Global Roundup: Outrage in India Over Gang Rape and Torture of Woman, Viral Video of Shackled Woman in China Revives Debate Over Abuse of the Mentally Ill, Transgender Woman Makes History on Jeopardy
Global Roundup: Outrage in India Over Gang Rape and Torture of Woman, Viral Video of Shackled Woman in China Revives Debate Over Abuse of the Mentally Ill, Transgender Woman Makes History on Jeopardy
Curated by FG Intern Sayge Urban
Demonstrators take part in a protest after the death of a rape victim, in New Delhi [File: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters] via Al Jazeera
TW: Content pertaining to rape, suicide, gender-based violence and capital punishment .
The alleged gang-rape and torture of a woman has sparked outrage In India. New Delhi police arrested 12 people associated with the assault, including three minor boys and eight women. The victim was allegedly tortured and paraded in the streets of the Indian capital.
Police said the three minors are accused of gang raping the 20-year-old victim, and that the women allegedly beat her, chopped off her hair and blackened her face. A video of the attack was posted to social media.
Indian media say the boys and women in custody had assaulted the victim as “revenge” to punish her for rejecting a teenage boy who was from their family who had professed his love for her and had urged the mother of three to leave her husband for him. They say he died by suicide last year after she rejected him.
The attack has caused outrage. New Delhi is considered one of the most dangerous cities in the country, and has been deemed the “Rape-Capital”.
…though both the accused and the victim are from the same community, the gender atrocity used the practices learned from caste atrocities. This is very much a gender atrocity where an entire neighbourhood thinks it is OK to lynch a woman because she did not reciprocate love for a man. - Kavita Krishnan, prominent feminist and member of the Communist Party of India
Violent attacks on women have been happening for years, despite newly implemented laws.
“The bitter truth is that many Indians don’t consider women to be human. The shameful facts need to be acknowledges and called out”. - Rahul Gandhi, Congress Party.
Some 28,000 rapes were reported across India in 2020 alone, averaging out to 77 a day. Experts believe the real figures are much higher as many women do not report such cases due to fear or shame or both. India’s criminal laws have been amended to allow for a death sentence in certain cases of rape but it would appear that the more stringent the laws become, the more brutal is the violence against women, legal scholar and feminist Flavia Agnes said.
What we need is not stringent punishment but certainty of punishment and strong victim support. - Flavia Agnes
TW: Content pertaining to gender-related violence and mistreatment of women with mental illness.
In the video, the woman appears to be chained by her neck to a concrete wall, seeming dazed as she struggled to speak coherently.
In the video, a man appears to be standing next to her, along with a young boy who is assumed to be her son. It is stated that the woman had been a beggar earlier in life, and had married the man in the video in 1998, later having children. After the birth of her second child, means of birth control had been implemented in the woman's life, as she was diagnosed with schizophrenia. At the present time, the man featured in the video is being investigated, but not currently facing criminal charges.
On Weibo, a national microblogging site, a thread discussing the government investigation of the case has been viewed more than 76m times, racking up more than 25,000 comments since Monday. Mental heath and sexual consent are less-discussed topics in China’s vast rural regions, where female infanticide has skewed the gender balance, causing men to outnumber women nationwide.
Photo by Casey Durkin/Jeopardy Productions Inc.) via Washington Post
Amy Schneider, a California-based software engineering manager, has made Jeopardy history. She notched up the second-most wins of all time with a 40-game winning streak on the game show, amassing nearly $1.4 million in winnings. She is now the highest-earning female competitor in "Jeopardy!" history, and she is the first trans person to qualify for the show’s Tournament of Champions, which will be played this fall.
Schneider, born and raised in Dayton, Ohio, has been a fan of Jeopardy her entire life, having grown up watching Alex Trebek host the show.
Schneider has stated that when she was originally headed for the show, her goal was to beat her ex-wife’s brothers record, who also competed on the show, of three games. After 40 games, it is safe to say she has greatly surpassed her original goal.
Throughout the entirety of her time on the show, Schneider—who quickly become a fan favourite—was widely known for her extensive knowledge in all categories of the show, as well as being a representative of the LGBTQ+ community. As a once-closeted trans person, she knew others in similar situations would be watching her closely.
During one episode, she wore a transgender flag pin and explained on Twitter that she specifically wore it around U.S. Thanksgiving because she wanted to show support for the “disproportionately high number of trans people” who are estranged or cut off from their families.
I just want them to know that I see them and I support them and they’re great, and they can do great things, - Amy Schneider
Sayge Urban (she/her) is a student at the University of Ottawa currently studying Psychology. She has a passion for writing and speaking out on issues she cares about and strongly believes in the power of words and the weight they hold. She is keen to use her voice and platform to bring awareness to the troubles and triumphs women face and is determined to use her voice to highlight those who cannot and do not have the resources to speak up.
Sayge is a firm believer in the unity of women across the world and the power they hold collectively and wants to use her time at FEMINIST GIANT to learn about the issues most pressing to women as well as they ways she can best be of help.