental Health, 15(1), 132-141.

Spataro. J., Mullen, P.E., Burgess, P.M., Wells, D.L. & Moss, S. A. (2004). Impact of child sexual abuse on mental health: Prospective study in males and females. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 184(5), 416-421.