This is actually a response to a blog by my good friend rajeev kandpal, u can read it at:
http://seagull-rk.blogspot.com/2009/12/why-do-we-exercise-gender-biasing-and.html
Dude, I appreciate your feelings against discrimination of woman in this society. There are not many people actually, who realize the discrimination. Those who discriminate, they learn it from their elders. Not thru teaching, but by observing their actions. I am not saying its part of our culture to take advantage of our opposite sex, but this tendency comes because the opposite sex is vulnerable to exploitation.
There is a vicious cycle that's has created this sort of equilibrium where a woman in society is subject to discrimination and she accepts it as part of life.
Forget man or woman, any person when subject to discrimination by the very society in which he/she lives, will try to fight initially coz all ppl come to this world with the belief that they are free. But subject the person to discrimination forever,(that is the case with our womanfolk) and they come to accept it as part of their life, and even start to believe it as to be the truth.That is the case with womanfolk. Because she has forgotten what freedom(being free from discrimination) is, the voice inside her that used to fight dies fast and she now believes that its a matter of fact, that she is inferior to man. And her daughter is taught the same by her. and this cycle continues.
The only way to teach the person against discrimination is to first have a society which treats woman as equal among all citizens. But half of the society itself is composed of woman who from childbirth have been taught and they have come to accept and believe that. So, they won't resist any kind of discrimination.
Your perception rajeev, that westerners, treat woman as sex objects and one-night hookups, is only a wee bit misplaced. You can't generalize. Had that been the case, the western society would have been a barbaric society. There too people respect woman the same way we treat. Its just that they are more open and transparent in what they are doing. In asian or middle east countries, too, there are enough men who treat woman as sex objects and nothing more. I will go on to say as much, that here, in our countries, the discrimination is much more than that in the west. There the woman who are treated as sex objects are in most cases, responsible for the consequences themselves. But their society accepts that and accomodate them. Also, their the society is sexually more mature because talking abt sex is not taboo.
In our countries, talking abt sex is not welcome as part of daily lives. But flesh trade is rampant. Not having decent sex education makes the society sexually immature. But they can't ignore their basic instincts. That's why this flesh trade, and red light areas flourish. Here, please note rajeev, woman come into this trade not willingly but are forced into by gangs who abduct or buy girls from poor families and throw them in this gutter to spend their lives in rubbish. And society afraid to tarnish its superficial image, of being pure(don't they have passions man!!) don't dare to take these luckless girls back in their world. Only a hafta is sufficient to keep the police's mouth shut. What are these girls supposed to do? Well, they accept it and move on. Then start living like that. Because they have no other option. Western society doesn't do that. With time, these woman come to be shunned by society for no fault of theirs. They are treated as "character-less". But society is "ball-less", can't dare to accomodate them.Tell me who actually treats woman as "objects" - having no emotions, no character. Or simply believe so, by choosing to ignore any emotions, or show of character by those woman.
The solution to the problem itself poses a new problem. The solution is, according to many sources oriented to empowerment of woman, to be education of society. I agree totally, there's no other way. Unless you show the society what it is to live in a society where all people(irrespective of men and women) are treated as equal, they don't understand. And where from can u bring a society to teach people on this planet? Not from another planet!! You can't create one outside this planet. So u got to create one here itself. That definitely means, you need to change one of the existing societies. That brings us back to square one.
All this while, where is the "man"? He's happy, content to have half of the society subjugated. He thinks its to his advantage. He is getting everything suited to his requirements. You tell him to treat her as equal. That's what education does, to a boy. But he will do that at his convenience. Becoz he can, when it comes down to it, gain an upper hand, when he wants,coz society gives him the right and the woman can't reject this fact. So, any respect any man is showing, is superficial, it can't stand the pressures of life. But that's what is truly respecting. I am not saying all men are like that, not you rajeev, i believe, but most are.
Problem is everybody's doing what everybody's doing. And damn him who thinks different.
The key, i believe, is to stop doing what everybody does, and do what is right. But for that, you should know what's right. That's education. I believe rajeev you are educated. And u should do what's right, but everybody doesn't do what one is doing. You can't do what Sachin Tendulkar is doing. But everybody's does what everybody's doing. Now the solution is everybody needs to do, what you are doing, only then will everybody do the right thing. And then they will see that they are doing the right thing, and they will be educated...that's how they will learn. The question is, will they, and by when?
