Malevolent: Badly Drawn Mama바카라�s Boys

After the cataclysm comes the desperate, collective hunt for catharsis. And since that will always prove elusive in a real, enduring sense, at least a modicum of sense-making. We바카라�ve been witnessing a near-eruption of sex crimes in public바카라�women being chased by droves of yahoos during New Year-eve revelries, recalling some primordial 바카라�war loot바카라� scene, turning Bangalore바카라�s strobe-lit Brigade Road into its own photographic negative; a young woman accosted on a dark bylane by two scooter-borne men, and left reeling afterward like a used plastic bottle; another woman mobbed by 바카라�students바카라� on a busy Delhi street바카라�. And we can only guess at the countless many that went unrecorded (and thus escaped being circulated and consumed voyeuristically in video form).

Yes, these are all 바카라�lesser바카라� crimes perhaps in the IPC hierarchy, but no less pathological for that. There are common threads. One is a statement of an implied power code, a de facto law of the land: a woman in a public space seems to perforce forfeit her rights to be a human being, or keep them in suspension. As if to say, if you transgress your limits, all bets are off. As if they have to be shamed, reduced to prey. The other is the utter unfeelingness of the male protagonist, almost become an automaton, or a Pavlov바카라�s dog.

Both phenomena go together, and the answers may well be conjoined, like strands in a DNA. For now, there are only questions, for ordinary citizen and analyst alike. Why are women being molested, raped, groped, shoved around바카라�almost as a routine fact of life, like trains running late or the temperatures dipping in winter? Just what is going on with the Indian male? Are we staring at a perverse form of the old nature-versus-nurture debate? As in, are they born like that or is it the upbringing, the social conditioning that has turned them into sexual predators? Why does psychopathic profiling seem best suited to explain their behaviour? And why does it look as if this goes beyond the basic premise of criminology바카라�that of the 바카라�sick, deviant mind바카라� set against normal citizenry바카라�almost as if the sickness has been universalised? They say everyone in India actually has TB, it바카라�s only the immunity that saves most. Likewise, is a sort of sexual vengefulness the 바카라�new normal바카라� across large swathes of Indian malehood?

바카라�We바카라�ve become desensitised to what others experience because of our actions,바카라� says Dr Samir Parikh, psychiatrist and dir­ector, Fortis, in Gurgaon and Delhi. In 바카라�normal바카라� times, this happens during war, when empathy is systematically denied to the 바카라�enemy바카라�, who바카라�s somewhere outside. Tur­ned inward, what does this imply: that everyone is an enemy? These are the classic marks of a psychopath바카라�s mind: an extr­eme form of narcissism where everyone is a potential enemy, zero capacity for empa­thic emotion or sensitivity towards others, feeling responsible only towards your  own needs, a tendency to violence, an utter lack of conscience or remorse. It바카라�s only with a shudder that you tick off those boxes, as you realise how normal those traits are, barring the last. And at a time of intense stress, even that safety net may be lifting.

Look back to the Nirbhaya tragedy of 2012 and its convulsive aftermath, the mass outrage that led to laws more stringent than ever. Instead of conscientising society, it seemed to produce the opposite effect. In retrospect, was there a touch of sadistic prurience in how all the gory reportage was consumed? Almost amazingly, violent sexual crimes seemed to only grow from that point on. And this instinct to violence, as far as ordinary citizens can tell, has now taken an even more brazen turn, for in Bangalore it was public. Has a departure has been marked from the old clandestine, cloaked, harassment to something more calamitous? Has the Indian male gone feral collectively?

In all the analysis, that바카라�s the one crucial element left out바카라�the tormentor himself. Nobody knows what precisely ticks in his mind. He never steps out of the shadows. Not just from law, his mind is under a cloak even for family. Around ten psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, police officials and sociologists, asked whether such men are known to feel any remorse, cited this thick fog of secrecy. It바카라�s one of the reasons why the family, confronted with his crime, leaps to his defence or alleges conspiracies against a doting son, brother or husband. After long years of being conditioned as a primus inter pares between siblings of the opposite sex, fed, cosseted and brought up as a rightful inheritor of property, is the Indian male unable to adjust to a new powerlessness in a changed world?

Or is there a larger, social failing? 바카라�What we are witnessing is a decay in attitudes towards gender at a collective level,바카라� says Dr Parikh. And as 바카라�silent bystanders to crime,바카라� we바카라�re becoming inured바카라�and worse, complicit. All the transgressions we witness daily, the individual 바카라�incidents바카라�, the everyday brutalities of talk shows, reality TV and gender-targeted online trolling, the mindless, sexist chatter of people in power, the throwaway obiter dicta of judges바카라�all this ultimately 바카라�disinhibits바카라� the potential rapist/molester. 바카라�Then, one day we find what was happening at an individual level in buses, mohallas, metros and housing societies has got collectivised.바카라�

It was on Brigade Road that the crime graph, rising anecdotally till now, touched a different kind of crest. In the mass-dese­nsitised environment, the crowd became a frightening thing: both a refuge and a living beast in itself. It allowed both public anonymity, and a herd instinct. The nameless, faceless man who individually, furtively, groped a girl on the bus had become part of a faceless army, what psychiatrists call 바카라�deindividuation바카라�바카라�loss of individual identity. What brings about a Brigade Road moment? Dr Alok Sarin, psychiatrist at the Sitaram Bharatiya Institute of Science and Research, says what sets apart group crimes is that they tend to occur more frequently in societies in transition.

Crimes against women in a riot or riot-­like situation바카라�which imitate conditions of war바카라�are not rare. So  are we headed for a permanent state of war? 바카라�There aren바카라�t simple answers but we know that large-scale problematic behaviour tends to occur in societies in flux, due to a mix of anthropological, social and psychological factors,바카라� says Dr Sarin. 바카라�Howe­ver, after communal riots such as in 1984 or the Partition, we know people do feel guilt, later. But they do not have a language to express that guilt in. They find it difficult to articulate remorse. So, if there바카라�s a larger social discourse, that expression becomes easier.바카라�

But before we look for curative measures, we must get closer to a diagnosis. Our societies were anyway built on individualism, with the old certitudes of community cast behind. Has the flux of the post-reforms era destabilised even the settled urban beh­aviour of old? Cities like Calcutta and Bangalore, once placid zones, have been increasingly reporting violent sex crimes. Our cities are in a phase of violent growth, with huge demographic changes. Our politics is degraded. On gender, even the law often functions as a bulwark of patriarchy rather than as a reformist advance guard (the rape of a 바카라�virgin바카라� is often seen as a higher crime by judges). The subaltern alw­ays felt a sense of powerlessness; now even the middle class imitates that.

Into this embattled public zone comes the woman, claiming equal space. And the male is reacting with vengeful violence. It바카라�s almost like xenophopic rage against immigrants, or the class hatred of the old elite against 바카라�backwards바카라�. Almost as if the woman is an ethnic foreigner in the public space. Or a 바카라�gender dalit바카라�, seeking parity.

Villages are no less in flux. Caste panchayats routinely order rape as retribution in a time of gender, caste and subaltern assertion. A caste pan­chayat in Maharashtra recently let a man abandon his wife for failing a virginity test. A khap in Uttarakhand ordered the rape of two sisters as revenge for their brother바카라�s elopement. Retributive justice or strict law-and-order won바카라�t suffice here. We need conversations about sexuality, rights and masculinity, says Dr Sarin, adding that a society in the throes of transition has to manage desire and desirability. 바카라�Yes, a very big task but civilisation itself is a big task.바카라�

At the micro level, the 바카라�criminal바카라� mind has been mapped to a large extent. He is a person for whom the 바카라�self바카라� matters, not the consequences of his actions on others. He gets a 바카라�kick바카라� out of harassing women. 바카라�He starts with smaller transgressions, sta­ring, pinching girls surreptitiously, then builds up to get a greater kick from ever-­worsening crimes,바카라� says Dr Parikh. 바카라�Remo­rse...I don바카라�t think there바카라�s any.바카라� Alarmingly, none of this need be accompanied by act­ual psychological impairment. 바카라�I also warn against believing sexual crimes are more common in certain social groups or locations. Men from upper echelons are not touched by police, simple as that,바카라� says Dr Rajat Mitra, a psychologist who has worked with victims and perpetrators of crime.

Mitra used to find crimes of a sexual nat­ure to be 바카라�a totally private hobby바카라�바카라�the exc­eption is the peer group, with whom the man shares his habit, getting encouragement in return. 바카라�A young man told me once he would tell his friends, 바카라�chal, ladki chhed ke aatey hain바카라�바카라�come, let바카라�s go harass girls. That is how banal it is. This is the only way they get a high. Hence, you won바카라�t find them remorseful,바카라� he says. To their mind, the dreadful moment when they are caught shatters their fun바카라�바카라�fun바카라�, they often beli­eve, the victim shared too. They are furtive: harassing women openly would expose them as terrible sons, brothers, husbands or fathers바카라�that바카라�s why Mitra sees no correlation between a molester and his own rel­ationships with a wife, sister or mother.

But the lone wolf is an old species. 바카라�Not anymore are crimes against women private or furtive바카라�I would say the increasing cases of gangrapes point to this barrier falling rapidly,바카라� says Bula Bhadra, sociology professor, University of Calcutta. She blames the abysmal standards of public discourse. 바카라�In India, politics makes people partners in crime,바카라� she says. 바카라�Political parties바카라� followers are akin to disciples, the leaders like gurus whom nobody questions. An Abu Azmi바카라�s remarks are an IPC offence. He ought to have been arrested바카라�but no leader was ever arrested for commenting, after any reported rape, on the time of day a woman was outside or the length of her skirt.바카라�

Last week, Abu Azmi, a Samajwadi Party leader, said it was a 바카라�skin show바카라� at Brigade Road, and molestation was inevitable. His party boss Mulayam Singh Yadav, two years ago, had uttered the axiomatic 바카라�boys will be boys바카라� line, calling rape a 바카라�mistake바카라�. And khaps바카라�essentially male peer groups바카라�are both sanctioning and legitimising off­ences against women by diktat. All talk of women바카라�s empowerment, technical adva­ncements and other well-sounding concepts turn into 바카라�shibboleths바카라�, says Bhadra, in the face of such normalisation of crime.

Amid all the rapid change in norms, definitions are blurred. The very act of wooing a woman can often be strikingly close in form to what are legally labelled as crimes of sexual harassment and stalking (as it has been in pulp cinema for decades). Hence the curious sight, more common in smaller cities, of boys and men collecting outside girls바카라� hostels, colleges and schools to openly stare at girls as they pour out. 바카라�Sometimes, even eye contact with a girl in such situations gives the impression to the male that he has forged some kind of connection,바카라� says Dr Dilip K. Puri, a psychiatrist in Rohtak, Haryana. 바카라�In the periphery, away from metropolises, women are scarcer in public spaces. There are many rules here for boys to interact with girls. The genders are kept apart, isolated바카라�if there was more mixing, maybe we wouldn바카라�t see so much harassment,바카라� Puri says. The old is transiting to the new but nobody knows what the norms are바카라�hence, in Uttar Pradesh, MMS clips of supposedly actual rapes and gang­rapes are being sold as pornography.

Puri also draws a distinction between those with actual psychological sexual disorders and others who routinely see women as items of consumption. 바카라�The people who do chhed-chhad바카라�sexually harrass, molest and so on바카라�are a hardcore type with anti-social traits, similar to psychopaths in my view. In my experience, they do not care if they are labelled badmash, nor does social isolation as a consequence of their behaviour worry them,바카라� he says.

바카라�Conversations about how boys should behave or talk are not taking place,바카라� says Mumbai-based Harish Sadani, co-founder, Men Against Violence and Abuse. 바카라�To cha­nge the male mindset, one needs to deconstruct the existing one. Men are hypersexualised, bombarded with media images objectifying women, simmering without knowing how to express themselves. There is no space for their expression either.바카라�

Sadani, like all other experts, feels it바카라�s no coincidence the accused in the Nirbhaya and Shakti Mills cases watched pornography. 바카라�Porn signals to men, in a very powerful way, what a man is and what a woman is바카라�stereotypes of subservience, man on top and so on are perpetuated. Those ima­ges linger on in the absence of a healthy dialogue on sexuality,바카라� he says. But how does one start on that when big personages like K.P.S. Gill, R.K. Pachauri or Tarun Tejpal have been docked for sexual harassment or worse, and all the signalling comes from a Donald Trump, in whose person politics and pornography come together, belying notions that either is benign.

By Pragya Singh with inputs from Prachi Pinglay Plumber in Mumbai