The Indian Woman
The INdian Womn
This mentality leads families to treat them as objects who should remain pure and be controlled: women are their fathers' property, and later their husbands'. Parents worry so much about "losing face" in the community that while boys have all the freedom they want, girls are constantly advised not to do anything that would "bring shame". This mentality explains why so many are forced into marriages, or even murdered by their own parents. It leads to mothers excusing away the heinous crimes of their sons by saying: "If these girls roam around openly like this, then the boys will make mistakes."
In Bollywood films, men routinely chase and harass women. As SA Aiyar points out in the Times of India, old-time villain Ranjeet did close to 100 rape scenes, "with the audience almost cheering him on". The message from Bollywood is almost always that if you harass a woman enough, "no matter how often she says no, she'll ultimately say yes".
The gang rape and murder of the Delhi student wasn't an isolated incident. Reading the descriptions by Indian women of how they live in fear should make anyone worry deeply about the twisted beast that Indian culture has become. Most of all it should make my kind – men of Indian origin – sit up and ask: how did we get here? The epidemic of violence is obviously not good for women, but doesn't it also say something about the state of mind of Indian men that such crimes are on the increase?
Violence against women is a cultural problem. It is culture that leads to a country's laws, and culture that discourages or encourages this violence. So why isn't there a national debate about the social impact of 100 million missing women? There is a tendency to sweep this under the carpet, not just by Indians but even some westerners fearful of sounding racist. Emer O'Toole's article on Tuesday was a classic example of this genre, going as far as praising Indian politicians for their response, even though most protesters were
This mentality leads families to treat them as objects who should remain pure and be controlled: women are their fathers' property, and later their husbands'. Parents worry so much about "losing face" in the community that while boys have all the freedom they want, girls are constantly advised not to do anything that would "bring shame". This mentality explains why so many are forced into marriages, or even murdered by their own parents. It leads to mothers excusing away the heinous crimes of their sons by saying: "If these girls roam around openly like this, then the boys will make mistakes."
In Bollywood films, men routinely chase and harass women. As SA Aiyar points out in the Times of India, old-time villain Ranjeet did close to 100 rape scenes, "with the audience almost cheering him on". The message from Bollywood is almost always that if you harass a woman enough, "no matter how often she says no, she'll ultimately say yes".
The gang rape and murder of the Delhi student wasn't an isolated incident. Reading the descriptions by Indian women of how they live in fear should make anyone worry deeply about the twisted beast that Indian culture has become. Most of all it should make my kind – men of Indian origin – sit up and ask: how did we get here? The epidemic of violence is obviously not good for women, but doesn't it also say something about the state of mind of Indian men that such crimes are on the increase?
Violence against women is a cultural problem. It is culture that leads to a country's laws, and culture that discourages or encourages this violence. So why isn't there a national debate about the social impact of 100 million missing women? There is a tendency to sweep this under the carpet, not just by Indians but even some westerners fearful of sounding racist. Emer O'Toole's article on Tuesday was a classic example of this genre, going as far as praising Indian politicians for their response, even though most protesters were