Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal: "India's Daughter" (banned rape documentary)

Thursday, March 5, 2015

"India's Daughter" (banned rape documentary)

Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Dhr. Seven, Seth Auberon, Pat Macpherson, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Leslee Udwin, Andrea CrossanShefali S. Kulkarni (PRI's The World)

Raping Scottish-American pop star Lana Del Rey in a sensual fantasy sex sequence.

(TRFI) BANNED documentary "India's Daughter" is a powerful film by Leslee Udwin about the gang rape and murder of Jyoti Singh which set India alight. It was banned in India but shown recently on the BBC in England when India failed to stop it. Its broadcast is planned as part of International Women's Day 2015. The BBC moved up its broadcast to March 4 2015.

India: new rapes surface May 2014 (Azam Husain/Barcroft Media/Landov/npr.org)

This story is part of Across Women's Lives (PRI/The World/BBC)

The director of "India's Daughter" flees India out of fear she'll be arrested

Drunk or drugged sex is rape.

The worldwide release of controversial documentary "India's Daughter" was set for March 8, to mark International Women's Day. But a preview that was released Wednesday stirred such a controversy that India's government moved to halt the film's distribution entirely, and the film's producer moved up its release in Britain to Wednesday night.

The documentary, produced by the BBC and Storyville, explores the controversy and judicial case surrounding the fatal gang rape of a 23 year-old student in 2012.

Government officials in India sought -- and received -- an injunction preventing the film's release and prohibiting the publication of printed excerpts.

The documentary contains in-depth interviews with one of the six convicted rapists, a not-at-all-contrite Mukesh Singh, who is currently on death row.

Rape rampant in US military

We emphasize along with Director Leslee Udwin in saying this rapist and the other rapists are NOT the problem! They are symptoms of the problem. And the horrible state decision to kill him will in no way solve the problem. As Singh explains, it will actually worsen it as rapists become murderers in vain and fearful attempts to cover up their horrific crimes, a logical thing to do if the state will kill you for not doing it. When people cry for blood, cry for murder, cry for long prison sentences, punish-punish-punish, they are WORSENING the problem, continuing rape, aggravating criminality, washing their hands of it as if punishment prevented future crime or reconciled past crime. Instead we must do something. The cultures of the world, the institutions, the SEXISM are the problem, not some rapists sitting in jail. Most rapists are not in jail and never will be. Cry for victims, cry for the blood of perpetrators (also victims), and do nothing? Or cry and do something to save everyone? We don't have to have been raped to have been oppressed and harmed by sexism in all of our daily lives. It is not females alone who are damaged by sexism, patriarchy, distorted hypermasculinity, bias, prejudice, and separation of the biological sexes. Males are harmed, too! Inequality, unfairness, discrimination hurt and harm everyone, ruin society, cost us all the potential contributions of more than half the population. Race is fluid, a social construct, now we see that sex is, too. All of this homosexual, intersexual, transsexual, bisexual, and asexual backlash is due, we think, in large part to centuries of oppression of the sexes and sexual expression. Religion is much to blame, but racist/sexist science is hardly innocent in this arena. So whether you come as a scientist or religionist, JOIN US in taking down the dominant paradigm, the patriarchy, if you can. Why couldn't you? If someone defends this system, it is almost certain he or she is benefiting from this system or, to put it more tersely: "If you think the system is working, you probably work for the system."

According to some Christian universities, if someone rapes you, you are responsible. Why?

What some convicted rapists look like.

"The people who are saying this must not be seen, have not seen it," said film director Leslee Udwin.

"Let them spend one hour and see it and all of this nonsense will fall away because there is no ground, whatsoever to ban this film. It’s a responsible film, it's in the public interest -- it must be seen."

India blocks the release of controversial Delhi gang rape documentary — on Indian TV and on YouTube (Arts, Culture, Media, March 4, 2015)

Sexism: lesbians can also rape our daughters.

Now back in her London home, Udwin fled India out of fear of being arrested. Singh's comments during his interview show no remorse for his actions. At one point he tells Udwin that the victim should not have fought back while she was being raped.

Despite pressure from the Indian government, the BBC aired documentary on the BBC4 channel Wednesday night. But Udwin is pleading with Indian officials to air the documentary in the country where it was made.

I'm not gay; I'm a guard who rapes prisoners.

"I was shocked to learn my film was banned and -- more than shocked -- I’m desperately, desperately worried because I made this film out of gratitude to the Indian people who came out onto the streets in unprecedented vast numbers to fight for my rights as a woman," Udwin said. More

British filmmaker ("India's Daughter") Leslee Udwin at news conference in New Delhi on Tuesday before leaving India for fear of arrest. Udwin's film, about the fatal gang rape of a woman in New Delhi in 2012, has been banned in India (Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters).