Another women’s day round the corner. The internet is abuzz
with brands campaigning, showing their love and devotion to the welfare of
women. The blog sites are full of content that might or might not be useful for
women or feminism. I mean I don’t know whether men really want to know how
female gestures are better than her saying I love you. It’s all relative, but
not quite I guess.
As always, the hashtag activism team is spread out over
twitter, talking about #IndiasDaughter and the #BeefBan; both hashtags trending
in the top five on twitter. While the beef ban discomforts me, making sure to let
me know that more bans on personal choice is yet to come, the ban on the
documentary by BBC boils my blood. The hypocrisy is astounding! The documentary
supposedly maligns the Indian culture. Hence, our good government officials
have banned it. The stupidity lies in the fact that if you ban it in India, it
still goes out to the public everywhere else. Notice the irony.
A documentary by definition, records the truth. Nothing is
falsified, nothing is imaginary. India has a growing rape culture and it is
high time, the government accepts that instead of rallying against
documentaries and justifying rape. 94 women are raped in India every day. More
than 50% of the children in India are sexually abused. Our country is ranked
114 among the 137 countries in the Global Gender Gap Report. Wake up India, and
smell the rape culture. It’s here. You cannot ignore it by closing your eyes.
The last time I was in Gokarna, I met this British woman who
said “India is the rapiest country I’ve been to. I have never had more men
trying to rape me and groping me out of nowhere.” I had no response because I
knew she was right. This is what tourists are taking back from our country. Our
men grope, lech and take pictures of women in bikinis without their consent. They
treat women like objects and playthings. Banning a documentary isn’t going to
change that.
And why the ban? What the rapist said about the victim in
the Nirbhaya rape case is what half the country thinks. Does it offend you to
see the truth on camera? Does it offend you to introspect? I have first-hand
experience of what people think ‘gets women raped’. Educated people, people
with PHDs and people with wealth and culture think women should not go out at
night, that they should wear modest clothes, that they should not visit pubs
and clubs. And a documentary offends you? Your hypocrisy offends me.
Also, no one seems to be talking about the title of the
documentary, ‘India’s Daughters’. Women are citizens, individuals, not
daughters or mothers or sisters. We need to stop defining a woman in possessive
terms. The paradox being that even a documentary that defines a rape culture,
uses a name that further negates our fight for equality.
None of the discourses on the internet that trend, help
feminism. Most of the rape cases in cities and lesser urban areas don’t even
find coverage in the national dailies. Indians are an accommodating race. We
are accommodating a culture of rape, of male dominion, of fear without doing
anything substantial about it. Oh wait, we are doing something. We are blaming
the victims, we are posing philosophical questions and we are suggesting yoga
as a counter measure for rape.
I am weary of all the inconsistencies and the sexism and misogyny
hiding in plain sight in the virtual and real world, and I am just 25. What keeps
me going are the wonderful women who are trying to fight it all. I am grateful
for all the feminist authors, comedians, entrepreneurs, singers and everyday
women who are fighting patriarchy one day at a time. This women’s day is for
you. My fight gets stronger because of you. Thank you.
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