Monday, March 18, 2013

Living in a Rape Culture - India and USA

Amber Dorrian-Larson and Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly
(March 17, 2013) Indian police arrested five men Sunday after the gang rape of a Swiss woman attacked in central India while on a cycling vacation with her husband. The five [possibly tortured, have allegedly] admitted to the attack, which occurred Friday night as the couple camped in a forest in Madhya Pradesh state, said D.K. Arya, a senior police  officer.
  
Thai mural: Buddha with devas, monastics, and lay "hearers" or savakas (Chanel_Love/flickr)
 
Free English version
Did the Buddha, who lived in India, have anything to say about sexual misconduct, rape, and inappropriate sexual contact between teachers and students?
 
In Buddhist terms kamesu micchacara (sensual misconduct) is epitomized as sexual misconduct. It is one of the Ten Courses of Unwholesome Conduct -- behavior with the power, if it should karmically-ripen near the time of one's passing, to lead like a corridor or causeway to unfortunate rebirth destinations.
 
Later Mahayana schools changed rules
In the Book of Monastic Discipline, originally written on ola palm leaves, bound, and kept in a basket (pitaka), the Buddha makes it incontrovertibly clear that a monastic (monk or nun) asking for sexual favors as a form of service is guilty of a serious offense. 
  
If the sexual act is consummated, it is a DEFEAT (parajika) offense for that monastic, entailing immediate and irreversible expulsion from the monastic Order (Sangha). There are only five such defeat-offenses: killing, stealing, causing a schism, and/or lying about spiritual attainments being the other four.

The Buddha imagined how easy it would be for monastics to abuse their exalted position in society. It is to be expected that we as unenlightened beings will suffer from four poisons of the heart/mind. Greed, hatred, fear, and delusion beset all unawakened beings. These bonds, while present, need not be acted on. The Code of Discipline ensures conduct that will keep the Sangha a viable institution for as long as possible. It also has as its goal the prosperity of well-conducted monastics, the subduing of ill-conducted monastics, and the longevity of the Dharma or liberating-teaching of the Buddha in the world.

We will be exploring these issues in much more detail.
 
US teen-rapists found guilty in Ohio
(DemocracyNow.org) Two high school football players in Steubenville, Ohio, have been found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl at a party last August. On Sunday, the teenagers, Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond, were found delinquent in the sexual assault of the girl who witnesses testified was too drunk to move or speak. 

Two small town football stars in court
The case sparked a national controversy following the emergence of images and social media postings from the night of the assault. Alexandria Goddard, a true crime blogger who first exposed crucial evidence in the case by taking screen shots of incriminating social media posts, photographs, and videos before they could be deleted by the posters. The mythic hacker group "Anonymous" picked up on Goddard's posts and released shocking video from the night of the assault. Democracy Now! also speaks to Marc Randazza, a First Amendment lawyer who represented Goddard when she was unsuccessfully sued for defamation. "I'm convinced that if she hadn't started blogging about this," explains Randazza, "and Anonymous hadn't taken up the standard, that this case would have been swept under the rug."
  • (CNN) Two high school football players were convicted today in an Ohio rape case that gained worldwide attention through, and then focused on, social media. In a trial that divided the football-crazed Rust Belt town of Steubenville, Trent Mays, 17, and Ma'lik Richmond, 16, were found guilty of raping a drunk [and incapacitated] 16-year-old girl. The case attracted the attention of bloggers -- and even the loosely organized [likely make believe] hacking group, Anonymous -- who questioned everything from the behavior of the football team to the integrity of the investigation. More (plus video)Porn star: I was raped in Steubenville - Bully attacks teen girl in classroom - VIDEO: Guy pushes girlfriend off cliff (humor)
Rape on U.S. military bases left unchecked
(Jul 16, 2012) "The Invisible War" reveals how the military disciplinary process has fostered a culture in which sexual assault against a victim on active duty is... 
Leon Panetta: Military's handling of rape is "an outrage"
(Sep 27, 2012) U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said in an interview this week with NBC's Natalie Morales that the military's tendency to sweep rape under the rug... 
(Oct 6, 2012) U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta at a press conference [said] Women serving in the U.S. military are more likely to be raped by a...
Man's rape conviction overturned, but still in prison
 
Five men arrested in India for raping Swiss
(Jan 14, 2013) Indian police have arrested six suspects for an alleged gang rape of a bus passenger in India, four weeks after a similar and brutal attack in New Delhi on a student who later died caused outrage across the country. More
 
Rapists bringing disgrace to India
(March 17, 2013) Police in India said they arrested five men Sunday in connection with the gang rape of a Swiss woman who was attacked in central India while on a cycling vacation with her husband. All five men [have allegedly] admitted to the attack, which occurred Friday night as the woman and her husband camped out in a forest in Datia district of Madhya Pradesh state, said D.K. Arya, a senior police officer. Arya said the men, who are from nearby villages, were arrested in Datia. Police were searching for two other men believed to have been involved in the attack, he said. The couple told police that the woman had been raped by seven or eight men, but that it was dark and they could not be sure of the exact number, Arya said. They said the husband also was attacked by the men. The woman, 39, was treated Saturday at a hospital in the nearby city of Gwalior and was released later that day, police said. The couple were planning to travel later Sunday from Datia to the Indian capital of New Delhi, about 250 miles (400 kms) to the north, Arya said. More
(March 11, 2013) One of the five men accused in the gang rape of a 23-year-old Indian woman -- a crime that received widespread international attention -- was found dead in his jail cell. Preetika Rana discusses the latest developments.

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