I recently watched the documentary Shame concerning the tribal gang rape of Mukhtaran Mai. Her family is from a remote Pakistani village where justice was in the hands of tribal elders and she was sentenced to public gang rape as punishment for her younger brother being sexually involved with a girl from a higher caste rival clan. The documentary focuses on Mukhtaran's courage, the Pakistani legal process as well as the changes brought to Mai's village in light of the international furor at her ordeal.
I do applaud Mukhtaran for her courage to speak out in a society where rape victims are seen as bringing dishonor to their families, and especially her efforts to use her suffering to bring education to her village by opening new schools and international attention to the plight of rape victims. However, more so than that, I am outraged at the failure of the documentary and society in general to address is the fact her brother, who at the time was only twelve, was raped and, unlike her, was tortured as well.
There was no media outcry for him, he received no international fanfare and no charges were filed on his behalf. There was brief discussion in the documentary about Pakistani women symbolizing a family's honor and status, ergo the rape of a woman is far worse than that of a man.
Be that as it may, the homosexual rape and torture of a twelve-year-old boy is equally if not more appalling than the rape of a thirty-year-old woman; it is sad that his ordeal was brushed off while the world is supposed to stop turning for her.
