The Roots of India's Rape Crisis

When Jyoti Singh Pandey and her boyfriend left the movie theater in Saket, South Delhi on the night of December 16, the busses had stopped running, and the local cabbies wouldn't take them where they wanted to go. At a loss on how to get home, they were approached by a man who said his bus was available. They accepted the ride.

When her boyfriend tried to get the bus driver to stop and let them out, the five men on the bus started beating him until, hit on the head with an iron rod, he was knocked unconscious. Then the men dragged Jyoti to the back of the bus and began beating and raping her.

The rape sparked protests across India. The world was horrified, but the rape of Jyoti Singh was only the tip of the iceberg in India, where rape had reached epidemic proportions. Some people blamed the caste system; others blamed western culture, particularly movies and television. Indian traditionalists blamed the women because of how they dressed and behaved. Feminists blamed "patriarchy."

In The Roots of India's Rape Crisis, renowned social critic E. Michael Jones looks even deeper into the roots of the rape crisis in India to explain the situation there.