As a fellow writer on nuanced issues (immigration for me), I can appreciate the struggle of having to articulate issues that are universal and yet are particularly acute in some parts. No doubt, the liberal democracies have the world have much to do for women.
But, it would be insincere to suggest India does not suffer from a women’s safety issue that is vastly most severe, both in public and otherwise.
When Mahima highlights India’s gender issues as being acute, I feel like she generally comes from a place of wanting to draw attention to it. I don’t think the intent is to suggest any comparison. Womaning is written from the Indian perspective, which is partly why it is so valuable. So many of us Indian women are just conditioned to tolerate so much that falls anywhere from frustrating to downright scary.
I generally am in agreement with your posts and thoroughly enjoy reading them but this one struck a wrong chord. I think this is because you have made it sound like an issue solely affecting India as you say in the post 'A big reason why our public spaces are so unsafe for women is that open conversations about these issues are not common in Indian families. This has made us a sexually repressed society with archaic notions - not just about sex - but also gender roles and stereotypes.' If it were the archaic notions - other so called liberated cultures wouldn't have this issue, which is not the case. Gender stereotypes are even more pronounced in these liberated cultures (pick any popular sitcom - Friends, Big Bang theory etc) and you'll know what I mean. I have come across many news were sexual harassment in schools are commonplace in the so called modern society ( https://www.everyonesinvited.uk). I think its an all pervasive issue and not so much to do with archaic notions of Indian families. By using that as a root cause I think the problem is being oversimplified and also blaming one culture for things that prevalent everywhere. I know this might not be your intention but it did appear to me as such. Hence my two pennies worth :)
As a fellow writer on nuanced issues (immigration for me), I can appreciate the struggle of having to articulate issues that are universal and yet are particularly acute in some parts. No doubt, the liberal democracies have the world have much to do for women.
But, it would be insincere to suggest India does not suffer from a women’s safety issue that is vastly most severe, both in public and otherwise.
When Mahima highlights India’s gender issues as being acute, I feel like she generally comes from a place of wanting to draw attention to it. I don’t think the intent is to suggest any comparison. Womaning is written from the Indian perspective, which is partly why it is so valuable. So many of us Indian women are just conditioned to tolerate so much that falls anywhere from frustrating to downright scary.
I generally am in agreement with your posts and thoroughly enjoy reading them but this one struck a wrong chord. I think this is because you have made it sound like an issue solely affecting India as you say in the post 'A big reason why our public spaces are so unsafe for women is that open conversations about these issues are not common in Indian families. This has made us a sexually repressed society with archaic notions - not just about sex - but also gender roles and stereotypes.' If it were the archaic notions - other so called liberated cultures wouldn't have this issue, which is not the case. Gender stereotypes are even more pronounced in these liberated cultures (pick any popular sitcom - Friends, Big Bang theory etc) and you'll know what I mean. I have come across many news were sexual harassment in schools are commonplace in the so called modern society ( https://www.everyonesinvited.uk). I think its an all pervasive issue and not so much to do with archaic notions of Indian families. By using that as a root cause I think the problem is being oversimplified and also blaming one culture for things that prevalent everywhere. I know this might not be your intention but it did appear to me as such. Hence my two pennies worth :)