Women always had been easy preys for all the experiments of men. Men decide what “their women” wear; they talk, walk and even breathe. Its common mentality that “Dignified” women don’t sit cross legged; they don’t talk loud in a group, don’t attend social functions, travel as much alone as “their” men. What is Unfortunate is even lot of women think “why do we need freedom?”
There are several rules to live as women. They are called grandmother rules. Some of them are …
- Do not go walk around in any crowded public place…
- Don’t ever make eye-contact with a strange man, …..
- Any woman who sits in a restaurant alone or …..Etc etc.
One of the major reason people give for molestation is “cloths”. The dress she wears, the way she behaves in public, is inviting trouble. These are very strong point justifying perverts “rights”. I read a bold post on this topic, by wannabe punk. It says
Mentally you are traumatised. Paranoia takes over. You don’t even want to wear the same clothes that you were wearing “that” day. The day you finally come to terms with it, is the day you get harassed again. All the pseudo bravado is shattered
It is as baseless as saying that you got robbed because you were carrying a lot of money. Poor robber what was he supposed to do? He couldn’t control himself, because you were carrying a lot of money so it’s your fault, not the robber’s. It is as absurd as that. So wear what you want
But one thing is for sure. In India a normal woman never give a damn about it “it’s been happening since ages, lets tolerate one more generation”.
The Bach 
you are talking about clothing here. i think it surely takes some amount of time for this cultural change. Look, if you are in US it is very common women wearing short dresses, brought up in that culture, you dont react to it. In india i dont think you have seen many things like that when you were a child! It is very common that you feel the difference. I dont mean that you should react to it, but what i say is some psychos do. The trend has definetly changed now a days(in past few years). some of us are used to them. This is what i conclude, we are in a period of cultural change and might take some more time to get adjusted.
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Interesting thoughts. First, the most common mistake we make is to think that our previous generation was dumb and intelligence started with us. On their end, the previous generation thinks we’re too brash. In Egypt, scrolls were discovered around 6000 BC where elders thought times were changing and the youngsters no longer listen to them.
Second, let’s be frank – men can be quite lecherous and lewd. And to protect women in society, fathers and husbands initiated certain social norms based on the context at the time. These rules are not to be found in harsh measure if one goes to 4th century BC, around the time of Kautilya, as evidenced by the Arthashastra, but appear more around the recent past (last 900 years) and it might be due to the changing socio-political climate where invasions were common.
In invasions and military action, everywhere in the world, women are usually a target, and hence protecting them became a priority. Of course, people ended up forgetting that their measures were temporary and the protection became an imposed cultural routine. There is no question that it is men’s behavior at fault, and it is not the woman’s fault for inviting violence. Part of the problem could be with our segregated education system. If we were to have more co-ed schools, men would stop building crazy images of women and look at them as normal human beings.
Third, you mentioned, “It is as baseless as saying that you got robbed because you were carrying a lot of money.” If you have a Rolls Royce and you leave it in the airport parking lot, you are asking for trouble. Some guy who’s pissed off with life will scratch your car with his keys because he does not believe he has a fair deal in life. So, if people buy expensive cars like that, they like to keep it in safe garages. So, I don’t think your argument holds on this point, but am willing to be persuaded by a better one if you can find it.
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Quite an heavy one to me.. I didn’t understand the intend though.
I somehow believe Dignity as in personality overall than how she looks or how she dresses up(it matters to certain extent though).
Certainly yes, Man wants her woman to be the way he likes or prefers. I think its all the woman who likes it that way… I think most of the cases work this way, I am not generalising here.
I remember reading another such post in Silkboard’s blog.. spoke about dignity of a woman, with the context of Ash getting engaged to Abhishek & people asking her to stop acting.
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Hi. I am a student of NUJS, Kolkatta currently working at Breakthrough, Delhi. This post very sensitively deals with the most pertinent issue of condition of women from the perspective of others along with women themselves. And you have managed to put the issue in focus quite well.
Well, I work on a youth oriented site called http://www.bellbajao.org and would love for you to blog on it. Posts like this one, which bring to the fore discussions and debates carrying on in the social media world around sensitive topics like Domestic Violence. This we do, on the Bell Bajao site as well, where we have a category called “Social Media Buzz” which houses blogs highlighting conversations from social networking sites, blogs and other websites.
Please visit the site and do write back to me at namratad2224@gmail.com about your thoughts on the campaign.And if you’re interested, do blog on the site as well. And if you’re a regular blogger, we’d be happy to put you on our blogroll and crosslink your blog page on our site.
Thanks and hoping to hear from you,
Namrata.
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