modern.fakir
Chief Minister (5k+ posts)
India should be ashamed: Being born a girl isn't 'a crime'
“It is a crime to be born a woman in India,” said the father of the Delhi gang rape victim. As four men are sentenced for her brutal murder, Anita Anand reflects on Indian society's treatment of women.
Image 1 of 2
An Indian activist prays as she takes part in a vigil for the Delhi rape victim. Photo: AFP/Getty
By Anita Anand, BBC TV and radio presenter
7:00AM BST 11 Sep 2013
With his head bowed and body tensed with emotion, the father of the 23-year-old victim of the Delhi gang rape looked up and addressed the camera directly: "It is a crime to be born a woman in India." He was responding to the three-year sentence, last week, handed to the juvenileinvolved in the fatal attack on his daughter. The sentencing of the four Delhi slum dwellers convicted of her murder, one of the most shocking sexual assaults in recent Indian history, may not bring him any more comfort.
Outside the court, throughout the duration of the trial, crowds have been gathered demanding the death penalty for the remaining five attackers; Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur and Pawan Gupta. The ringleader of the group, Ram Singh, never made it to trial, and was found hanging in his cell in March this year. Politicians have vowed to make rapists pay the heaviest prices; the public have declared that they will wipe out those who attack their daughters. Even the Indian chateratti, who pride themselves on their liberal values and expensive educations have been joining the clamour for blood.
[SUB]
Protesters stage a mock execution in New Delhi after the verdicts in the trial came in Photo: SAURABH DAS/AP[/SUB]
The rhetoric around this case has always been volcanic. The victim was middle-class, studying to be a paramedic, and had been attacked in a decent part of town. As a result her case dominated rolling news coverage in India and spread around the world. It was a terrible, brutal attack, but it was far from unique. It wasn’t even a watershed moment in India.
If you enter those words: "It is a crime to be born a woman in India" into a basic Google search, you will get a depressing snap shot of the state of women in the country today from the very first page of results. They are the same words uttered by a woman police officer who was dragged from her car just over two weeks ago, while making her way to her sister's funeral. She was gang raped by men wielding axes in Jharkhand state in eastern India. They are also the words used last week by social activists, after a six-year-old girl, who was locked in a room and repeatedly raped by a 40-year-old man, was forced by a council of elders in Rajasthan to marry the eight-year-old son of her attacker.
“It is a crime to be born a woman in India” are words that now hang over the country. What other words would you use? In April this year, another child, a five-year-old girl from the slums of new Delhi, was kidnapped, raped and tortured by two men. The police refused to search the building she was left to die in. When she was finally found, the child had been so badly sexually mutilated, she needed an immediate colostomy. She defied expectation and survived. However, the family of the child, known only as Gudiya – or ‘little doll,’ were offered a bribe of Rs 2,000 to stop bothering the police.
[SUB]
The police van carrying the four men found guilty of the fatal gang rape of a young woman on a New Delhi bus last year as it arrives at a court in New Delhi this week
[/SUB]
Sexual violence is no stranger to Indian society. What is new, is the way in which cases like those I’ve mentioned, are being picked up by the press and talked about around the family dining table. Before the turmoil of the Delhi rape, the weight of ‘sharam’ or shame that surrounded the sexual violation of women prevented most from reporting attacks even to their families. In a country where temples are filled with effigies of goddesses, women have been blamed time and again, for violence perpetrated against them by men.
The world of entertainment has a peculiar dual personality when it comes to this kind of crime. Rape scenes have always been a mainstay of Indian cinema, the titillating moments where the public catch a glimpse of flesh in a country still prudish about kissing in public. A Punjabi hip hop song, extolling the joys of breaking into a young girl’s room and raping her, ‘Main Hoon Balatkari’ – or “I am the rapist,” attracted hordes of young fans
Is Bollywood opening its eyes?
Sex crime has recently hit the home of Bollywood too, giving it an opportunity for introspection. Less than three weeks ago, in a cosmopolitan area of Mumbai, the 22-year-old journalist working on an assignment at a deserted Mill in an area called Mahalaxmi, was dragged away from her male colleague and gang raped while he was beaten.
Just as with the Delhi case, this was a middle class girl from an affluent family. The press fumed in a now familiar way, and Bollywood stars took to Twitter to express outrage. Karan Johar, a leading director tweeted: “Helpless to say the least...words like "devastated".."disgusted" mean nothing at a time like this! #gangerape...”
One of cinema’s most highly paid actresses, Lara Dutta, went further: “Since we're becoming more and more depraved and barbaric as a society, why don't we follow through with all barbaric customs, hang rapists in public!... ”
What is actually changing?
The pattern is familiar. An attack hits the headlines, and the public demands blood. However, what is really changing in society? Female infanticide is still high and education opportunities for girls remain low. The vast majority of Indian society still venerates mothers but often vilifies girls who pursue careers, suggesting that they might be ‘morally loose’.
Girls are expected to bring dowries to weddings, while boys are considered the prize in the union. When women give birth to sons, sweets are distributed to the neighbourhood. For daughters, mothers accept quiet congratulations or often commiserations.
Instead of calling for men to be hanged in public, it would be wise to examine some of these cultural inequalities in the public glare.
The 'Sharam' is all yours, India
When I covered the Delhi rape case for the BBC, a small number of Indians criticised me for bringing shame on the country of my ancestors. I will say again what I said to them then. The Sharam is yours, unless you address the roots of these attitudes. The Sharam is yours, unless you treat women better from the womb to the grave. The Sharam is yours, if you hide away your daughters until the day they are married in response to these awful crimes.
I love India, don’t get me wrong. But I hate the fact that in writing this piece, I found it so easy to find assaults like this in the past few months alone. That victims so often say: “It is a crime to be born a woman in India,” is what makes me feel ashamed
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/wo...e-ashamed-Being-born-a-girl-isnt-a-crime.html
“It is a crime to be born a woman in India,” said the father of the Delhi gang rape victim. As four men are sentenced for her brutal murder, Anita Anand reflects on Indian society's treatment of women.
Image 1 of 2
An Indian activist prays as she takes part in a vigil for the Delhi rape victim. Photo: AFP/Getty
By Anita Anand, BBC TV and radio presenter
7:00AM BST 11 Sep 2013
With his head bowed and body tensed with emotion, the father of the 23-year-old victim of the Delhi gang rape looked up and addressed the camera directly: "It is a crime to be born a woman in India." He was responding to the three-year sentence, last week, handed to the juvenileinvolved in the fatal attack on his daughter. The sentencing of the four Delhi slum dwellers convicted of her murder, one of the most shocking sexual assaults in recent Indian history, may not bring him any more comfort.
Outside the court, throughout the duration of the trial, crowds have been gathered demanding the death penalty for the remaining five attackers; Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur and Pawan Gupta. The ringleader of the group, Ram Singh, never made it to trial, and was found hanging in his cell in March this year. Politicians have vowed to make rapists pay the heaviest prices; the public have declared that they will wipe out those who attack their daughters. Even the Indian chateratti, who pride themselves on their liberal values and expensive educations have been joining the clamour for blood.
[SUB]
Protesters stage a mock execution in New Delhi after the verdicts in the trial came in Photo: SAURABH DAS/AP[/SUB]
The rhetoric around this case has always been volcanic. The victim was middle-class, studying to be a paramedic, and had been attacked in a decent part of town. As a result her case dominated rolling news coverage in India and spread around the world. It was a terrible, brutal attack, but it was far from unique. It wasn’t even a watershed moment in India.
If you enter those words: "It is a crime to be born a woman in India" into a basic Google search, you will get a depressing snap shot of the state of women in the country today from the very first page of results. They are the same words uttered by a woman police officer who was dragged from her car just over two weeks ago, while making her way to her sister's funeral. She was gang raped by men wielding axes in Jharkhand state in eastern India. They are also the words used last week by social activists, after a six-year-old girl, who was locked in a room and repeatedly raped by a 40-year-old man, was forced by a council of elders in Rajasthan to marry the eight-year-old son of her attacker.
“It is a crime to be born a woman in India” are words that now hang over the country. What other words would you use? In April this year, another child, a five-year-old girl from the slums of new Delhi, was kidnapped, raped and tortured by two men. The police refused to search the building she was left to die in. When she was finally found, the child had been so badly sexually mutilated, she needed an immediate colostomy. She defied expectation and survived. However, the family of the child, known only as Gudiya – or ‘little doll,’ were offered a bribe of Rs 2,000 to stop bothering the police.
[SUB]
The police van carrying the four men found guilty of the fatal gang rape of a young woman on a New Delhi bus last year as it arrives at a court in New Delhi this week
[/SUB]
Sexual violence is no stranger to Indian society. What is new, is the way in which cases like those I’ve mentioned, are being picked up by the press and talked about around the family dining table. Before the turmoil of the Delhi rape, the weight of ‘sharam’ or shame that surrounded the sexual violation of women prevented most from reporting attacks even to their families. In a country where temples are filled with effigies of goddesses, women have been blamed time and again, for violence perpetrated against them by men.
The world of entertainment has a peculiar dual personality when it comes to this kind of crime. Rape scenes have always been a mainstay of Indian cinema, the titillating moments where the public catch a glimpse of flesh in a country still prudish about kissing in public. A Punjabi hip hop song, extolling the joys of breaking into a young girl’s room and raping her, ‘Main Hoon Balatkari’ – or “I am the rapist,” attracted hordes of young fans
Is Bollywood opening its eyes?
Sex crime has recently hit the home of Bollywood too, giving it an opportunity for introspection. Less than three weeks ago, in a cosmopolitan area of Mumbai, the 22-year-old journalist working on an assignment at a deserted Mill in an area called Mahalaxmi, was dragged away from her male colleague and gang raped while he was beaten.
Just as with the Delhi case, this was a middle class girl from an affluent family. The press fumed in a now familiar way, and Bollywood stars took to Twitter to express outrage. Karan Johar, a leading director tweeted: “Helpless to say the least...words like "devastated".."disgusted" mean nothing at a time like this! #gangerape...”
One of cinema’s most highly paid actresses, Lara Dutta, went further: “Since we're becoming more and more depraved and barbaric as a society, why don't we follow through with all barbaric customs, hang rapists in public!... ”
What is actually changing?
The pattern is familiar. An attack hits the headlines, and the public demands blood. However, what is really changing in society? Female infanticide is still high and education opportunities for girls remain low. The vast majority of Indian society still venerates mothers but often vilifies girls who pursue careers, suggesting that they might be ‘morally loose’.
Girls are expected to bring dowries to weddings, while boys are considered the prize in the union. When women give birth to sons, sweets are distributed to the neighbourhood. For daughters, mothers accept quiet congratulations or often commiserations.
Instead of calling for men to be hanged in public, it would be wise to examine some of these cultural inequalities in the public glare.
The 'Sharam' is all yours, India
When I covered the Delhi rape case for the BBC, a small number of Indians criticised me for bringing shame on the country of my ancestors. I will say again what I said to them then. The Sharam is yours, unless you address the roots of these attitudes. The Sharam is yours, unless you treat women better from the womb to the grave. The Sharam is yours, if you hide away your daughters until the day they are married in response to these awful crimes.
I love India, don’t get me wrong. But I hate the fact that in writing this piece, I found it so easy to find assaults like this in the past few months alone. That victims so often say: “It is a crime to be born a woman in India,” is what makes me feel ashamed
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/wo...e-ashamed-Being-born-a-girl-isnt-a-crime.html
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