Salman Khan is not the first, and he won’t be the last to use the analogy of rape, in jest.
But, let’s analyze the analogy, and, see if the connotations of rape work in the context. And, if it is an ‘apt’ analogy as someone says it is.
Let’s compare a woman who has been raped and the actor ‘feeling like a raped woman’ while shooting for a physically demanding action shoot.
Thus far, it does not fit.
Also, as most rapes are unreported, she would carry it in silence forever. She wouldn’t speak about it publicly. She wouldn’t joke about it at a press conference. He did.
Let’s try the analogy another way, and see if it works then.
So, the analogy still, doesn’t work. It is certainly not ‘apt’.
‘Its only a joke’, ‘catch the rapists instead’ or just a ‘only a mental slip’ are the justifications we hear. Making a joke about rape certainly does not equate it to the crime committed, but it engenders the permissive attitude toward it. Words strengthen the attitude. When a CBI Director, a Bollywood superstar or M.P’s trivialize rape publicly, they not only dehumanize those who have been raped further, but, they embolden and spawn the mentality of those who joke about rape, those who have committed rape, and probably, those, who are considering raping, again.
It’s only words. No one is listening.
(Sudeep Kohli is a writer and former commissioning editor, Sage Publications and managing editor, Footprints Worldwide. She tweets at @SudeepKohli)