Saturday, December 29, 2012

India and her Women


 

Anger. Pain. Hurt. Shame. Four words that pop into my head when I think about the current state of affairs in India. Women are under attack.

With the brutal gang rape and subsequent death of a 23-year old woman, in the heart of New Delhi, a culture of indifference and disrespect against woman has been unraveled. In this week alone, I have lost count on the number of women who have been reportedly gang raped in the country. After Amanat's unfortunate ordeal, I heard news of the rape and murder of a 2-year old, the rape and murder of a 42-year old house wife in Kolkata and more. Like every other individual, with a heart and brain, I'm left numb and enraged at what's happening in a nation, where goddesses are worshiped and heroines are cherished. 

In the days following the rape and hospitalization of the innocent medical student (known as Amanat, Nirbhaya and Damini), I have read hundreds of articles that reason out why India is going through a "rape crisis". I have read first hand accounts of abuse, eve-teasing and harassment. I'm not even going to attempt at examining the reasons for which all this is happening because the issue is so incredibly deep and sensitive that I couldn't do it justice.

However, anyone who has even a slight understanding of Indian culture, will realize that:

Indian culture produces men, which have blatant disregard for women. The culture, for hundreds of years, has repressed woman; rape is only one of the outcomes that stems from the lack of women's rights. It's the CULTURE and lack of MORALS instilled into men which cause such atrocities to occur.

I think this concept is quite simple. Laws, which the incompetent government has little interest in making, will surely cause change in society and the number of crimes committed against women. However, laws will achieve little, in the long run. It's the mindset that must change. It's the mindset that's going to make men respect women, not fear of law.

This brings me to my next point. Movies. More often than not, I hear about Hindi film and music being the reason for increased rapes in India. If a rape scene is shown in a movie's climax or a music video depicts stalking, automatically, the entertainment industry is at fault for spurring crime. Supposedly, people watch movies and follow. 
They watch rape. They rape. They watch murder. They murder.

Now, that is the STUPIDEST reasoning I have ever heard for why crime is on the rise, in India. The entertainment industry is not at fault. 



First of all, if an individual is stupid enough to follow scenes in a movie that causes them to do something as pathetic as rape, they shouldn't be watching films. Period. They evidently do not have the mental capacity to differentiate between fiction and reality. Secondly, film or television, has never glamorized rape. Those who rape or murder, in film, are almost always the villains. I have never seen a "hero" disrespect a woman or commit a crime. A hero is the one who fights the criminal, fights for the common man, protects the weak. So, if the audience is mindlessly emulating the heroes (which they often do), there is no reason for the audience to engage in heinous crimes, right?

How much are film directors and writers supposed to dumb down their films? Should they stop showing everything negative? Should they start making their films a hundred percent rosy and picture perfect? NO! No one should have to compromise on their films because a small section of society are too brain dead to make right decisions.

And since when are films supposed to be the barometer for morality? Hollywood films are dozens of times more provocative. Sex scenes are the norm in film and television. Kissing scenes are even shown on the Disney channel! Please explain to me why the United States has such a drastically lower level of crime against women. Shouldn't the US have more crime since they have so much more sexuality in their entertainment. And who can forget, their girls show much more skin too! *gasp*


So, next time anyone says that Indian film, television and music are the root cause for rape and similar crimes, they need to introspect. The reasons are much, much deeper than that. The answers are within. Within society. Not in make-believe land! 

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