So Brazil got ‘raped’, huh?

Okay, so ‘Brazil’ got raped. Now what can they do? Should they lock themselves up in the basement of their houses, never to show their faces in public again or gather up their courage and report the crime, only to be leered at? More humiliation in store for them, irrespective of what they choose to do. And what are the so-called ‘rapists’ doing? Oh, they are probably celebrating the ‘rape’ with a drink or two and then go into the finals with bounding enthusiasm to do the same to the next team in line, while a whole crowd of people cheers them on?  

Is there even an iota of logic or meaning in comparing the two situations? So suffering a crushing defeat is equivalent to being raped? And a rape- er is actually the winner? Glorifying a word as distasteful and horrendous as ‘rape’ to a plaything? What does one try to prove when they say that they are going to “totally rape their opponents in the game”? In what way does it act as a motivation? In which perverted recesses of the mind, does it feel good to say something like this aloud and instead of being filled with feelings of distaste and aversion, you get more invigorated? Well, I would never!

Whatever caused the use of this word to be so flippant, thrown out like a common random word without being given a second thought to its implication? So, ever wondered that while you were discussing your “brutal” game tactics in the bus, the person sitting right behind you might be a rape victim still struggling to come to terms with the incident or probably trying to come out of the situation to start leading a normal life? I really doubt that her next action after getting down from the bus, would be to walk to the nearest police station and lodge a complaint against her attackers. And what are the chances of a rape victim being there behind you at a bus, you ask? Pretty much, actually because according to statistics, one out of every five woman is a victim of rape in our country. Startling, yeah?

People, you may say, that its only a joke and it really isn’t necessary for me to get so riled up about it. But chew on this, how is it that the term is used only used when men are involved? Ever heard of Saina Nehwal raping Wang Yihan? No, right? So using the word ‘rape’ makes the players appear more masculine and strong? Such twisted logic.

The the culture of being ‘cool’ in front of others and the blatant disregard to the term, actually reflects the undertones of the society. The fact that you can use the term in such a frivolous manner, reflects the general attitude towards it. We frequently use expressions for killing or murder to show our displeasure. So you could say, how come am I not condemning that? That is because its generally accepted that killing is bad, it doesn’t have this entire stigma attached like rape has. Taking someone’s life is a heinous crime. Period. Ever heard of people asking questions like, “Was he/she asking for it?” or “Were they actually liking it while they were being killed?” or comments like “If you can’t stop it, you might as well enjoy it!”, for a murder victim? Sounds so weird!

Using the term ‘rape’ to describe a crushing humiliating defeat or thousands of other oblique references or hyperbole that are there. So. Not. Done.