In a nutshell

• People claim the words “if rape is inevitable, enjoy it” came from Napoleon or Confucius
• Another closely related phrase is “when you can’t beat them join them”
• Update: Nabil Gabol apologises for remarks

PPP’s Nabil Gabol has come under fire for uttering what many other nut job politicians from the US to India have said in the past: “If rape is inevitable, enjoy it.”

Worse still, he has been trying to explain his words, apparently having failed to fathom the seriousness of horror they caused. Both the statement and the explanation underscore a wider problem that many men, or most men, do not understand.

Gabol spoke three months ago on the podcast Pakistan Experience hosted by Shehzad Ghias Shaikh. His remarks went viral on Sunday when Muneeb Qadir posted a clip from the podcast to Twitter. Gabol was discussing the grit politicians needed to show in the face of oppression, but he started with a wrong “example.”

“See, I will give you an example. In English there is a saying when rape is imminent, just enjoy it,” Gabol said, replacing the word ‘inevitable’ in other instances of usage with ‘imminent.’

The host was quick to point out this was not a saying. “It is,” Gabol insisted, and then went on to say that if one could bear injustice, one should just do it and enjoy it. “Otherwise, you should stand up and don’t bear it,” he said.

Comparing rape with grit

Gabol is not the first politician to trivialize rape and he has not done it for the first time. He used the exact same words in a January 2012 tweet on his Twitter handle @Nabilgabol.

Others who made light of rape include Texas politician Clayton Williams, who in 1990, “compared the cold, foggy weather spoiling the event to a rape,” according to a New York Times clipping available online.

In December 2021, Karnataka lawmaker Ramesh Kumar came under fire for saying on the floor of the legislative assembly, “when rape is inevitable, lie down and enjoy it”. He too relief on the “saying” when he wanted to describe a difficult situation that the Speaker of the house was facing at the time.

In April 2022, Michigan politician Robert Regan made “lie back and enjoy it” remarks as an attempt to draw an analogy about abandoning the effort to decertify the 2020 election.

All of these politicians insinuated that if you are faced with a painfully difficult situation, it amounts to being subjected to rape.

The two US politicians—incidentally both from the anti-prochoice Republican party—were told loud and clear that rape happens to be a crime. This seems to not have much effect on them.

Men are as good at philosophy and mathematics as women, but the fault lies in the quixotic idea of ‘being a man.’

It is not that men don’t have the capacity to understand complex things and ideas. They are as good at Philosophy and Mathematics as women, but the fault lies in the quixotic idea of ‘being a man.’

And here is the proof.

Origins of ‘rape is inevitable’

If you Google for the origins of the ‘rape is inevitable…’ statement, you may find people attributing it to Napoleon or Confucius.

People who have used this offensive “maxim” or “saying”—as they like to call it—include broadcasters, sportsmen, and at least one Pakistani newspaper editor I know personally.

In 1976, an American weatherman claimed the words came from Confucius.

People from China reject the claim that Confucius, who lived 2500 years ago, said anything to that effect.

Pakistani Twitter user Fahad Desmukh (@desmukh) says he found the remark came “from a 1998 novel by Jonathan Ames titled The Extra Man in which a character attributes it to Napoleon for comic effect. The book was adapted to film in 2010.”

For centuries, men have lived with the notion of valour shown in the face of bodily harm, including death, which one should embrace without complaint so that it becomes honourable.

This leads to the belief that rape is just another form of bodily harm that becomes “inevitable” under certain circumstances like death. The “lie down and enjoy it” quote attributed to renowned people is used to lend credence to the assertion.

The following sums up this convoluted thinking: You either fight back your enemy or take it quietly. There is no point in raising a hue and cry when you’re too feeble to defend yourself.

What you should do then?

Some people may seek refuge in another closely related saying, “When you can’t beat them, join them.” This again testifies to ill-conceived ideas many of us have adopted. The scripture would not grant such a belief.

Another twisted notion about rape haunted women in Pakistan for decades because laws conflated rape with adultery or fornication until the 2006 Women Protection Act changed it.

In Islam, rape is akin to highway robbery (Hirabah) or creating mischief on earth (Fasad-fil-Arz). Comparing it with other forms of bodily harm or adultery is insensitive.

Correction: An earlier version of this story was incorrectly attributed to Tasneem Ahmar. She has written separately on the rape comments in Urdu: ریپ کو خدارا چسکا نہ بنائیں