What's Going On in India
I'm referring to this horrible rape-murder on a bus in India last month that resulted in mass street protests demanding that authorities start taking rape cases more seriously. The western press is portraying this as basically an oppression-of-women-by-the-patriarchy battle, and for all I know that's all it is.
But India is a complicate place, with some very deep religious and cultural divides, and I have trouble believing this case - and the rape controversy generally - is just a man-vs-woman thing. My basic assumption is that the underlying problem is a bit like the Norwegian rape plague, which is an immigration problem that the authorities and mainstream press are twisting themselves into knots trying to deny.
In India there is the Muslim/Hindu divide and of course the impenetrable caste system as well as a dizzying array of ethnicities. Again, I find it hard to believe there isn't more to the story than just the BBC-friendly one of consciousness-raised women battling against a traditional patriarchy - but I don't know so I'm hoping someone knowledgeable stumbles upon this and provides some clarity.
But India is a complicate place, with some very deep religious and cultural divides, and I have trouble believing this case - and the rape controversy generally - is just a man-vs-woman thing. My basic assumption is that the underlying problem is a bit like the Norwegian rape plague, which is an immigration problem that the authorities and mainstream press are twisting themselves into knots trying to deny.
In India there is the Muslim/Hindu divide and of course the impenetrable caste system as well as a dizzying array of ethnicities. Again, I find it hard to believe there isn't more to the story than just the BBC-friendly one of consciousness-raised women battling against a traditional patriarchy - but I don't know so I'm hoping someone knowledgeable stumbles upon this and provides some clarity.
posted by ziel | 1/05/2013 09:43:00 AM
4 Comments:
It was not just a rape. The assault was unbelievably brutal. I don't recommend reading the details.
Yes, I've read about it - that's why I referred to it as "horrible" - I didn't intend it to be ironic.
It kind of reminds me of the Christian-Newsom horror in Knoxville a few years ago. All the good and honorable here assured us there was no racial angle here whatsoever - just a random, brutal crime. Utter crap - the deep anger and hatred evident in this brutal crime clearly reflected racial animus on the part of the perpetrators - but such thoughts are not allowed.
So that's why I'm wondering if there's more to this story, as well.
Susan Brownmiller's contention four decades ago that rape is a political crime was exaggerated but should not be dismissed.
“Whoever, intending to insult the modesty of any woman, utters any word, makes any sound or gesture, or exhibits any object, intending that such word or sound shall be heard, or that such gesture or object shall be seen by such woman, or intrudes upon the privacy of such woman, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both”, reads Section 509 of the Indian Penal Code.
http://uchalla.wordpress.com/
So Indian feminists have been active(recent example: Renuka Chaudhary, whose bigotry was revealed in an interview with Karan Thapar), it’s just that women’s rights can’t land in front of the heap when people still die of starvation.
They have been spreading mischief elsewhere, apparently the originator of the claim:
“Women are half of the world’s population, do two-thirds of the work, get one-tenth of the income, and are the owners of one per cent of the property.”
is/was an Indian.
http://familyinequality.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/stop-that-feminist-viral-statistic-meme/
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