11-year old girl takes her stand against child-marriage and domestic violence. I wish I had her strength and bravery!! I hope she remains safe!! I can only hope!
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Economic liberation = = Gender Empowerment?
As feminists explain again and again, we are not here to take anybody's rights away. We are only interested in demanding our basic human rights, and in doing that we are demanding equality.
As a child growing up in India, I do know a thing or two about empowerment of women. It certainly does not happen to those who are economically or financially disadvantaged. By putting themselves in a position of lesser power, women and men alike are literally and by definition ,unempowered. Unempowered people cannot stand up and fight for their rights, since most of them are busy earning their daily bread. They do not have the luxury of time to worry about rights and civic liberties. If some of them do find the courage to do so, they end up being slaves to a leader or a higher power in some form or other. This naturally led many of us to conclude that empowerment must come naturally to those who are financially comfortable, that these fortunate souls recognize that they do have power and it is up to them not to give it away and to continually fight for its existence. I was sadly mistaken. As it follows, empowerment does not follow economic liberation. Why do I say this, you ask? Well after visiting a developed country (whose name I will not mention), where most women enjoyed sufficient economic liberties, had physical freedom and were in positions to voice their rights, I think I am in a position to remark on the subject. I found most women looking up to men for their support, advice and happiness. Now, there's nothing wrong with this. I personally love men, have many male friends and enjoy their company. But not to the extent that I am willing to give up my self-respect. Not when they talk down to me in a condescending manner. Not when they explicitly treat women as sexual objects. Not when they consider women and girls as inferior, foolish beings incapable of achievement.( I am not talking about all men or all women, I am referring to the majority). Not when a considerable majority of women will never reach a leadership position. Not when rape culture continually perpetuates in universities, schools and workplaces.
The satirical part of the whole matter is that the majority of women actually consider this to be the norm. As much that they look down on feminism as some form of weird voodoo that have no place in their lives. Most believe that sexual objectification of women is normal to the extent that they have absolutely no problem objectifying themselves. They actually believe that without men, they have absolutely no value to their lives. Consequently, to keep these "men" in their lives, they go as far as possible to please them in every way. This form of passive victimization shouldn't have happened in this part of this world, what with a high social development index and economic empowerment. What possibly went wrong? I'm still continually puzzled. Is it lack of education or is it just blatant acceptance of chauvinism?
Patricia Lockwood's new poem
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| The Lady of The Shallot by John William Waterhouse |
The poem aptly titled "Rape Joke" published in The Awl,, holds no delusions on what it is supposed to convey to the reader. It gives the reader a very straightforward and brutally honest look at why the act of rape is still a "rapejoke". As we all know, true art is not just meant for pleasing the eye (or in this case pleasing the ears), but also to nourish our hearts and coax our minds to think. The "RapeJoke" does precisely that and more. Patricia Lockwood succeeds not just in creating a literary masterpiece but also excels in drawing the reader to the plight of the young victim, barely out of school. The young victim who laughs on recounting her rapejoke to her devout catholic father. We are allowed a glimpse into how a father could possibly react:
"The rape joke is that when you told your father, he made the sign of the cross over you and said, “I absolve you of your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” which even in its total wrongheadedness, was so completely sweet."
Such reactions are not unheard of and it wasn't completely unexpected. In fact, it would have been unexpected if the father was to console the daughter and help her seek medical attention. The soul-crushing sadness is held constant throughout the work, but it feels empowering rather than disheartening as the victim is neither crying out loud or lamenting. Instead the poem takes on the perspective of an observer who is merely pointing out the events in a timeline. Casually observing! Very much like how we would observe past events that are unfortunate. With careful disdain. In capturing that essence, the poem becomes frighteningly real.
Ms. Lockwood then turns the light on the victim-bashing! No rape incident would be complete without the inherent victim-bashing:
"The rape joke is that you asked why he did it. The rape joke is he said he didn’t know, like what else would a rape joke say? The rape joke said YOU were the one who was drunk, and the rape joke said you remembered it wrong, which made you laugh out loud for one long split-open second. The wine coolers weren’t Bartles & Jaymes, but it would be funnier for the rape joke if they were. It was some pussy flavor, like Passionate Mango or Destroyed Strawberry, which you drank down without question and trustingly in the heart of Cincinnati Ohio."
It would be interesting to see how one could portray the view of the rapist in a poem. How does that mind actually work? Is it an uncertain, indecisive mind? To rape or not to rape? How would that go? Not to go out of context, Lockwood's poem is absolutely a definite classic and a true heart-burner!
On Woolf's insight into sexism.
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| First Edition Cover |
"Without self-confidence we are as babies in the cradle. And how can we generate this imponderable quality, which is yet so invaluable, most quickly? By thinking that other people are inferior to oneself. By feeling that one has some innate superiority--it may be wealth or rank, a straight nose, or the portrait of a grandfather by Romney--for there is no end to the pathetic devices of the human imagination --over other people. Hence the enormous importance to a patriarch who has to conquer, who has to rule, of feeling that great numbers of people, half the human race indeed, are by nature inferior to himself. It must be indeed one of the chief sources of his power."
-Virginia Woof, Except taken from "A Room of One's Own".
"A Room of One's Own" is an extended essay by Virginia Woolf. It is a piece of feminist text that reveals amazing insights into Woolf's thinking processes. That she was able to formulate this conclusion in her mind in that time period speaks multitudes about her independent and creative mind.
For centuries, patriarchy has been successful in imprinting minds with the same old spiel on how women are naturally inferior when compared to men. To be able to overlook and overcome this overbearing, stifling school of thought and to simultaneously look at the argument objectively is an admirable achievement. Women have always been told, since the day they are born, that they have inferior minds and inferior bodies and that they cannot live without men. The negative overshoot of such vehement, deep psychological conditioning is that women themselves tend to start doubting their abilities. I admit to having done that despite having overwhelming evidence against it. In fact, multiple studies in multiple industries show that women often judge their own performance as worse than it actually is, while men judge their own performance as better than it actually is. We start questioning ourselves, our abilities, the integrity of our minds, our reasons for existence and even the value of our lives in this world. There has been countless cases where women driven by such conditioning, end up taking their own lives. However, this work of art shows that Woolf, despite being subject to such sexism and anger herself, was able to come to a reasonable conclusion on why sexism exists. It is indeed a monumental and pivotal moment in feminist history.
When I think of all those women who have been forced into slavery, denied education, mentally tortured, sexually harassed, physically harmed, raped, mauled or reprimanded for having been born as a woman in any way, I feel extremely saddened. Every woman, girl, boy and man is human and should not be denied basic human rights. To hit any human being who does not have the strength to hit back should be a sacrilege. To treat any human unjustly should be unforgivable. To be denied the basic right to a life should be condemnable to the extent that the perpetrator should go punished. Despite the years of progress that the women's movement have made through the years, women all over the world are still denied their basic rights over and over again.
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