Logic is a beautiful man made invention. So was the iPhone (more on that later).
There's an inherent flaw in logic, a**h**les think they're using it when really they're just being a**es. I promised myself I wouldn't abuse, so I need to start over.
A 20 something girl was raped in Delhi.
No, I wasn't talking about the recent Gurgaon incident. I'm referring to 6 months ago, and the year before that, and the month preceding that. I'm talking about zero safety for women in the country's capital. Or, the one argument that Bombay girls always win over. Check. Mate.
Let's credit the Haryana police with retrospective swiftness and imagine that they justly solve this case- what then? Will this guarantee that tomorrow when I (or any of my friends) walk down a well-lit street ,at two in the afternoon , we won't be leered at? Will it guarantee that public transport is now grope/ stare-fest free? I can walk up a dark stairwell at night without my heart thumping, every time? That if I want to have a girls night out- I can actually go OUT ?
Sure, we walk around thinking that rape is a scary possibility that won't happen to 'us', but subversive threats to my physical space happen every day. The beauty is, I'm socialized to it now. We've learnt to walk sideways through crowded spaces, that after 9 boys must escort us around and always, always be suspicious and on terror-alert.
A round of applause for the Law enforcers- You, Gentlemen, have sucessfully changed the victims everyday way of life. Going out alone at night is unsafe - indoctrinating this into every Delhi girls psyche was way easier than ensuring her basic right to life and dignity. Make her feel so scared that she stops going out altogether. There, that obliterates the problem now.
And then, once every six months (I'm really giving you credit on the timeline here), a girl flouts this very basic rule and works late. Thereby, bringing upon herself the horror of being raped. The dumb-ass (really restrained from abusing here) Government tsk-tsk es and simply ask the women to stay home post the well-doctrined, devil hour- Eight p.m.
Tomorrow, they will be giving us handouts-- How best to avoid earthquakes/getting raped. This is what it will look like
1. Avoid building/trees/being inside a car
2. Find a sturdy furniture item to cower under
3. In case of disaster don't panic and try to help yourself, wait for help to come to you
Here's, what I want for Christmas this year-
To be able to fight with my parents like a normal 20 something, to tell them that their curfew is unrealistic and that they are just being paranoid.
There's an inherent flaw in logic, a**h**les think they're using it when really they're just being a**es. I promised myself I wouldn't abuse, so I need to start over.
A 20 something girl was raped in Delhi.
No, I wasn't talking about the recent Gurgaon incident. I'm referring to 6 months ago, and the year before that, and the month preceding that. I'm talking about zero safety for women in the country's capital. Or, the one argument that Bombay girls always win over. Check. Mate.
Let's credit the Haryana police with retrospective swiftness and imagine that they justly solve this case- what then? Will this guarantee that tomorrow when I (or any of my friends) walk down a well-lit street ,at two in the afternoon , we won't be leered at? Will it guarantee that public transport is now grope/ stare-fest free? I can walk up a dark stairwell at night without my heart thumping, every time? That if I want to have a girls night out- I can actually go OUT ?
Sure, we walk around thinking that rape is a scary possibility that won't happen to 'us', but subversive threats to my physical space happen every day. The beauty is, I'm socialized to it now. We've learnt to walk sideways through crowded spaces, that after 9 boys must escort us around and always, always be suspicious and on terror-alert.
A round of applause for the Law enforcers- You, Gentlemen, have sucessfully changed the victims everyday way of life. Going out alone at night is unsafe - indoctrinating this into every Delhi girls psyche was way easier than ensuring her basic right to life and dignity. Make her feel so scared that she stops going out altogether. There, that obliterates the problem now.
And then, once every six months (I'm really giving you credit on the timeline here), a girl flouts this very basic rule and works late. Thereby, bringing upon herself the horror of being raped. The dumb-ass (really restrained from abusing here) Government tsk-tsk es and simply ask the women to stay home post the well-doctrined, devil hour- Eight p.m.
Tomorrow, they will be giving us handouts-- How best to avoid earthquakes/getting raped. This is what it will look like
1. Avoid building/trees/being inside a car
2. Find a sturdy furniture item to cower under
3. In case of disaster don't panic and try to help yourself, wait for help to come to you
Here's, what I want for Christmas this year-
To be able to fight with my parents like a normal 20 something, to tell them that their curfew is unrealistic and that they are just being paranoid.
This is such a touchy topic that the inner voices are all screaming at me to leave it alone, but hey! What do they know?
ReplyDeleteThe fact is this. There are a**h***s everywhere. In every part of the World, of either sex. And the fact is also this: no police force, no government can ever do anything but retroactively make arrests and dish out warnings. Seriously, how can the Gurgaon police force (however crooked, ineffectual and sleazy)possibly do anything about the filth that exists in people's minds? There is no way to stop a spur-of-the-moment crime from occurring, no matter HOW many policemen you stuff into society, without violating every single tenet of democracy and human rights. I agree completely that it's disgusting, and I'm a firm supporter of the death penalty for rapists, but the truth is that crimes like molestation and rape are committed in the mind first, and then, only when opportunity presents itself, in reality. I pray you get your Christmas wish, Kakul. But until then, please listen to your parents. It's annoying when they're right, but they generally are.
Hello there, Razor.
ReplyDeleteI know you're in cohorts with my parents, so I am unsure how much of this is just a ploy to get me to stay home. However, I will reply.
The essential problem here is that their retroactive warnings are targeted towards ensuring the victim changes her behaviour. Ensure women don't work post 8? Sure, that might stop one rape that year- but that will also turn the clock back a hundred years in every way.
Their second delightful suggestion was to dress modestly. Now, I agree with you that rape is committed in the mind first. Those minds will undress a burkha clad woman as easily as they will a college student.
It's also public opinion like this which perpetuates belief among the a**h**les that women who don't dress conservatively and are out post 8- those women are 'easy' and hence can be raped/molested.
Now, pl have no more discussions with my parents regarding my curfew- that is your Christmas gift to me :)