Girliyapa associated with The Viral Fever came out with an audacious video about a subject that is very easily shoved under the carpet in India – Marital Rape.
Something which our society assumes, ‘is not possible in our country’. This doesn’t come as a surprise in a country where discussions and debates over ‘rape’ still have people blaming the victim for the same.
The concept of ‘CONSENT’ is clearly not understood. And we merrily roast in our ignorance towards something as serious as marital rape.
Spoofing the popular sitcom HIMYM, Girliyapa provocatively named their video ‘How I raped your Mother’ which hits real hard to all the ignorant minds out there who offer bizarre statements to explain that marital rape doesn’t exist in India.
Ironically, Maneka Gandhi, who is the Minister for Women and Child Welfare claims that marital rape cannot be applied to the Indian context because we consider marriage to be a sacred union, which has been mocked in the video.
Well, that is exactly the mindset they show when Devika, the protagonist, claims that she is raped and the entire family is infuriated but when she says that her husband Arun is the perpetrator, everyone bursts into a fit of laughter, because duh, you are your husband’s property now!
All sorts of mundane explanations and distorted logic that our society gives to suggest that marital rape doesn’t exist are demonstrated and they substitute marital rape with either ‘intense love-making’ or a ‘friendly gesture that is misunderstood’ by the wife.
Patriarchy has seeped so deep into our system that even women refuse to believe that martial rape exists.
Everyone, including the women of the family (which includes her mother), convinces her that this happens after marriage and the mother normalizes the horrific act by saying that her father until now “rap…..umm…makes intense love to her”.
A brutally honest portrayal of the society’s belief system that a man earns for the family and deals with the big bad world out there thus gives him the right to come home and vent out his frustration on his wife by having sex with her, regardless of her consent mirrors the cringe-worthy mindset.
The subtlety of the video in delivering its message does a commendable job in showing all that is wrong with the Indian mentality.
It takes potshots at our male dominated society when the father of the daughter touches the feet of the son-in-law or when the mother offers Arun Virgin Mojito or Sex on the Beach and he chooses the former, which subtly mocks our society’s fixation with virginity.
The clever use of background sounds like that of an audience portrays the sort of reactions our country would give when women talk about this issue.
The final nail in the coffin is when the family succeeds in convincing Devika that there is nothing wrong with what happens to her. Although some people watching the video who liked it, contest the climax where the girl agrees to go back to her husband saying that she should have taken her stand.
But I believe that the move is necessary as the woman submits to everyone’s claims and learns to shove the issue like all the women in her family. This is indeed a reflection of the reality which pushes women into the ditch of patriarchy and misogyny.
In the last segment of the video where the actors ask the viewers to ‘like, share and subscribe, to their channel, they still emphasise their point that ‘NO MEANS NO’. This commentary is a sharp blow to patriarchy.
Girlyapa delivers their message with a bucket full of satire, sarcasm and powerfully attempt to shake people’s conscience and gnaw the layers of ignorance over it by wrapping their hard-hitting message in satirical comedy, which tickles our funny bone and hopefully spurs the much-required change with this video.
Kudos to Girliyapa!
Check Out The Video Here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLLxUvdmQpw
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