Gender, sexuality, and crime: a critical disclosure

 “If anyone in the society is fighting for their basic human rights, then that society was never free.” This Essay deals with the various issues revolving around the concept of gender and sexuality in the world. As the times are changing we are also developing as a society, but the area concerning gender equality and freedom to sexual choices are still topics that are usually brushed under the carpet. To a large extent the world was and still is patriarchal in nature.

Since ancient times, the notion that males are superior and stronger than women have been prevalent. This discrimination towards different genders is a root cause of various problems like female foeticide, rape, eve teasing, and so on, but this debate about gender inequality can only be complete when we also consider a pivotal part of the social arena, the transgender or the Third gender.

Other than gender inequalities sexuality has also become a prime topic of discussion in present times. When Sexuality is a personal choice, how can it be a reason to lynch or defame someone? Why are lesbian or gay couples still being derogated and defamed in our society? Why is sexuality leading to so many crimes?

These are a few questions that the essay is going to deal with. Gender and sexuality-related crimes are some of the most paradoxical present-day issues, especially in a country like ours which celebrates unity in diversity but fails to provide a place for diverse genders and sexualities in its seemingly narrow definition of this

Gender: no one is safe

The term gender can simply be defined as the socio-anthropological roles given to different sexes of society. The world we live in has set standards under which different sexes are expected to act and behave. Gender also includes different responsibilities which are assigned to different social groups.

Since the very beginning, the nurturing and grooming of different genders is done contrarily. The girls are expected to be soft-spoken, obedient, sensitive, and expressive on the other hand, the boys are taught to be bold, strong, and dominant. Such social divisions have become a root cause of serious complications in society.

Gender roles are socially constructed and over the years various stereotypes have been attached to this term, unfortunately, it has led to a situation where there is an imbalance in the social structure of society which further causes various problems. Let us recognize some of the issues faced by different genders:

The plight of women

Since ancient times, society was structured in a way where the man was given the responsibility to earn the bread and the woman was responsible to run the household. If one reads the history of the division of labor, one can understand the major aim behind this was to have a balance of responsibilities in society.

But what we see today, is opposite to the very objective of “division of labor theory”. Unfortunately, women were seen as dependent on man for their basic needs and therefore people started believing that man was superior to a woman. This notion brought various hardships for the community of women.

If one traces back their steps in history, one can easily realize that all the major revolutions and political struggles across the globe did not include a lot of women participants. History also tells us how women had to fight for their basic human rights while men enjoyed them. It was only in the early 20^th century when legislation was passed to provide women with voting rights that too after a fight of 100 years.

When we talk about crimes, women are a vulnerable section. Rapes, Murders, Harassment, Eve teasing, Dowry deaths, Trafficking, Slavery, brutal repression, Domestic violence, and the list goes on. Even today women do face these problems in their personal as well as professional lives. Gender inequality, however, is not the same in every country, it is seen that countries with a higher level of poverty have many crimes against women than other developing and developed countries.

Societies have evolved, but sadly what has not changed even today is the mindset about gender roles. An example of this can be even if the educational qualifications of a man and woman are equal, when it comes to employment, companies usually prefer male employees over female employees.

According to various surveys conducted the mindset behind this is that when a female will get married and her priorities will shift from her career to her family, but this is not just thinking of a particular employer this is how society thinks.

Not just in employment, but when it comes to career choices, gender role creates an invisible wall for a woman. One of the first things a woman considers while opting for her career is gender. For instance, not many women consider Army or mechanical engineering as a career option.

Imagine a country like India still does not have a women CJI. The major problem with gender divisions is that when a woman decides to break these walls and do something which is considered stereotypical for a woman to do, she is either emotionally blackmailed by her family members or badly criticized. Sadly, even today there are only a few families which support their daughters’ dreams. We do see things changing, but at the same time, we also see crimes against women increasing.

The unheard story of men

Men are usually considered to be the strong and superior gender. We associate words like Power, Money, Strength, Bravery, domination, and so on with masculinity. This is also the reason why we usually attach the word “perpetrator” to men, but this very notion of masculinity has brought nothing but hardships to men.

When it comes to crime against women the world recognizes it and people sympathize with them, but when we talk about crime against men, it is seen as something unbelievable and even preposterous. This rigid notion that a man is a strong being and he does not cry over things that we choose to ignore millions of male victims who are forced to stay silent because of this toxic notion.

While history explains the hardships and struggles of women not a single chapter is dedicated to the hardships of men, the violence they faced during genocides and war, and other problems. We usually consider a man to be “the savior” as he is physically stronger than the other genders but what we usually forget is that this “savior” is also a human who has his struggles which also deserve equal recognition and attention as the problems of any other gender receive.

Unfortunately, even today the quandary of men is not recognized. It is not just the common man but the legal system to chooses to ignore the crimes against men. For instance, you will not find recognition of crimes against men in “international law”. In India, the very definition of rape is gender-based it does not include the word men in its provisions against rape. What is even more disturbing is that most of the crimes against men are committed by other men.

The other gender

Transgender is a very broad term it includes trans-men, trans-women, gender-queer, gender non-conforming, agender or bigender people. Approximately 1.4 million people in the USA alone identify themselves as transgenders. They are your neighbor, friends, and parents, and as normal as any other gender.

Although the term was recognized in the 20th century transgenders have existed throughout history. Catastrophically, Transgenders have been fighting for their rights for a long time and their struggle to have some basic human rights is still going on in various parts of the world. There are various problems that the transgender community faces throughout the world.

From discrimination to social stigma, they have suffered a lot and continue to struggle. Transgenders have to live a secluded life and are often harassed and exploited, but the legal system of various countries still does not recognize their problems and therefore they do not have any way to seek justice.  Most of them, live in poverty in severe conditions that no human should ever be in.

When we talk about employment opportunities most of the time, they are rejected and therefore many have to resort to begging. In many countries, the third gender is not even given recognition and so it becomes difficult for them to find their identity. For example- If the other gender is not recognized then what will a transgender person write in the gender column, in this way countries are indirectly denying their very existence.

Transgenders had an equal share of struggles in every country, some have succeeded in fulfilling their objectives and some are still hustling. What is even more disturbing is the increasing rate of hate crimes towards transgenders throughout the world, the major reason behind this is the attitude of the general public toward this community.

It becomes difficult for a society that has always recognized men and women as the only two genders to accept a third gender and this inability of the common masses is what has given birth to many social stigmas

Sexuality: not so personal choice

Sexuality in simple terms can be defined as an individual’s sexual preference or choice. It is of two types:

1. Heterosexuality: “When one person is sexually attracted to the opposite sex they are known as heteros.”
2. Homosexuality: “When a person is sexually attracted to the same sex they are known as homosexuals.”

Earlier people used to believe that a man and woman are attracted toward sexual each other and that is the only normal form of sexuality that existed, even though history has enough examples which can be cited to explain that same-sex couples or homosexuality existed even during ancient times.

Today, LGBTQIA+ stands for – “lesbian”, “gay”, “bisexual”, “transgender”, “queer”, “intersex”, and “asexual”. They have been fighting for their basic human rights and recognition worldwide. These communities have their own sets of struggles and problems.

Many treat a person belonging to the LGBTQIA+ community differently even though they are as normal as heterosexuals. Many people like to make fun of homosexuality and this is also the reason why many homosexuals are afraid of labelling themselves as homosexuals.

There are many countries where homosexuality is considered a heinous crime and the punishment ranges from imprisonment to death. Out of 53 commonwealth nations, Homosexuality is criminalized in 36 countries.

In countries like Afghanistan, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bhutan, Brunei, Cameron, Chad, Comoros, Egypt, Dominica, and the list goes on, homosexuality has a death penalty. It was only in 2003 that homosexuality was decriminalized in the USA. In India, it was decriminalized in the year 2018 when Section 377 was repealed by the Supreme Court.

We can now understand how big a taboo homosexuality is when it is nothing but the sexual preference of individuals; Our society is structured in a way that homosexuality is a crime that deserves a penalty. There have been several crimes against homosexuals which are often ignored and are left unrecognized by different nations. Someone has rightly stated that when it is about LGBTQIA+ UN closes its eyes.

While we talk about the Holocaust, we tend to empathize with the Jews but what we often leave out is that Homosexuals were also one of the groups which were targeted by the Nazis. In some regions like the Middle East, Europe and Africa there exist state-sanctioned crimes against homosexuals, and in other regions, there are social stigma and taboos which leads to hate crimes and selective lynching of homosexuals. This is why it is equally important to change the social outlook towards this community, not just the legislation.

The fights and struggles of homosexuals have a long history and what is commendable is that they are still fighting, even though they are surrounded by negativity, they still stand strong to fight for their basic rights which they rightly deserve.

Homophobia or the phobia of homosexuality is prevalent in almost all parts of the world, not just the people but various religious scriptures as well condemn the act of homosexuality. This has caused various adversities to the LGBTQIA+, starting from sexual exploitation, murders, enslavement, and harassment to social stigmas, lynching, and hate crimes.

Even in the 21^st century, society does not have a place for homosexuals who are suffering not because they are a different gender, but only because their sexual preference is different.

Interrelatedness between gender, sexuality, and crime

Gender, sexuality, and crime are three interconnected terms. Different genders have different sexual preferences. In our society crime is both sexuality-based crime and gender-based crime.

When we talk about gender-based crimes, it includes women and all genders and related crimes. Men and women both are involved in crimes but it has been seen that except for prostitution the number of female criminals is less than the number of male criminals in all the categories of crime.

This gender gap increases as the level of crime increases and decreases as the level of crime decreases. Some major crimes are listed below:

Rapes

Women are undoubtedly more vulnerable to rapes and in most cases, a perpetrator is a man. Rapes do not necessarily happen in an unknown place but they can happen in someone’s house, school, college, etc. It is estimated that 1 in 3 women have suffered from some kind of sexual or physical harassment in their lifetime and in 3 out of 4 rape cases the rapists are someone known to the victim.[1]

According to the data, 44% of lesbian and 61% of bisexual women experience rape in their lifetime.[2] As discussed earlier many countries including India do not consider a man being raped under their rape laws but according to the statistics one out of 7,1 men had been raped in their lifetime in the US alone. One in two transgenders faces sexual assault and violence in their lifetime.[3]

26% of gay men and 37% of bisexual men also suffer from rape in their lifetime.[4]

Domestic violence

Domestic violence is a term that is usually related to women but according to the statistics, one in every seven men and one in every four women experiences domestic violence. What is a really unfortunate situation is the cases of domestic violence where a victim is a man is either not reported or is overlooked by the authorities. The number of male sufferers is around 757,000 and for women, it is approximately 1 million.

Forced-circumcision

Circumcision is the removal of the foreskin under the genitals of a person. According to WHO this is not at all beneficial to women instead it leads to various health problems around 200 million women are cut in their lifetime[5] and the percentage of men is around 76 to 92% in the USA alone. The number is high in central Asian and African countries.

Violence during war

History is evident proof to confirm how much loss war can bring not just to nations but to individuals as well. It has been seen that most of the soldiers killed in the war were men and men and boys were usually easy targets for mass killings, women have suffered no less, in times of war it was seen that women were brutally raped, murdered, kidnapped and even forced into prostitution or slavery.

Hate crimes

It seems that society not only likes to exclude transgenders from the social world but also likes to exclude them when it comes to the criminal world. Different cases of hate crimes are recorded all across the world against the transgender community. Take the example of “Dustin Parker” who was shot dead “Scottlynn Devore” who was killed in Georgia, “And Monika Diamond” of North Caroline “Lexi” from New York, this list just goes on.

Conclusion

Even now in the twenty-first century, it is unfortunate that we cannot call ourselves a free and just society where everyone is treated equally. We might call this society patriarchal but even all members of this so-called dominant section are not equal. No one is completely safe, not men, not women, not the trans men and women, no one.

Women continue to face discrimination ranging from inequality to physical and sexual crimes since time immemorial, men are subjected to the toxic notions and standards that they are forced to live up to, created by society, among many other problems, the third gender is not even recognized in many countries.

Sexuality which should be and is a personal choice isn’t treated like one, and people in this community are more than often mistreated and hated and sometimes even subjected to inhumane treatment just for their sexual orientation. The LBGTQIA+ has always and still faces describe on various grounds, but what is very unfortunate is the violence and hate crimes they have to face due to their sexual preference.

The severity of crimination against them ranges from emotional to physical and even sexual; motivated by biphobia, gayphobia, homophobia, lesbophobia, and transphobia. Cultural, religious, or political factors have a significant role to play here,

Unless we become more accepting and tolerant these issues will continue to thrive, and humans will continue sabotaging their kind. If someone does not fit into your world, your world is just too small. Hence, the only way these problems can be fixed is by expanding our spectrum and realizing that at the end of the day we are all humans irrespective of our gender, identity, sexual preference, or anything else.

References:

[1]Facts and figures: Ending violence against women, UN women, https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/facts-and-figures

[2] Sexual Assault and the LGBTQ community, Human Rights Campaign, https://www.hrc.org/resources/sexual-assault-and-the-lgbt-community

[3] Statistics about sexual violence, National sexual violence resource centre, https://www.nsvrc.org/sites/default/files/publications_nsvrc_factsheet_media-packet_statistics-about-sexual-violence_0.pdf

[4] Supra 2

[5] Female Genital Mutilation, World Health Organization, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation

This article has been authored by Subah Tagotra, a student at Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur.