Be A Man!

         “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.