Sexual Violence
Under domestic violence, one of the most common forms of violence that is seen in the country and throughout the world is sexual violence. Due to the nature of this problem, very few in depth research have been conducted on it. Research that was done in South Africa and Tanzania suggests that nearly one in four women may experience sexual violence by an intimate partner, and up to one-third of adolescent girls report their first sexual experience as being forced. In India too, sexual violence during first night after wedding is very common especially with the submissive nature of Indian women and the dominance of Indian men.
Sexual violence has a profound impact on physical and mental health of an individual. Not just that it also has both immediate and long term consequences. It can have an impact on mental health as on physical as well. Sexual violence can also profoundly affect the social life of the victim. In India especially, with the orthodox mentality prevailing strongly in the rural parts, individuals may be stigmatized and detested by their families and others in the society and the neighborhood.
Sexual violence, especially in domestic violence, is usually a result of the expression of power and dominance of one sex over another in most cases, dominance of the husband over his wife. The problem aggravates when men think that their actions are legitimate just because they are married and that they have full control and power over their wives. Also in our country, women really do not talk about domestic sexual violence because they too think that their husbands have a right to torture them and rape them and that all they can do is shed some tears. This is seen in remote rural areas of the country. Many of the women and men are also be raped when in police custody or in prison. The common consequences of sexual violence are those related to mental health and social wellbeing being disrupted.
