Among some other countries, women in India are still deprived of many fundamental rights, including being able to prosecute husbands for forced sex. Recently, there was an attempt to change it. The Indian lawmakers are working hard to criminalise marital rape.
This change is a much-needed and long-overdue step. But sadly, rather than applauding this legalization as it would save so many women from being abused by their own husbands, this step was met with criticism.
“criminalization of marital rape will break the institution of marriage” no, if marriage is based on disallowing women autonomy over their own body then it is an institution rooted in misogyny and oppression of women and it’s high time for it to go through a major reform.
— Anoushka 🌿 (@_livinginpages) January 14, 2022
A certain section of society thinks that this criminalization will allow women to wrongly accuse men of sexual violation.
But, sadly, this fear of being “unfairly charged” for rape is often accompanied by a complete lack of understanding of consent – and that could be the reason why so many people (most of them, men) were against the reform.
To voice their fear and criticism against the reform, many people, mostly men started a trend on social media, that is – #marriagestrike.
Indian MRAs are calling for a #MarriageStrike because the courts are hearing pleas to criminalise marital rape. pic.twitter.com/xRhs0HvcN0
— TakedownMRAs (@TakedownMRAs) January 18, 2022
Is that supposed to be a threat? pic.twitter.com/D8I1BbNbx9
— TakedownMRAs (@TakedownMRAs) January 18, 2022
It seems they do not want to get married if marital rape is criminalised because of the reason mentioned above.
Sadly, some of these men believe that women’s rights, especially married women’s rights, as secondary to their husbands’. And because of that they have chosen to not tie the knot at all (or at least falsely announce the same on social media).
#MarriageStrike
— Thor’s Hammer (@smartadis) January 18, 2022
Personal differences with husband are turned into criminal cases based on mere allegations by wife pic.twitter.com/Qatw7ECIkC
How #MaritalRape law will be used by women. #MarriageStrike#विवाह_बहिष्कार pic.twitter.com/AjLcc4gZCv
— Veer Bhadra MRA (@SilverCavill) January 18, 2022
Why focus is only on empowering women, even though they dont need it ??#MarriageStrike
— Himanshu Jain (@hjain021) January 18, 2022
In response to this trend, many came forward and shared a very clear and powerful message for such men. It was:
“If criminalisation of marital rape makes you want to boycott marriage, go ahead. Because it means you don’t deserve the marriage. Do women a favour and stay away from them. If you can’t understand the severity of why marital rape needs to be criminalized, then you don’t have any right to call anyone your wife!”
Men deciding to opt out of marriage if marital rape is criminalised is a huge win-win for the feminist movement. #MarriageStrike
— Siddharth (@DearthOfSid) January 19, 2022
May the #MarriageStrike be never called off, ever!
— UrbanShrink (@UrbanShrink) January 19, 2022
May the #MarriageStrike be never called off. Full support to Indian men. 🤡
— Soumya (@triggerednari) January 19, 2022
#MarriageStrike is such a wonderful way of letting us know the kind of men we should avoid at all times.
— Ray Stings (@Purba_Ray) January 19, 2022
I genuinely don’t understand what the men are fighting for — the right to rape their wives? Because the debate on hand is simple — criminalise marital rape. If men are against that, it means they want to be able to rape their wives. And that should be genuine cause for alarm.
— Rituparna Chatterjee (@MasalaBai) January 19, 2022
Men tweeting in favour of #marriagestrike are potential rapists. Possible rapists. Previous rapists. Why would any man who is self-respecting not want for marital rape to be criminalised? How can there be legal protection for rape only becauseit happens in a marriage?
— Dr Meena Kandasamy (is on hiatus) (@meenakandasamy) January 19, 2022
If criminalising marital rape is against your idea of “family system”, then that system should be destroyed beyond repair. If your “civilisation” collapses because of it, then it very well should.
— Siddharth (@DearthOfSid) January 15, 2022
At IFORHER, we hope this law is changed as soon as possible so that we can see a day where a woman can tell her spouse that he’d be in jail if he even thinks of laying a finger on her without her consent. Moreover, stupid social media trends like #strikemarriage only act as further proof that we, women, need the law to back us.