We were at the metro station and then she came. Just like us, she was also waiting to get onto the train. But unlike us, she was wearing a dress, sleeveless and not crossing the knees. She was a bit heavy for the dress too. It would be an understatement to say that she steered up a reaction. My thought was that it’s cold for the dress but well I know people who don’t feel that much cold and anyways how does it matter to me. I looked away, again concentrating towards the platform from where the train was expected.
Suddenly, I heard laughing and murmuring. I looked around instinctively and saw girls pointing towards her, murmuring some comments and then laughing without an effort to keep it down. Then, I saw guy standing with his mother, doing the same. Pointing and commenting! In response his mother also said something and they both laughed. A group of office-going men repeated the same ritual. Then I saw a man continuously staring at the girl as if she was just about to strip and he couldn’t afford to miss anything. Every person on the platform was looking at her! And as they eyed her and ‘judged’, I observed them, thinking who gave them the right to do that. At that moment, I so wished that the lady was doing some sting operation to expose the mentality people had.
The sad part was that not just men, but women too were against women! Some must be probably thinking that these kind of people get raped. Obviously, if a girl wears a skirt or shows off her skin then she deserves to be raped. Men are not supposed to look at them like humans and have values. Noone needs to teach their sons to respect women and always strive to protect them as it is the women who give them life. But instead a girl needs to be taught to be afraid, to feel like filth and dirt exposed and vulnerable. A girl needs to be taught her rightful place i.e. in the beds of more powerful men.
And if after this she gets raped then obviously she deserved it. She was wrong at thinking that she could be independent, work to feed her family, study to give meaning to her life, wear what she wanted and felt comfortable in and be fearless to face the society. She was so wrong and for that men need to punish her, being the just gods of earth. And the punishment is rape. Yes, a woman deserves rape! Atleast that’s what the policemen and many other elements of society who dictate how a woman should behave and dress up believe.
And please don’t tell me that a girl fully covered in a salwar-kamiz never had to face uncomfortable stares, a whistle or some cheap song as she walked on the road. Clothes are simply an excuse and we all know this.
Everyone has a right to be who they are and what they want to be. But only till you don’t harm anyone and this obviously doesn’t apply to people who decide to be monsters and rape innocent girls.
The question that arises is that how can people fight back for women if they don’t change their thinking. How can a policeman protect a girl wearing a skirt from rape if he believes that she deserves it? How can a society protect its girl child, if they believe that by some absurd law of nature women are inferior to men?
Also, I kept wondering that how could someone muster up the courage to force someone for such an act. Rape must be so difficult. Is it alcohol? But even that could be responsible upto a limit only. Then what gives them the courage to hurt someone to such an extent. And to think that these men will be out in the open again after some years in jail, probably even more frustrated and ready for revenge is scary.
And I don’t understand how a candle march or a black dot will help. But I won’t stop being optimistic as it might help to spread awareness. Though the question that awareness about still intrigues me? Do we seriously need to spread the word that rape is wrong? Doesn’t everyone know that already? Isn’t it something obvious?
