Saturday 12 January 2013

Change mentality, not clothes!

A self-acknowledged demigod advocates the idea that a woman deserves being raped if she didn’t have the social grace of begging in front of psychopaths to release her, indeed an innovative idea of self-defense. Another gentleman under his inconsiderate
reasoning tells that urbanization is at the root of sexual assaults. To one minister if a woman violates the restrictions (basically exercises her rights) laid on her by the society then she loses all her civil rights to be protected and there arises no question of any justice for she happily embraced the trouble. Few others are in the efforts to swathe school girls with layers of clothes in an attempt to preclude perversion of men. One more leader in his insanity confided that husband is a divine being to be worshiped by his mortal wife. And the country’s speediest fast-track court (Khap Panchayat) has come out with a solution that child marriage is at the rescue of the civilization in avoiding rapes and to the heights of erratic reasoning they claim that chow mein is at the root of incidents like rape.

When you hear these statements the first time, you are most likely to laugh out of your wits thinking these people are definitely at the limits of their mental resources. And it’s an obvious reaction to these morbid jokes that you would convince yourself to better neglect them than losing patience to such absolutely futile thought processes. But rest assured that these remarks are to be taken seriously because every person who has commented above, whether we like it or not is an influential figure among the mass around him. And the statements are a deliberate attempt of theirs to strengthen their holding in the kind of community they operate. They exploit every chance to instil partisan or ideological point of view in their followers which they know would aid in gaining adherence from their target section.

Working towards their agenda, they have a product to sell which I name as Impunity Licence! This permit entitles privileges only to those citizens who are technically male. It’s a license which gives the holder freedom of choice in terms of clothing, roaming, drinking, outing and socializing. Usually these are fundamental rights of any citizen in a democracy. However, the proposition by these masterminds is subtly different. The rider to this license says that, “Women in their own interest should keep themselves covered, avoid going out after sunset, should not socialize and confine to themselves to the bounds of conservatism. And in case of violation of these she might become object of pleasure of the license holder who can mete out any kind of behaviour at his will, for which the woman is not eligible to appeal for fairness because her violation to the rules was inherently nothing but sexual seduction”. In a nutshell, it’s a license to get licentious.

It is well acknowledged that freedom can’t subsist without order. This permit defies this basic understanding for in this case freedom is given to one party but the onus to ensure that freedom is not misused lies on to the shoulder of entirely different set of members of the society, wherein this section is not only expected to follow certain code of conduct but is also blamed for any mishap. Vulnerable is answerable! And what if we do not approve of this mentality; silently ignoring is nothing less than supporting it. If this issue is not given a thought then soon it will become a part of larger society. Hence, men and women have equal contribution in letting this attitude nurture and thrive. The biggest mistake is letting others decide your limits to freedom and never questioning.
Now, the question that arises is that what kind of culture are we trying to promote! If a society hints at accepting that the testosterone levels in the community members become unmanageable by a single peek of skin, should mean that their people ought to be given some treatment to manipulate or handle their libido just like how vaccination is given to dogs to prevent from becoming rabid. What does this reflect? You are paving ways for a culture of rampant voyeurism to creep into the society. And the consequences will be grave if we don’t work on the root cause- mentality and stop chasing shortcuts of shifting blames for solutions.

A civilized society is formed of cultivated beings and not merely educated class. As a leader is a reflection of the society, it becomes a serious concern if people follow and are fond of chauvinists. Responsible guide would work towards engendering conscience in people rather than teach (a person or group of people) systematically to accept doctrines, especially uncritically.  

Freedom is not valued until it is taken away from you. Now, it is high time that we acknowledge “bodily integrity” as a fundamental right by showing zero tolerance to any irresponsible behaviour, attitude and absurd biased societal restrictions; otherwise Will Durant’s contemplation that “When liberty becomes license, dictatorship is near!” will soon become a reality.

PS:
Martha Nassbaum (American philosopher and a board member of the Human Rights Program) defines bodily integrity as: “Being able to move freely from place to place; being able to be secure against violent assault, including sexual assault; having opportunities for sexual satisfaction and for choice in matters of reproduction”.

William James Durant (Will Durant) was a stimulating American writer, historian, and philosopher of the 19th century.

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