India and its Obsession with Heterosexuality: Understanding Corrective Rape

Abstract

“I was not at fault; I didn’t deserve this. But it’s so hard to believe when I am alone”

The above mentioned, is a statement given by a victim of corrective rape in South Africa. On 28th April 2008, the bloody and lifeless body of a woman was found- naked, in a drainage ditch in South Africa. She was gang raped, savagely beaten and stabbed about nine times. Her name, was Eudy Simelane. The famous player in South Africa’s national soccer team and one of the first openly lesbian women in the region. The term “corrective rape” was coined after this case. The brutal rape and murder of Eudy Simelane, brought attention to other horrendous cases of corrective rape around the world. It was in mid-2008 that people realized that ‘corrective rape’ was a thing; but attention was not and is still not paid towards the severity of this crime.

Although this is an issue that affects people globally, our paper focuses on the issue of corrective rape in India. Not only is there a massive lack of information on the part of the citizens, the government too, hasn’t taken any major steps towards dealing with this social evil.