President Obama’s Grammy message was on sexual assault and
domestic violence against women, and what we can do about it.
In Sri Lanka,
statistics submitted to parliament 2013 state 2080 reported cases of rape, of
which the report states - 1750 cases of child rape in 2012. A further 5475
cases of child molestation and 1194 cases of child abuse cases were reported.
It also estimated that every 90 minutes a woman is raped in
this country. The perpetrators are a small percentage, so why aren't the
majority of men up in arms about these stats?
Why is that only the
Woman who protests against violence against their own women? Shouldn't the men
be protesting more vociferously than the women? After all, every time a man
abuses a woman it’s a knock on the self-control of all men.
It makes matters worse for men, when the speaker states that violence against women is their own fault. Are men really alright with
being objectified as weak minded and mentally unsound?
I believe that for a majority of men, it will be a cold day
in hell before they lay a hand on a woman. In spite of this, a majority of men
remain silent when statements are made regarding a woman’s dress code – which
is her freedom and right.
A friend of mine alerted me to an interesting conundrum – it
seems that are ashamed of the subject of rape and abuse, that they don’t want
to speak about it even to stop it.
So our generation of males would rather stick their head in the sand than rally and take action. Aren't all women some one’s loved one? Let’s collectively end this cycle of abuse.
Great read. But I think that we cannot and should not target men selectively and women selectively in demanding that they take the problem head-on. I think, instead, that both men and women should take this matter up collectively. For example, if a dress code is created for women, there's one created for men, too, as patriarchy dictates 'codes' for both genders.
ReplyDeleteAlso, this is South Asia (I'm Indian), and the fact of the matter is that the whole idea of shame (and from it, segregation of the sexes) keeps men and women from having fruitful discussions about topics like safety, gendered violence, et cetera. It's not that men don't talk about it, it's just that they are not encouraged to talk about it to women because ZOMG HOW SHAMEFUL! So whom would they discuss this issue with? Their own sex, and that's a one way street.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing is that because of this segregative stance in societies, women naturally become the Other. And when that happens, men would obviously feel excluded from any discourse on rape deeming it 'Their Problem'. So rape and sexual violence are, to my mind, actually the fallout of millennia of obnoxious but permitted patriarchal norms, and not symptoms or causes of them.