“It happens sometimes. Forget about it…”

This is the usual response to eve-teasing in India.

I was touched ‘inappropriately’, to say the least, when I was a teen. Maybe I was not even a teen when it all started…10-11 years maybe..? A young Indian girl. I am sure most Indian girls have experienced these incidents. (‘most Indian girls’ may be an understatement. ‘all Indian girls’ may be closer to the truth)

I wonder how many young boys in India get a feel of the sexual harassment that Indian girls have to face on India’s streets, buses and other public places. What percent of male teens have been whistled at, sung songs at, touched in buses, followed on streets, winked at by strangers, raped by relatives, ejaculated on, rubbed against, groped, pinched,..? the list of abuses against young Indian girls unfortunately goes on and on and on.

(Image from this link)

Why does this happen? Why are women scared on the streets of India, a country where women are worshipped as goddesses? (even these goddesses supposedly menstruate and are considered impure for 5 days a month…what then can you say then about mere mortals…)

Indian culture makes a male a much more important being than a female. This gives Indian males a sense of right and a sense of security in doing anything they please.
The fact that Indian culture has placed men ‘higher up in the chain to moksh’ allows men to continue their rampant abuse of power vested in them by ancient Indian ‘culture’ and vested, inadvertently, in them by the same women they will torture and abuse and harass. Women sign up for men’s abuse of power by acknowledging that “these incidents happen”…
These incidents should not happen. These incidents should be stopped before our daughters walk the streets to go to school, to go to play.

Shame!

Here are links for more information:

Project Blank Noise
Article in Women’s eNews
Counter Currents
Definition of Eve-Teasing in WikiPedia
Article about eve-teasing in Time magazine
Article in Hindu
Another Article in Hindu

Why are menstruating women shunned from Hindu temples?

Is a Hindu’s god like his/her mother or father? Would their mother or father refuse them if they menstruated?

Why do Hindu women consider themselves impure during menstruation? If you think in terms of Hindu religion, reproduction and motherhood is a very important property expected of any female. Without menstruation, there is no reproduction. If you want to avoid menstruation, then get a hysterectomy to remove the womb. Would that be acceptable?

Would a doctor shun a patient if s/he saw blood? Does a patient consider herself/himself impure if s/he is wounded?

Isn’t menstruation a process of renewal just like Hindu philosophy of constant upheavals and new beginnings? A process where an old egg is discarded to make space for a new one?

Credits: The photograph on the right has been linked from www.Shunya.net

More Links:
Article in Tamil Nation
Comparison of menstruation beliefs in Cultures in WikiPedia

I am an Indian. Ever wonder if and why Indians are scared and callous people? I do. This blog is the result of, not the answer to, that question.