12 April 2014, 04:26 PM IST
India has suffered a major blow in its international image. Crime, rape and woman's rights are in the forefront of many people's minds when they think of this country. What power does the foreign woman have in refuting or adding to this image?
When I told people I was going to India, they looked at me in alarm and blurted, "Why would you want to go there?" It was a stark reminder that I was going to a country that, since the December 2012 rape of a 23-year-old university student, suffered a mighty blow in its international image. I arrived in India mentally trying to free myself from what foreign media had programmed me to believe: that there is a much higher likelihood of something bad happening to me in this country.
Not that I have bought into this. I am here, after all. If you look at the statistics of reported rape incidents, it seems I'm no safer in the United States than I am here. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, 25,000 rape cases were reported in India in 2012. That same year the FBI reported that there was an estimated 84,000 forcible rapes reported to law enforcement in the United States. Simplified data? Definitely. But so is the image created by international media about India.
With the international climate as it is, I feel very cautious in how I portray my experience here in New Delhi. It was a pleasant surprise to find that I'm not the only one. My first blog post was about being a foreign woman in New Delhi, and amongst the commenters on Facebook was an American girl, Julia, who had studied abroad in Bangalore last Spring. She pointed out a quote I had used - "as I woman, you have to get used to always being scared" - and rightfully said that I should be careful about how I write of how women in India are treated, because it would lead to a common and potentially harmful misconception.
There are people out there who understand how much influence the opinion of a foreign woman in India can wield abroad in terms of how women are treated in India, and that this clout has to be used cautiously. No matter how ignorable, if I speak of a situation where I felt in any way threatened or molested, it would only further cement a pre-conceived conviction that India is a dangerous country for women.
Courtesy to all the media headlines, Julia's family and friends were worried of her being kidnapped, assaulted or raped. "Why on earth would you want to go somewhere that treats women so poorly?" she remembers people asking her, despite the fact that Julia says she felt safer walking in Bangalore than she does in New York City. According to her, a facet of the situation is that people may associate India with the Middle East. Now, dear Indian readers, before you disengage, look at it like this: it shows just how much of a broad generalization can be stamped onto a country or a continent based on stereotypes. "People I know very much associate Islam and the Middle East with abused and oppressed women, and as far as they're concerned, India's on the same level, but with saris instead of burkas," Julia says.
Ever since December 2012 public opinion abroad of India has plummeted thanks to how focused foreign media is on stories of rape and harassment of women. According to foreign media, rape is epidemic in India. Indeed, if foreign media is to be believed it is the biggest issue in India and no other country comes close to the country's level of danger to women. Every once in a while people abroad expect to see the headlines "another gang rape in India". The incessant media coverage has created a flat, one-dimensional image of this country. Similarly to how Middle Eastern countries are 'volatile' and 'extremist', and how Mexico is 'overwhelmed by drug cartels', India is now synonymous with the word 'rape'.
That revelation makes me not only extremely sad, but also weights me with the responsibility of not saying anything bad about my experience in India. People expect to hear about my supposed 'traumatic experiences in India', so any small situation I speak of will only strengthen my friends' resolve about how dangerous and backwards India is as a country. That's a lot of power on opinion to have. Is it illogical that I do not want to arm people abroad - people who have never held an interest in learning about India apart from what foreign media has told them - with 'personal experiences' to supplement their already pre-conceived prejudice against India? I think not.
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