Revisiting the discourse of gendering crime

Laws are meant to regulate the behavior of human beings with the conformity of equality, equity, fairness and justice. Though legal regimes in South Asian countries greatly attributed to religious, social, cultural repercussions towards a set of norms, sometimes the execution of these rules revolve only around the weaker gender of society. That masculine conundrum of abiding rules sometimes caused dismay among fellow citizens. If we gaze at the platitudes of ethical discourse, the conclusion often reaches to one point of convergence that is 'morality cannot be subjective, it must have some objective connotation'. In our country's perspective, if we think morality as a product of some ethical, religious and idyllic thoughts, it has also some neutral standing stone to placate the sense of justice. The submissive and subjugating approach by assumed dominant gender towards the weaker gender of society in regards to crime cause anarchy. This subliminal non-legal aspect of crime should be initiated in the discourse of socio-psychological causation of crime.

Recently, a video went viral in social media showing a female was smoking in the public place of Rajshahi City. On that place, many other males were also smoking. But this particular woman was humiliated for not being a violator of law but being a 'woman' smoking in public. So lets' stare for a moment at the relevant law applicable in this situation. Bangladesh became a Party to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control on February 27, 2005. Mandated by constitutional provision of improving public health as a primary duty, the government enacted "Smoking and Using of Tobacco Products (control) Act 2005". According to section 4 of the Act, it is prohibited to smoke in public places and public vehicles. Section 4 also made it a penal offence by imposing fine. The language of this section is clear enough to trace and does not implicate any gender prerogatives. Interestingly, in that viral video, the scolding males were dispersing ponderous ethics toward the female when they think the same deviant act as quite right for them because they are the 'Alpha Male'!

A close perusal of religious scriptures in this regard also suggested gender-neutral directives to follow. Neither Law nor religion opens up the venture to interpret rules with the prism of patriarchy. It is the subconscious dominant features of distorted masculinity that determine the unjust thinking line of right and wrong. According to marginalisation theory of female criminality, inducing women to a constant marginalised position as a victim or as a perpetrator is self-derogatory. When socialisation process makes women a second sex and tries to hold them as downcast, women become more prone to violating the norms.

The writer is Lecturer, Department of Law and Human Rights, University of Asia Pacific.