https://www.firstpost.com/india/horrifying-parents-india-using-corrective-rape-cure-homosexual-children-2273030.html/amp
I want to say beforehand that article highlights a very important issue- parents in India are using 'corrective rape' to cure their gay children, a hate crime used against gay people to turn the gay person heterosexual. Globally, this act is typically done against lesbian women and gay men, but is also used against other members of the LGBTQ+ community.
"According to statistics with the Crisis intervention team of LGBT Collective in Telangana, there have been 15 instances of 'corrective rapes' that have been reported in the group in the last five years. The term 'corrective rape' was first coined in South Africa where this practice is prevalent. An article in New York Times says, "Corrective rape is a hate crime wielded to convert lesbians to heterosexuality – an attempt to 'cure' them of being gay. The term was coined in South Africa in the early 2000s when charity workers first noticed an influx of such attacks."
There is nothing wrong with acknowledging homophobia/queer oppression. Being gay is not a choice. Gay people don't need to be "cured". Prejudice against the LGBTQ+ community is a disgustingly bigoted phenomenon very much rooted in our society. These statistics and many more like them are abhorrent and deserve to be made the news.
My problem that I have with this study is that it fails at what society as a whole fails at; acknowledging that men who are victims to women are raped, not "forced to have sex". In this instance, this gay boy wasn't "forced to have sex with his mother", he was raped by his mother. But the article here says otherwise;
"Deepthi Tadanki, who is in the process of making a film on this taboo topic reveals some horror stories she came across while researching for her film. Tadanki is quoted by The Times of India as saying, "When I was researching on this subject for my film, I came across two gut wrenching stories of corrective rape — one, where a gay girl was raped by her cousin so that she could be "cured" of homosexuality; and another, where family members forced a gay boy to have sex with his mother , in a bid to turn him 'straight'. I tried reaching out to these victims, but they refused to talk."
Let's dissect the part I'm referring to. This young gay boy wasn't "raped", according to the woman's statement. He was "forced to have sex with his mother". That sounds like rape to me. This article is about corrective rape, so why isn't this case being referred to as rape? If he was forced by his family to do this with his mother, it's still rape. His mother still raped him. Some might say "forced to have sex" and "rape" mean the same thing so it doesn't matter, but the fact is that this phrase is used continuously to refer to men and boys who are raped, specifically by women and girls, to undermine the assault they experienced. The phrase "forced to have sex" is usually never implied for female victims, only male victims. This alone speaks volumes. You might've seen it many times before; news articles of female teachers getting arrested because they "had sex with a young male student". Not "raping a boy", just "having sexual intercourse with a boy". Yet news articles made about predatory male teachers call them out for raping female students, not "engaging in sexual activity". This article isn't that different in regards to the wording used.
Another argument could be made that the mother herself was "forced as well and didn't wish to do it", which is why "rape" is never specified. No such a thing is implied. The article mentions that even mothers participate in the corrective rape of their children, so there's no doubt an act of rape had occurred, otherwise it wouldn't have been a story mentioned.
"Forced to have sex" is rape. Call it what it is: RAPE. This boy was RAPED. There's no need at all to say "forced to have sex" when it concerns male victims as it is still rape .
Again, I'm in no way criticizing this article for bringing awareness to such real issues, neither am I attacking Deepthi. At the end of the day, this article is still important and the stories of these two gay kids deserve to be acknowledged. All victims matter; their voices matter and their stories deserved to be heard. I'm glad awareness of corrective rape is being made and mentioning gay boys who are victims, and how they mention even mothers can be perpetrators. But how they worded the rape of this gay boy as something other than "rape" is what upset me- that is the only problem with this article, as it does and will continue to the undermining of male victims today and in the future. It helps push the narrative that boys aren't "really raped". I don't think Deepthi meant any deliberate harm with her statements, but in order for change to happen, injustice must be called out. This infantilizing wording happens all the time about male SA cases, as I previously mentioned, and it needs to be called out and stopped.
So, let's correct this. This boy's family members forced him to be raped by his mother. Gay boys who were "forced to have sex" with a woman were raped. He was a rape victim of homophobic hate crime and so are all gay boys in his position. End of discussion.
[–]maxcorrice 68 points69 points70 points (5 children) | Copy Link
[–]Huge-Title4888left-wing male advocate[S] 24 points25 points26 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]NotCis_TM 2 points3 points4 points (3 children) | Copy Link
[–]maxcorrice 2 points3 points4 points (2 children) | Copy Link
[–]mug-buliku 0 points1 point2 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–]maxcorrice 0 points1 point2 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]duhhhh 45 points46 points47 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–]SchalaZeal01 16 points17 points18 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]DekajaSukunda 17 points18 points19 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–]Huge-Title4888left-wing male advocate[S] 3 points4 points5 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]Mahameghabahanacentrist male advocate 16 points17 points18 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–]Huge-Title4888left-wing male advocate[S] 7 points8 points9 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]Mahameghabahanacentrist male advocate 10 points11 points12 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]Medical_Chain9039 9 points10 points11 points (2 children) | Copy Link
[–]Huge-Title4888left-wing male advocate[S] 4 points5 points6 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–]Medical_Chain9039 1 point2 points3 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]AdamChap 10 points11 points12 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–]Huge-Title4888left-wing male advocate[S] 4 points5 points6 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]RhinoNomad 6 points7 points8 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–]Huge-Title4888left-wing male advocate[S] 4 points5 points6 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]lordpenner 4 points5 points6 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]Hammsu20 3 points4 points5 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–]Huge-Title4888left-wing male advocate[S] 3 points4 points5 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]mug-buliku 0 points1 point2 points (0 children) | Copy Link