Why Men Rape: An Indian Undercover Investigation

by Tara Kaushal

“Women should follow their maryada and stay in their culturally ordained place.” He thought we shouldn’t be in the workforce at all—“Men are made for the public. Women are made for the home … The career of having kids is the best thing for her.” And he resented women’s ‘erotic capital’ that we exploited to enter it. A woman was preferred as a salesperson because “the boss would get bored looking at the boy” and “lots of people come to see her.” Likewise: “Have you ever seen a company’s boss’s assistant being male?” Meanwhile, men were still expected to pay for everything: “I went to recharge my phone, that ten-rupee one. I told him I needed to recharge to speak to my girlfriend. He said, ‘You’re a beggar and you still have a girlfriend?’ I said, ‘Saale, girlfriend ne hi toh bhikaari banaaya hai!’*”