Women’s Dignity is bashed out every second!
Pick any regional newspaper, or switch to any news channel; stories of rape dominate the headlines, each day. The whole mass is going gaga about this crime against women, demanding laws that could abolish them and let women live freely without fear. The big question is do extinction of rape is all that is needed? Is that the only problem we face? Neha, a nurse in a private hospital was returning from work to home at six in the evening; when two men on bike smacked her breasts, quite hard. Before she could even overcome the shock they speedily fled away.
Rashmi, while standing in the queue to book tickets at the counter of the multiplex received lewd comments from the young men standing behind. They did not refrain from commenting on her physique too. While she was leaving the queue, one of them hit her on the buttocks. Akashi, a twenty year old college going girl is stalked regularly by some young men staying near her locality. They would follow her all the way to the bus stop, whistling at her and calling names like ‘chikni’. Aakansha occasionally receives sexual remarks from some of her colleagues and boss in the office. Aditi, was crossing a busy road in daylight with her friend, when two young men on bike, shouted ‘wow’ staring at her breasts. It reminds me of Rush Limbaugh who states men who love staring at women’s breasts should walk up to those women and say “Will you please ask your breasts to stop staring at my eyes?” Anyways, getting back to these incidents shared by women from around the world; all of the girls remember the minutest details of the incident, yet no one ever heard them. There is no redress to the trauma and stress they underwent. Neha stopped walking to the bus stop, and begun using cab from the hospital instead. It was a big blow to her pocket. Rashmi is now fearful about watching movies with her friends. Since, all warnings and requests failed to stop the scoundrels, Akashi no more travels alone, but with any of her family members. This has restricted her whereabouts. Though the Sexual Harassment Act did not exist at that time, Aakansha dared to complain about the frequent harassment to the higher officials, but they asked her to prove it mocking at her. The stress she went through at the workplace finally made her resign. Aditi is one among the millions of girls who face such eve teasing every day. Unfortunately, she knows she can do nothing about it, and no one else cares enough to do something!
There is thousands of such eve teasing, harassment happening every day that goes unreported. With reports flooded with rape and violence cases, where are the redress to these cases, aimed to hurt the dignity and self respect of women every day? Imagine a world where men walking down the streets are spanked by women. A world where they are stared for wearing anything that looks good on them. They are looked upon as sex objects, whistled at, commented at every public place. A night-mare, isn’t it? That is the description of the world where women live in. Such hurt, does not leave behind marks on the body, but imprints the bruises on one’s self esteem. Difficult to identify and prove these incidents are often ignored. Let’s talk and complain about them to find the solution. It’s high time to tell the world, here are a million of other ignored cases.
———— About the Author: This article has been contributed by Srishti Raj, our intern. Srishti is a student of Computer Science & Engineering at KIIT University at Bhubaneswar. She is an avid reader and a keen observer who yearns to see a change in the society.
