!!!A Simple Message, but speaks a lot...
typically Baba Amte stlye!
Yes, Hands Are Not For Beating, But For Building!
This message is not only for the girl child or a woman but for all...
Domestic Violence, faced by many girl children, not only in the third world but also in the first world, house wives (rather home makers) even office going women face this brutality.
As there is a transformation from traditional women- being home makers to todays modern office-corporate going woman, parallely there is a transformation in the problems faced by the same woman. Yes, the woman as a sex or rather gender remained the same but problems started variying... from the food gathering-hunting stage, the agricutural era, the industrial era and todays the intellectual era wherein most of the work had to be done by the woman in the house (dominated by the eldest woman) and today she is handling dual responsibilities each having multiple roles. Even though the urban woman is economically empowered (although not all) she doesn't have a say in the house which she belongs to. (be it maternal or in-laws) The man still continues to be the key decision maker in the house which allows him to dominate over her. Following the rules of patriarchy (indirectly manusmriti) he ensures that she is kept docile, dominated and obeys his 'orders' .
How does he ensures this? Simply by controlling her through physical, mental & emotional violence. Some feminists would argue that anatomy is not the reason of this 'dominant-dominated' relationship, but it is a fact. It is the most simplest way of contolling any human being: be it another man himself, a girl, a child or a woman. These physical sanctions give man the edge to control the woman in his house. To add to worse, our Indian culture and tradition doesn't allow to retaliate against a man; thus she suffers in silence. Even after a revolution in the IT sector, even after modernisation, the woman has sanctions. (indicating that there is no connection between the socio-economic status of a woman and modernisation)
There are many reasons for domestic violence apart from patriarchical culture. Where domestic violence is not only about physical beating or physical sanctions it also includes mental-emotional torture, non-consensual sexual relationships. Frustration on man in his work, (outside home) his inability to earn and the current reason is his inability to earn more than his wife: which is actually considered to be 'unmanly'. Unsatisfactory sexual relations between the husband and wife leads to marital rapes. (including physical sanctions) Conflicts between the daughter-in-law & her in-laws leading to domestic violence are not a passe. Many a times the mother-in-law is the perpetuor of the sanction. Now-a-days media instead of showing progreessive images of women, shows regressive images. Outright portrayal of domestic violence in 'their' daily soaps effectively concludes in the 'mind of the man' that he is the only authority in the family, he has the sole power in the family to make or break 'major' decisions in the family. He takes for granted that he has all powers over all women in his house and that they should behave according to his 'whims & fancies' , which he calls 'rules of his house'.
But we all should understand that "All That Is Personal Is Political". This means whatever is happenning in a personal life of a woman (be it positive or negative) has implications in the social, economic & political life which again boomerangs into the woman's personal life.
We all have to speak against domestic violence: of all types- physical, mental, emotional & sexual. The woman has to start speaking up against it and the man has to support her in this struggle against domestic violence. The man should understand that he is because of a woman and the woman should understand that she has all rights to speak against any kind of injustice she faces.
Lets build our struggle to beat domestic violence!
-- Sachidananda.
(Eternal Happiness)
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