Yep, that's my elder sister and I when we were children.
Trigger warning: Graphic descriptions of sexual abuse. Reader discretion is advised.
What happened to Aarthi baby girl is just so triggering and heartbreaking. But it's all too common and has happened to most of us in varying degrees. This is my story.
My first kiss was non-consensual and it happened to me when I was seven years old with my father's friend. He used to also pinch my tiny, underdeveloped nipples as he kissed me with his reeking mouth.
My father trusted his friend. The same guy molested me again when I was 14. He insisted on taking me to tuition class, and I was made to sit in the front seat. He brushed his arm across my chest when he put the seat belt and rubbed my thighs as I got out of the car, near tears.
I was molested by an unknown man in the school toilet when I was 10. I stayed back in school for sports practice and went to the toilet to change into my sports attire. A heavily bearded man was hanging about and asked my name and age. I told him and carried on. He entered the bathroom as I was putting on my T-shirt. I ran and tried to close myself in a cubicle. He forced his way in and masturbated in front of me, squeezing my just sprouting breasts.
By the time I hit puberty, I knew that the world isn't a very nice place. My school bus driver said that I look like "a fresh tomato," and my tuition master wrote, "Beautify your handwriting to match your beauty," in my exercise book. I was like 10, 11 years old. And I am crestfallen to think of Aarthi and all the other baby girls who didn't even reach puberty but were subjected to unimaginable sexual cruelty and put to death with the indifference of stomping on an ant.
Everyone is talking about strict punishment to curb such crimes citing Saudi, North Korea and Madagascar. But I don't think severe punishment will solve anything.
These are babies sleeping outside, in public in Nordic countries. There is no fear that these little ones will be harmed in any way. This is social engineering and this is what we need. We need to rewire society and ingrain the thought that children must be protected, not taken advantage of.
Sweden is one of the countries that takes sexual abuse very seriously. If I was Swedish, I would have at least 30 counts of cases filed. It's true that rape in Sweden increased after the influx of immigrants but the collective Swedish mentality doesn't lean to rape culture. In fact, it leans against it.
This is a Malaysian Indian male page that was created to attack Karuththu Kannammaa page. One of their famous memes circa 2015: A bus driver is going to rape. Two women are in the bus. One is fully covered. Another one is wearing a sexy dress. Now, who will the bus driver rape? He'll rape the sexy lady as her clothes provoked him. It doesn't occur to these guys that rape itself is wrong - instead, they're asking who would a man rape. This is what we must address.
Everyone wants to kill rapists, not rape. That's why cases keep happening, in India, in Malaysia. Capital punishment is the last thing on their minds as they rape. So, the mind is what the installation of anti-rape, humane, compassionate elements. Why can babies sleep outside unharmed in Denmark but we can't let our children play outside? Address the root instead of cutting the branches.
I wrote this with great difficulty. There are things that happened to me that I rather not recall.
When my mom and I discussed Aarthi's case, I thought to myself that at least, I made it alive.
Which is so pathetic because the abuse is so normalized.
I am not seeking sympathy or validation. Neither do I need commiseration. But it disgusts me that this shit keeps happening and we cry for justice sonorously. Then it blows over and we are back to square one.
Until we don't adopt a rape culture free mind, this will continue.
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