I am from Bhopal, pretty much a small developing town with growing population and confused mentality. Confused cause youth is still looking for answers amid modern and orthodox lifestyle. Well I lost my dad when I was 6. Now at 17, I owe all the happiness in my life to my mom and my elder sister. Thus my life is greatly influenced by 'em. I understand all the hardships faced by single parents, to be women in specific, in India. So squaring down to talk about "eve teasing", neither I have committed it nor have I faced any kind of sexual harassment yet. Rather I have played the worst part of being a mook spectator. I thought I had been at fault only once but going by the long list on homepage that defines eve-teasing, I felt disgusted at my ignorance. And hence decided to be a part of this project, or I should say 'deed', to make a difference
I had been brought up in an all-boys school till 10th and now I am in a co-ed school. So believe me, I have seen pretty much the ugly part of masculinity. I have a wide friend circle consisting of all kind of species. And the main problem with the average Indian teen-male is the refrained or limited exposure to their feminine counterpart. Most of them don’t realize the outcome of their acts. They think and act tough. For them groping, teasing, humiliating each other is part of the process of 'em growing into men. But they have no clue of what they consider an everyday activity may leave such a deep impact if committed on a woman. And even if they do realize, they take woman as an object of experiment. They don’t realize the valuable sensitivity that women possess. Many turn into perverts due to lack of knowledge or lack of interaction. Sadly some of my friends have been/are part of that crowd. It made me sick watching girls ridding vehicles with their masks on. But the part that made me sicker down to my stomach was that not many people realized why they were doing so. What forced them to stay hidden behind their masks and not come out in open? Of course there are incidents reported everydays of women being followed on roads and harassed eventually. But how come it’s hard to relate the two things for some people I don’t understand. But the point is ignorance. Its ignorance to blame a woman when she is the victim. Its ignorance to be a spectator in crime. And yet Ignorance to shout "bharat MATA ki jai" when such unsocial things like eve-teasing are at rise. I am not quoting any incidents because I don't feel the need to be told when you watch it happening everyday around the corner.
Thanks a ton for making me a part of this difference and I hope I come in handy after all I don't want to be on the losing side. As YOU have always survived and eventually will but maybe we won’t. :p
Utkarsh soni is from bhopal.17yrs old and in the 12th grade.
Women wearing masks could also be due dust pollution. I am not joking, but these days I see many men and women wearing masks on the roads due to the high amount of dust in the cities. Perhaps your interpretation is incorrect.
ReplyDeleteBlank Noise is doing a wonderful thing getting guys to write about eve teasing. Great post! One thing I'd like to point out is that "acting tough" and mishandling other guys is not very healthy either. So, while you recognize what groping women as outright eve-teasing and sexual harassment, what I think, needs to be noted is that "acting tough" and humiliating each other, for men, is part of a larger misogynistic trend that defines being "male" as being insensitive and everything else as something unworthy.
ReplyDeleteAgain, this was a very good post! Congrats to Blank Noise!