First things first.It ticks most of the boxes correctly. Imported idea.Check.
Foreign certificate.Check.
Sounds sumptuous.Check.
Whips up a shindig.Check ; but will the Indian edition of slut walk really be the strong expression of intent and interest its made out to be or just another case of desperate, farcical feminism,riding dangerously on a moral high horse? Excuse me,what's it called?What?Did you say S#%t,right?Right,it means Slut.Alright. "What's in a name?",someone asked. "A lot," answered the proponents of the march.Its an attempt to turn the patriarchal vocabulary on its head,I am told.Not a bad idea,but how many of us would encourage our girls to march in the Morcha (Besharmi Morcha-the 'toned down' Indian incarnation),being fully aware of the undesired voyeurism the march promises to generate,with its celebrated cause long lost in rhetoric?
Agreed, victimization and objectification of women is detestable and thoroughly dangerous to an inclusive democracy,but doesn't the borrowed wisdom of Slutwalk India promises just that?Rather than making women the subjects of discussion,it makes them the objects of ogling.Forgive me for having these unfortunate visions,but I can sadly foresee a busy CP thoroughfare inundated with scores of 'sluts' being jeered,ogled and pestered by hordes of Delhi men,notorious for the incredible ways they objectify women like no other on this planet could.Slutwalk is not sexual liberation,as some put it,neither is it going to foster the authentic sexual autonomy,nor will it stop sexual violence.
Whether we blame victims ,calling them 'sluts'(who thus asked to be raped,as some see it) or victimise them ,calling them 'frigid' (who thus secretly want to be overpowered),the problem is that we are victimizing them,and asking them to be even more 'sluttish' to redeem the word itself from the clutches of patriarchal dictionary and chauvinist vocabulary is no solution.Women need to stand up,but not for the right to be called 'slut' or whatever with similar insinuations.To any of the women reading this ,would you be jumping with joy at being addressed with such deplorable allusions?The catch is to fight these allusions and not to redeem,accept and imbibe them as evident media of salutation.Your dress doesn't give you the right to be raped.Personal dignity is my personal propriety and is independent of me working in a bank or a brothel.In a free world,we are all entitled to chose,and none of my choices of religion,language,clothing,culture,country,career,caste,sexual orientation gives anyone an iota of right to call me names,more so that define social moribund.Agreed,we live in a hyperventilating,hypocrite society where our convenience decides our norms,but that doesn't give me the right to call my Dad names because that is what is convenient to me.Profanity is not dignity,and trust me,its not even patriarchal. Its just that-profane.So while putting the professional chastity of a nun and a sex worker in same order of dignity might come naturally to me,I obviously can't call a sex worker a nun and/or vice-versa.Now that doesn't mean i am discriminating, I am only being real,avoiding the bait of blinkered,misplaced enthusiasm.
Being 'chaste' or provocative' is subject to our respective individual perspectives,and they,by the way cannot and should not dictate or decide how you and me must approach a girl.In a country where Didi,Amma,Madamji and Behenji shape national politics while paradoxically the Women Reservation Bill stays in limbo,the idea of a Slutwalk appears preposterous and intricately flawed.Move on ladies,and gentlemen.
PS : On a chilling January 24,2011,Constable Michael Sanguinetti discovered the fire within,"Women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimised".Tch,tch...
Foreign certificate.Check.
Sounds sumptuous.Check.
Whips up a shindig.Check ; but will the Indian edition of slut walk really be the strong expression of intent and interest its made out to be or just another case of desperate, farcical feminism,riding dangerously on a moral high horse? Excuse me,what's it called?What?Did you say S#%t,right?Right,it means Slut.Alright. "What's in a name?",someone asked. "A lot," answered the proponents of the march.Its an attempt to turn the patriarchal vocabulary on its head,I am told.Not a bad idea,but how many of us would encourage our girls to march in the Morcha (Besharmi Morcha-the 'toned down' Indian incarnation),being fully aware of the undesired voyeurism the march promises to generate,with its celebrated cause long lost in rhetoric?
Agreed, victimization and objectification of women is detestable and thoroughly dangerous to an inclusive democracy,but doesn't the borrowed wisdom of Slutwalk India promises just that?Rather than making women the subjects of discussion,it makes them the objects of ogling.Forgive me for having these unfortunate visions,but I can sadly foresee a busy CP thoroughfare inundated with scores of 'sluts' being jeered,ogled and pestered by hordes of Delhi men,notorious for the incredible ways they objectify women like no other on this planet could.Slutwalk is not sexual liberation,as some put it,neither is it going to foster the authentic sexual autonomy,nor will it stop sexual violence.
Whether we blame victims ,calling them 'sluts'(who thus asked to be raped,as some see it) or victimise them ,calling them 'frigid' (who thus secretly want to be overpowered),the problem is that we are victimizing them,and asking them to be even more 'sluttish' to redeem the word itself from the clutches of patriarchal dictionary and chauvinist vocabulary is no solution.Women need to stand up,but not for the right to be called 'slut' or whatever with similar insinuations.To any of the women reading this ,would you be jumping with joy at being addressed with such deplorable allusions?The catch is to fight these allusions and not to redeem,accept and imbibe them as evident media of salutation.Your dress doesn't give you the right to be raped.Personal dignity is my personal propriety and is independent of me working in a bank or a brothel.In a free world,we are all entitled to chose,and none of my choices of religion,language,clothing,culture,country,career,caste,sexual orientation gives anyone an iota of right to call me names,more so that define social moribund.Agreed,we live in a hyperventilating,hypocrite society where our convenience decides our norms,but that doesn't give me the right to call my Dad names because that is what is convenient to me.Profanity is not dignity,and trust me,its not even patriarchal. Its just that-profane.So while putting the professional chastity of a nun and a sex worker in same order of dignity might come naturally to me,I obviously can't call a sex worker a nun and/or vice-versa.Now that doesn't mean i am discriminating, I am only being real,avoiding the bait of blinkered,misplaced enthusiasm.
Being 'chaste' or provocative' is subject to our respective individual perspectives,and they,by the way cannot and should not dictate or decide how you and me must approach a girl.In a country where Didi,Amma,Madamji and Behenji shape national politics while paradoxically the Women Reservation Bill stays in limbo,the idea of a Slutwalk appears preposterous and intricately flawed.Move on ladies,and gentlemen.
PS : On a chilling January 24,2011,Constable Michael Sanguinetti discovered the fire within,"Women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimised".Tch,tch...
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