March 08 and the Kerala Concerns of Sthreepeedanam (Atrocities On Women) At least to a section of opinion makers here in Kerala, Agolavalkaranam (Globalization) in the context of women's rights just means foreign onslaught on this country's great Culture! Like women daring to move about, to defy the dress codes, to visit pubs, daring to shatter the values of family and bringing shame to the country and the countryMen, so on and so forth. While Muthaliks and Modys are there in Karnataka and Gujrat at large to fight these evils, who will fight here? Going by the press reports, we find forces of the local police to the leftist- rightist women/youth/students organizations to the neighborhood fraternity vigilance volunteers arrayed in this great task of defending the culture. Part of the task of (people) getting opinionated against w omen's assertions, is of course, left to the Fourth Estate together with the Samskarika Nayakans and Nayikas of Kerala through rhetoric s and imagery of globalization destroying Culture.... especially by w omen shedding their sense of guilt and shame about body, daring to express their sexuality in first person, unmindful of Culture and Tradition! In one report after other ,we find youths being rounded up by the police for no cognizable crime. An item appeared in Malayala Manorama daily just the other day. It was a report sensationally captioned, about an incident at the platform of Kollam railway station involving two youths of different sex. Lacking in many details,esp of the legality of the police/railway court's action, the report would mean that two people of different sex, unconnected either through marriage or through blood relation, sitting together and talking is an act punishable with instant arrest and fine! Well, one is tempted to ask a few questions to these self-styled defenders of culture: Do they really like to see women of Kerala ever having autonomy over their bodies ? Even while we find chapters of peedanam (atrocities) unending here in Kerala, are we confident enough to be able in any near future, to stop seeing women of Kerala just as victims of 'peedanam' (perpetration of atrocities)? When will we able to find them as active individuals/ collectivity fighting , challenging the male regime of gender and sexuality on the one hand, and demanding progressive reforms in education about sex and reproduction on the other? When will we/ they be able to take on this essentially anti-woman, protectionist attitude that promotes kind of single handed discourse on peedanam, wherein, active agency is denied to women on every count? When will be able to dispense with the need of outfits like "Stree Suraksha Samithis" ,which virtually edifies the dictum of Manu (Women should always be protected, and they never deserve to be free) Flip side of the institution of peedanam is family, the burial ground of every right of women to full citizenship. It is high time that we openly defied Culture, Morals and Traditions at least to the extent they openly take sides with an agenda of perpetuating patriarchy in all walks of life, be it physical labour, reproduction, sexuality or the organization of family.
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