The debates about women’s body, dressing, freedom etc continue unabated. The second part of the women series delves into this topic.
Presenter: Social worker and television anchor Pearle Maaney.
Equal rights for man and woman
To state that atrocities against women occur as a result of their dressing is arguing for the sake of argument. This is as frivolous a reasoning as a child’s usual excuse for not doing homework. The main issue should be the mental makeup of the person who commits atrocities against women.
Those who attempt such crimes must be convinced that they are not getting any recognition from their families and society. These are people who are not able to even lead a decent family life. Arrogance of money power and influence and machismo cause some to attack women.
It must be assumed that most of the assailants may not be receiving love from home or family. The issue stems from their unwillingness to hug close their mom or sister or children. What is needed for such people is sound counseling, not to embark upon debates about the attractiveness of the female form or about dressing. There must be an end to the male–female segregation too in the coming days. Most of the problems will vanish if we start seeing both parties as individuals with equal rights. Society must have a general consensus in this matter. Male-female divides have largely reduced in the new generation.
This is an era of internet availability at every nook and corner. Anyone can morph and use anyone’s image. Anyone’s video clippings can be circulated even. Women should not consider their lives as doomed if such pictures appear. If women take the stance that the miscreants can post as much photos as they want, where will that leave the latter? Now listen to this…
A Kannur native who was a member of the National Women’s Handball team:
Travel the whole world, become a great player….these were my dreams. That incident happened as I was preparing for a tournament. The driver of my jeep was someone whom I considered like a brother. He tried to grab me. When my attempts to resist failed, I jumped off the jeep. Injury to the head meant that I lost tournaments. Friends stood by me, not only to legally face my situation but also to bounce back to sports.
Now I am back again in the field. However a fear nags me. A feeling if people are not mocking me. Friends tell me that it is this fear that I have to first do away with.
Let me ask those who say that rapes are caused by women’s dressing, what is provocative about the churidar and duppatta that I wore?
Ninth standard students of a school in Nilambur, Malappuram district:
We conducted a survey as part of the class discussions. The topic was girls’ dress. Wearing a duppatta along with the school uniform creates untold discomforts. We even petitioned the Human Rights Commission to allow the use of overcoat in its place. After much ruckus, we got liberation from the duppatta trap.
Do you know, it is impossible to freely walk or run for fear of the duppatta shifting place. We cannot take part in sports events or games. Much time is expended in fastening the duppatta on either side. It must be pretty easy task for the elders. But for us it is a big deal. Let us ask this: Is the body such a burden for girls?
Samni, college student and model:
Wear this, don’t wear that…. All and sundry are commenting left and right about women’s dressing. This sounds as if the one-year-old child and ninety year old granny who were raped suffered due to their dressing! Are women’s dresses at fault for planting hidden camera in bathrooms of hotels? Women’s dresses are needlessly blamed for the mental disorders of sick persons in the same way as a pen is blamed to cover up bad handwriting. Wearing sari means belly gets to be displayed, back will show, and neck is exposed. Don’t jeans and top cover all those body parts that sari wraps up? Then how come jeans is dubbed as vulgar?
Indu, journalist
I opined in a discussion forum that the stories of rape and atrocities make one wonder if the body is a liability for a woman? Pat came the comment from a man of high education and high ranking job: How can the body be a liability for a woman, in fact it is an asset.
It is by using her body that she gains many things. He also laid down the examples of many controversial cases with strong female involvement. Will men be able to stomach it if someone said that in the light of the Delhi incident, all men have rapist tendencies? Is not hoisting women involved in some cases and using it to tarnish the entire sorority of women similar to that?
Woman’s body is powerful Dr. Khadija Mumtaz, writer, social worker
The truth is that women shy away from many jobs. Rather, there are obstacles for women to take them up. It comes from a feeling that they are somehow inferior. Considering woman’s inner strength and talents she is extremely powerful. Women are bogged down by society using the unseen ropes of arguments like woman being physically meek, vulnerable, prone to pregnancy, etc. Fact is all these are not weaknesses but on the contrary, strengths. Menses and pregnancy are not shortcomings but phenomena achievable only by woman.
Dress interventions M. Sulfath, teacher and social worker
The unscientific dresses argument is a strategic intervention by society on the woman’s body just like the taking out of the chapter in ‘Indulekha’ which states that women’s education is compulsory. Dress was used to keep woman on the razor’s edge of constant rape threat. In the 1920s when sari first came into vogue itself many women had come to the fore against the inconveniences posed by that costume. But they were quelled down as isolated protests. Women needs to first have the discretion that freedom of body is not something that the market and society have to decide but they themselves have to.