Feminism Rant

March 8 is International Women’s Day yet I’m living in a society where a young woman cannot run in a public park, where 3 of her friends are nearby doing yoga, without being accosted and held against her will by a man. Thankfully this young woman is defensive and knows her place in the world enough to stand up for herself, get away, and then bring others to scold the man. I say scold in the loosest sense of the term. For some reason, I have been observing, in this society men are not harshly reprimanded for being domineering or harassing. A quick little finger wagging by some older Telugu gentlemen and the man was released without consequence. Another young lady was walking outside her HOME, in her own neighborhood, and was stopped by a man who proceeded to grab her chest and gesture at her with his penis which was already out of his pants. This was outside her home. Women are scoffed at for exercising because they are too weak, left without proper divorcement by their husbands, can’t wear clothing they prefer because their own husbands will not allow it, they are put into submission on a daily basis by male authority. The list goes on for pages and pages. Yet there are women who hold high profile government positions, have successful careers and are well educated. What causes the disparity here?

I submit that women of all ages here need to be educated and empowered thereby. I think women should be taught that they have equal opportunities with men and that they are not subservient to them in any way shape or form. I feel so often that women (of all countries) are being held up to a dramatized standard that they see in media. The women who are of the highest profile and reverie are those in the media. Something that is quite evident is that these women sell themselves, explicitly their bodies, to gain attention and reward. This sexualizes the roles of women in society and causes them to become a slave to the drives of man. How dare women and men put women into such positions where their worth is measured on the sexual pleasure they fulfill. How dare men assume that because a woman is from America, or from a culture where certain standards are different, that she is welcoming to sexual favors or asking men to touch her body. That is nonsense! Women need to be taught that they are dictated by their own conscience and do not have to succumb to any man because he is higher or more powerful than she. Men need to be taught that they are not the dictators of women’s lives. She is an individual, she has options, she has a voice, and she will be heard.

I am sick of being thought of as weak because I am a woman. I am strong, I am intelligent, and if you ever touch another one of the girls in my group you will hear me roar!

Respectfully yours,

Femqueyla

A Quasi Feminist in India