India Indian Group Warns Women Joining 'SlutWalk'

[Archived_Member16]

June 28, 2011

Indian group warns women joining 'SlutWalk'


AFP - June 28, 2011 8:03 AM

Protesters during a Slutwalk march for the right of women to wear what they want without harassment
on June 25, 2011 in Auckland, New Zealand.
Photograph by: Hannah Johnston, Getty Images

A right-wing group warned Tuesday that "India will not tolerate" women intending to wear skimpy clothing and march in the country's proposed first "SlutWalk".


"SlutWalks", which have become a global phenomenon to protest sexual violence, sees scantily attired women march to challenge the mindset that victims of sexual assault should be blamed for the crimes against them.


A spokesman for the right-wing Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) told AFP: "India will not tolerate anything that crosses the limits of our culture.


"In any case, India already offers women a lot of respect so I am unclear about the purpose of this event."


The march, scheduled to take place in New Delhi, has already been postponed once from earlier this month and a new date has not been confirmed.


Although organizers have changed the name to a tamer-sounding "Besharmi Morcha" (Shameless Front) and asked women to wear their everyday attire, the VHP warned participants against donning western-style clothing.


"They will not be welcome if they march wearing western clothes, Indian society will not accept it," the VHP spokesman said.


Leering and harassment are a daily menace for women in the capital and a woman is raped on average every 18 hours, according to the latest police figures.


A government-backed UN survey last year said about 85 per cent of Delhi's women are perpetually scared of being sexually harassed.


"SlutWalk" was first held in Toronto this year after a police officer caused outrage by stating during a speech to university students that women should avoid "dressing like sluts" in order not to be victimised.


The global protest soon spread to more than 60 cities where women joined in huge numbers.

© Copyright (c) AFP

source: http://www.theprovince.com/news/Indian+group+warns+women+joining+SlutWalk/5017021/story.html

 

[spnadmin]

I personally would not participate. However, one can understand their desperation given this sort of comment.

"In any case, India already offers women a lot of respect so I am unclear about the purpose of this event."

60,000 girls missing in one geographic range of India alone. Widows still have their heads shaved, some sent off to temples, other living housebound not to be seen in public, even those who are educated and living in urban areas. Widows of 1984 living in abject poverty who have not seen any serious effort made to restore justice. Forced marriages and child-marriages continue, even in the diaspora. In New Delhi companies pay for female workers to ride by cab to work because of the sexual harassment that occurs at high rates in that city. Female foeticide for the sake of avoiding dowry. Dowry murders. That's great.

 

[Mai Harinder Kaur]

I personally would not participate. However, one can understand their desperation given this sort of comment.



60,000 girls missing in one geographic range of India alone. Widows still have their heads shaved, some sent off to temples, other living housebound not to be seen in public, even those who are educated and living in urban areas. Widows of 1984 living in abject poverty who have not seen any serious effort made to restore justice. Forced marriages and child-marriages continue, even in the diaspora. In New Delhi companies pay for female workers to ride by cab to work because of the sexual harassment that occurs at high rates in that city. Female foeticide for the sake of avoiding dowry. Dowry murders. That's great.

And don't forget "honour killings."

The best thing for a woman to wear to avoid rape - a Sikh woman, at least - is a nice sharp kirpan, assuming she knows how to use it. Any fool trying to rape me would find himself without the necessary equipment to ever rape another woman, ala Lorena Bobbit.

Seriously, though, although it's politically incorrect to say so, many men do assume not-nice things about scantily attired women. She should be aware of this when she dresses provocatively, that she will provoke male attention. This is no excuse for sexual assault, of course, but it is realistic. I think it is a major danger to try to live in this less-than-ideal world as if it were the world we wish it were. I developed young and I took to wearing floppy sweatshirts and loose-fitting jeans whenever I could until I was married because I hated the male attention - the cat calls and filthy suggestions from random males. (Once I was married nobody wanted to tangle with Mani.)

I thought it might be interesting to look up the history of the word "{censored}." This is what I found:

{censored} c.1400, "a dirty, slovenly, or untidy woman," probably cognate with dialectal Ger. Schlutt "slovenly woman," dialectal Swed. slata "idle woman, {censored}," and Du. slodder "{censored}," but the ultimate origin is doubtful. Chaucer uses sluttish (late 14c.) in reference to the appearance of an untidy man. Also "a kitchen maid, a drudge" (mid-15c.; hard pieces in a bread loaf from imperfect kneading were called {censored}'s pennies, 18c.). Meaning "woman of loose character, bold hussy" is attested from mid-15c.; playful use of the word, without implication of loose morals, is attested from 1660s.

Our little girl Susan is a most admirable {censored}, and pleases us mightily. [Pepys, diary, Feb. 21, 1664]

Sometimes used 19c. as a euphemism for [the b-word] to describe a female dog. There is a group of North Sea Germanic words in sl- that mean "sloppy," and also "slovenly woman," and that tend to evolve toward "woman of loose morals" (cf. slattern, also English dial. slummock "a dirty, untidy, or slovenly person," 1861; M.Du. slore "a sluttish woman").

Not the worst of words, but one I wouldn't willingly embrace.

 

[spnadmin]

Except that in the case of sexual assault and rape, even infants in diapers and old women are raped. The scanty attire does attract attention. Yet, being fully clothed does not stop a rape. Most who are raped or sexually assaulted are not "looking for it" and did not dress for the occasion. Lawyers who defend rapists have used a woman's attire for ages as a defense. Waving lace panties in view of the jury, one might imply, "The victim brought this on herself" ....and would display her clothes as evidence...fortunately no longer admissible in courts of law. Except, under Sharia law. The claim a woman "enticed" the rapist can even lead to a victim being lashed. Statistics are there for all of this.

The sexual harassment of women is not about sex, but about anger and ego. imho I think these women do have a cause to march for. The choice is theirs to go half naked or not. The YouTube videos coming afterwards won't do much to dissuade those who really do believe that Indian women get a lot of respect. It will be interesting to read all those comments by level-headed viewers who have God on their side.

 

[Mai Harinder Kaur]

Except that in the case of sexual assault and rape, even infants in diapers and old women are raped. The scanty attire does attract attention. Yet, being fully clothed does not stop a rape. Most who are raped or sexually assaulted are not "looking for it" and did not dress for the occasion. Lawyers who defend rapists have used a woman's attire for ages as a defense. "The victim brought this on herself" ....and would display her clothes as evidence...fortunately no longer admissible in courts of law. Except, under Sharia law. The claim a woman "enticed" the rapist can even lead to a victim being lashed. Statistics are there for all of this.

The sexual harassment of women is not about sex, but about anger and ego. imho I think these women do have a cause to march for. The choice is theirs to go half naked or not. The YouTube videos coming afterwards won't do much to dissuade those who really do believe that Indian women get a lot of respect. It will be interesting to read all those comments by level-headed viewers who have God on their side.

My remarks were directed at sexual harassment, not rape. Rape is a crime of violence and the rapist is 100% to blame, no excuses. I still think the well-dressed Sikh woman includes a usable kirpan.

I agree that women ought to be able to dress any way we choose, being half-naked or all naked, if we wish. I am only pointing out that if we do, men are going to react in a way we may not like. It may not really be about sex, but that's how the males are going to act.

 

[ugsbay]

Lmao "India already respects women" what women is this rightwing nutcase talking about, the upper class or the untouchables that often get paraded through whole villages fully naked, there crime is being low caste. The rapists and Pervs will find any excuse for there perverted views, hypocracy again at its finest......:noticemunda:

 

[Kanwaljit.Singh]

I wish a Jatha of Nihangs could be there to protect the ladies if those thugs show up!

 

[spnadmin]

I missed this. The first line

A right-wing group warned Tuesday that "India will not tolerate" women intending to wear skimpy clothing and march in the country's proposed first "SlutWalk".

Who?

A spokesman for the right-wing Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) told AFP: "India will not tolerate anything that crosses the limits of our culture.

I love the slogan: My Clothes are not My Consent! But....this time around, for these women, the predators don't seem to be a gallery of ordinary guys.

 

[Harry Haller]

You may as well be talking about a different country, any respect I had for India vanished soon after 1984, for older people, I am sure you have a huge range of dates for when India ceased being 'home' .


I can quite understand why certain women would want to rile these right wing hypocrites, if I was a woman, I would want to show my frustration and anger with a short skirt and a pair of heels, if that was my only way of protest,.

 

[Kanwaljit.Singh]

I see this moment analogous to the one with American Sikhs saying if they wear turban and have flowing beards, they are not terrorists. Why do people now have to shout to make people listen?