The Debate That Is Shaking India – Who Are We Fighting In Our Battle Against Sexual Violence?

To begin with let me draw your attention to Sunitha Krishnan, the activist leading the #ShameTheRapist campaign, filmmaker Leslee Udwin (“India’s Daughter”) and journalist and editor Barkha Dutt, discuss the politics of shame and stigma in India during the Women in the World summit in New York City. While the internet and media is all gaga about the fierce response that Barkhaa dutt gave to the anchor of the show defending her country and the so called western propaganda associated with shaming India as the land of rapists , it was much more than that that grabbed my attention.

1. Hearing Leslie Udwin all through the debate I could feel the goosebumps that I got from the conviction that i saw in her eyes. The conviction towards a cause that was so dear to not just an Indian or american but to each n every citizen. I was  awed by the humility and the attitude by which she out-rightly refused to be called as a British, claiming to be a global citizen. Well in this era of technology aren’t we all global citizens as well?
2. I guess we Indian’s can never get away from that mental sickness of ” LOG KYA KAHENGE”. What the intent of creating that video was not shaming India . The video was to shame ALL THE RAPISTS. The video was to shame the sick justifications that we , our families , our ministers give to justify the causes of rape.
3. I would even go to the extent of treating that documentary as a tribute to all those hundreds of men and women who flocked the roads, braved the atrocities and sent a loud clear message to this world that ITS NO LONGER THE INDIA OF SATI AND DRAUPADI ITS THE INDIA OF DREAMS , HOPES AND CHANGE. Have you ever seen a protest of such scale in a UK or USA ? How come you didn’t see that those people protested because in India we still respect our women and that we as young men and women are brave, very brave to rise above everything and even slap our own skewed traditions or mindsets that bring us this shame? The world must have been proud of India .
4. During that one month every Indian on the street ,was not fighting for Nirbhaya or for the Indian women, but the woman of the world. They fought for the divine feminine.
5. We are not talking about America or India, we are talking about the garbage that we feed into the minds of our children boys and girls. The rapist’s response was reflective of that. Of course we know that was what it was supposed to be , but tell me truly haven’t you heard the same exact lines spoken by your fathers and brothers about not going out after dark, about not dressing up in a particular way. Haven’t you seen how all the movies bollywood/hollywood potray a well groomed , well behaved woman getting the love of her life and someone like Veronica (Deepika padukone) of cocktail left loveless.So its we who have taught a thinking like that.
6. Coming to Barkhaa, she was equally good in clearing the air about India’s image that has been portrayed to the world and I really appreciate her for that , for highlighting the intrinsic values that the modern India holds and attaches to womanhood. I personally feel that the west does no good in terms of equality of woman. Be it Hollywood or anything else for that matter what is this obsession over the parameters of beauty that they set for a woman. why can’t the accept that being a nerd is okay? Why has the monster of capitalism grappled them to an extent that they are completely blind to the other necessities of humans?Why don’t you look at the India where now parents put their everything at stake to educate their daughter, give her her dreams ? Do you see that in america ? I am proud to belong to a country where  families would go extra mile in the face of a crisis to cushion the person.Where they would sell of their own luxuries to see their children become doctors and engineers.
7. The comments of the lawyers were enough to infuriate anyone. We might not accept but deep down we all know how many times have we heard these remarks from our near and dear ones. Sometimes it takes a bomb to make the deaf hear and shock to make the world respond!
8. Lastly what one sees is the solidarity and oneness with which these two women stood with each other. Beyond boundaries united for womanhood and with a hope that world needs to be united against a change.

We fight against the devil of our own creation . We fight against the devil in us.

-Athena