Millennial misogyny

ANother appalling case of moral policing has gone viral, only this time the one goading men to rape women in short dresses in a restaurant is an educated, middle-aged ‘modern’ woman, herself in western attire. The place of the incident was not a back-of-beyond, small-town eatery. It was at a mall in the pulsating cosmopolitan, technology and financial hub and north India’s millennium city, Gurugram. That it reveals the seamy, regressive underbelly of the city would not be an exaggeration, what with several daring instances of rape and abduction having been reported in recent past. 

If it had been a man, his arrest would have come quick and easy for outraging the modesty of women at a public place. It is disheartening that a woman, who should be in the corner of her own kind, makes a pitch for ‘controlling’ girls for their ‘behaviour’ and ‘dresses’. Even after she was warned that the footage would go viral if she did not apologise, she did not flinch. Only after being trolled did she upload an unconditional apology. The video got over a million views. Berating women for their choice of clothes puts the onus directly on them for their own safety. The perpetrator stands absolved. The woman asked for it, is the repugnant refrain. And, therefore, by that preposterous logic, if any untoward incident comes her way, it was ‘solicited’. She is herself to blame. Want to end rape? Dress modestly. Statistics reveal that clothes have absolutely nothing to do with it. From babies to women well into their eighties — and, all in between — have been victims of this obnoxious act. 

Respect women, not just indoors, but the moment you step out that door. This is what we need to teach our young boys, so they can grow to be men who hold women in honour. In a letter to the state DGP, the Haryana State Commission for Women has sought action against the woman. Will it make any difference? We can’t call ours a civilised society if all the rules and restrictions are for women and all the freedoms for only men. Women are right — ‘Kapade nahi, soch badlo’.