########################################################################## # Don't just read the news...discuss it. Learn more about Goa via Goanet # # Goanet was setup in 1994 and has spent the last decade building a # # lasting Goan non-profit, volunteer-driven network in cyberspace. # # Visit the archives http://www.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet/ # # To join, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and ask to join Goanet. # ########################################################################## DON'T TREAT WOMEN LIKE A PIECE OF FLESH, WAITING TO BE CASHED-IN ON Does Goa need to rush in to become the land of crimes against women?
By Bailancho Saad-Goa Newspapers and the other print and electronic media are increasingly blaring advertisements derogatory to women. Huge hoardings along Goa's highways with advertisements derogatory to women are standing witnesses to the degeneration that has set in in the companies, advertising agencies, hoarding owners and publishing houses who make a fast buck by using women in suggestive postures. These women are either fully clothed, without clothing or with very little clothing. The captions are such that it gives ample room for the advertiser to denigrate women and at the same time escape from the law, as captions are subject to interpretation. No action is taken; women continue to be exploited. This has severe repercussions on the hard-won rights of women. Women are leered at and jeered at. They are humiliated and treated as sex objects. They are blamed for enticing men. Any woman or girl who is sexually assaulted is equated to the woman, as projected in the ad, who *must* have invited it. Overall, the average woman does not easily get support from society until she proves beyond doubt. The net result is that women are advised to stay indoors. Their movements are severely restricted. Moral pundits cry hoarse for a dress code for women, thus further blatantly violating her human rights. Goa's tourism industry, with the active connivance of successive Governments has promoted Goa as a land of fun where seducing women await, where alcohol flows freely, where casinos invite you to test your "lady luck". These advertisements have severely battered the image of women in Goa and are paying a heavy price. The flesh trade in Goa thrives from the customers these advertisements bring. The Government of Goa is all set to set-up the Special Economic Zone (SEZ). In these zones the laws of the land do not apply. If this trend is allowed to continue, Goa will soon be known as the land of vices and crimes against women. Readers in Goa have probably seen the advertisement reading "Levi’s sale upto 50% off" written across a photograph of a nude woman, which appeared on the back-page of Navhind Times dated August 6, 2005. Readers have probably also seen the recently-launched Kingfisher Airlines ad wherein a bikini clad woman lies sprawled in the Navhind Times, Herald and Gomantak Times between August 8 to 15, several times. There are no indications that this ad will be withdrawn. The same ad appears on the hoardings too. These ads can no longer be dismissed as the outcome of simply a kinky mind. They are derogatory and trample on the rights of women. They are an assault on womanhood and humanity. Women's collective Bailancho Saad has lodged a complaint against the company, ad agency and publishers of newspapers advertisement under the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act. Under the Act, the "indecent representation of women" means the depiction in any manner of the figure of a woman, her form or body or any part thereof in such way as to have the effect of being indecent, or derogatory to, or denigrating women, or is likely to deprave, corrupt or injure the public morality or morals. You can protest too. Some ways you can make your voice heard: * Participating in the signature campaign urging the authorities to take action; * Supporting the demand to the Goa Government to notify the Gazetted Officer under the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act to effect seizures of such material; * Write to the local dailies not to publish derogatory advertisements. Let them know that this is strongly disapproved and let the public know that there are other citizens who share the same sense of disapproval; * Countering these ads with your impressions of the need to preserve the self-esteem of women and girls; * Exposing the double standards of the powers that be that see nothing wrong in these advertisements even as they inflict the worst possible human rights violations against women in the name of preserving the dignity of women; * Organising a protest action in your area or college or place of work. Our organisation has called for public protest meetings. Join in, arise, awake and act. Show the world that we will not take such insults lying down. --------------------------------------------------------------------- ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Bailancho Saad is an active women's collective in Goa, launched over two decades ago. It has its offices at SF-4, Goa Housing Board Residential and Commercial Complex, Opp. Goa Housing Board Office, Journalist Colony, Bardez, Goa. It can be contacted on phone 2410864 and email [EMAIL PROTECTED] This article was written in August 2005. GOANET READER welcomes contributions from its readers, by way of essays, reviews, features and think-pieces. We share quality Goa-related writing among the Goanet family of mailing lists. Please do send in your feedback to the writer. Our writers share their writing pro bono. Goanet Reader welcomes your feedback at goanet@goanet.org and is edited by Frederick Noronha [EMAIL PROTECTED]