“Only when manhood is dead-and it will perish
when ravaged femininity no longer sustains it-only then will we know what it is
to be free.” quoted Andrea Dworkin, a radical feminist and writer. She must
have said these words way before 2005 when Andrea expired, but they are
emphatically resounding in today’s context.
Bizarre
it is that no woman feels completely safe in the society today. The society, of
which she constitutes half the part, the society which nurtures and grows
because of her, no more looks like a safe haven to her. Wherever she goes, she
is always under the scanner of prying eyes and sleazy minds. The disgraceful
hoots and whistles or vulgar comments are add-ons to these shameful acts.
Our
society loves to play games, and one of our favorite games is the blame-game.
For every misdeed of ours, we look for someone to shift the onus on. Thus, when
men are blamed for misusing their manhood, they point fingers towards women for
overtly displaying womanhood through provocative dresses and luring figures.
They are criticized for travelling alone, being out of the house late at night
and working independently. Is it a true concern or the insecurity of mind that
does the talking?
Can we have an assurance that men
will not be incited if women are fully clad or are not social or do not travel
alone late at night? In that case, why women in villages are raped, why the
small girls who are physically as well as mentally yet undeveloped, raped, why
women are raped in the confines of their house by known faces, blood relations
or friends?
A temporary lust of man becomes a
permanent torture, disgrace and trauma for the woman and her family. Whether we
talk of hundreds of Nirbhayas, who are barbarically raped and succumb to the
ordeal immediately, or of thousands of Aruna Shanbaugs who perish slowly but
daily like a slow poisoning, or those innumerable others drowned in anonymity,
grief and trauma is inevitable. Victims are dying, being comatose, getting
permanent physical disability or are losing their rights to normal and happy
life, while the culprits are moving around fearlessly in the society and
progressing in their life with pride.
I am not a female chauvinist or a
radical feminist to shout inanely for female rights but it pains as a member of
a reputable society to see the social fabric being nibbled down slowly. Let us
save the society from going to the dogs. Just as much it is the need of the
hour for the government to make stringent laws, it is for us to take pledge to
be a man, and not a leech.