Warcry of the Wronged Woman!

 

Every single day, without fail, there is a violent, gender - based crime that forces us to sit up and take notice, jaded though we’ve become. In Tamil Nadu, 27-year-old Rithanya took her own life after she was harassed for dowry, though her parents had already spent a fortune. Inured as we are to dowry deaths, this case generated outrage over a voice note the victim had left, in which, she confided to her father - "There is only one man for one woman. In this birth, I got married once, and my life is not good. That’s all. It is over." The bereaved father mentioned this in public and while condemning those who had driven her to death added that he was proud of her for sticking to the "oruvanuku oruthi" concept. Roughly translated it refers to monogamy but naturally only a woman is expected to adhere to this stricture and swear fidelity to the first man who has seen/touched her naked body and deigned to marry her. Men, of course are not bound by such inconvenient and impractical balderdash and even if they choose to be lecherous, cheating, dowry - demanding deadbeats, they feel entitled to the unswerving love and loyalty of their wives. 

Further North, Radhika Yadav was shot dead by her father while she was preparing breakfast for him. Allegedly, the Dad from hell simply could not bear the fact that he had been repeatedly taunted for living off his Tennis player daughter and further rebuked for "allowing" her to run around in shorts and athleisure wear as it was a moral affront and not at all in keeping with India's glorious culture and tradition as per which men get to drop their pants and pee in full view of the public while women who swim or play tennis in sports gear can fully expect to be shot for their indecent ways. Always happy contributors to overpowering ugliness, the trolls jumped in with slanderous accusations claiming that Radhika was seen in the company of unsuitable men. And some of them were love jihadists! What is a father to do? 

Vociferous indignation or caustic condemnation is not enough, and we must scrutinize the underlying cause of such crimes. A vast majority of people still believe that a woman's virtue depends solely on the diameter of her vagina. Too many still hold the view that family honour is tied to a woman's body and therefore, she must remain pure and unsullied which translates to sexually repressed for life. Even more are inclined to see women as little more than meat to be consumed and discarded at will, objects that can be bought and sold as per the need. Worst of all, too few women know better. 

Women have rights. We do! We are allowed to live and love and even laugh. Really! That means we can wear what we like, play sports, marry or not and fart as we please. If those afflicted with performance anxiety, erectile dysfunction and dud personalities feel like diminutive dudes who can't do diddly-squat they have no business taking it out on women who can and will. Deal with it or be damned! 

This article was originally published in TNIE Magazine.