As anticipated the hullabulla surrounding the Delhi gangrape last month is finally dying down. What is of interest is the backlash against the women: Woman are responsible for their rape; Women will be punished like Sita etc etc.
I think media (we, the barking dogs!!!) should stop reporting all this nonsense and maybe they will stop uttering these illogical the ridiculous statements. It is the media attention which makes these people and if they stop getting it these kind of remarks are likely to become a rarity. It is time for media to take a stand. This is of course an utopian idea. English metropolitan media and the vernacular media is never likely to come on one platform. They barely acknowledge the presence of the other. The only thing that unites them is a situation when they have to show solidarity with other journalists. For instance, if a hi-profile journo is involved in some underhand dealing etc it is likely to go unreported or it might get one-column news in some corner because of unwritten rule of standing by our own.
Coming back to the backlash, am not sure how we (women) can fight it. Anything and everything we do is a problem. Our very existence is irksome. If we stay at home and raise sons like Ram, Mukesh, Vinay and Akshay, we will be derided; if we are lucky to get education and decide to work, we would be somehow responsible for our own safety and security. There is no scope for human errors like getting in a wrong bus.
In the midst of all this one thing is certain...the going definitely gets tough for Indian women. It is more difficult than it was to be a woman in this country.
I think media (we, the barking dogs!!!) should stop reporting all this nonsense and maybe they will stop uttering these illogical the ridiculous statements. It is the media attention which makes these people and if they stop getting it these kind of remarks are likely to become a rarity. It is time for media to take a stand. This is of course an utopian idea. English metropolitan media and the vernacular media is never likely to come on one platform. They barely acknowledge the presence of the other. The only thing that unites them is a situation when they have to show solidarity with other journalists. For instance, if a hi-profile journo is involved in some underhand dealing etc it is likely to go unreported or it might get one-column news in some corner because of unwritten rule of standing by our own.
Coming back to the backlash, am not sure how we (women) can fight it. Anything and everything we do is a problem. Our very existence is irksome. If we stay at home and raise sons like Ram, Mukesh, Vinay and Akshay, we will be derided; if we are lucky to get education and decide to work, we would be somehow responsible for our own safety and security. There is no scope for human errors like getting in a wrong bus.
In the midst of all this one thing is certain...the going definitely gets tough for Indian women. It is more difficult than it was to be a woman in this country.
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