The Battle of the Sexes!

Now see the problem is that I have been in a poetic sort of a mood for a while now and I need to break this trend. So here goes, well today I want to talk about feminism.

Ever since I have joined twitter, all I see is this persistent battle which for some reason always turns out to be a blame game.  So couple of my observations:

1. You contradict a man  – You are feminist
2. You don’t agree to his perception, belief system and thought process – You are feminist 
3.   God forbid if you express your anger (like men do all the time) or sexuality – you are a feminist
4. If you RT another woman’s view – you are a feminist 
5.   If you have a head on your shoulder – you are a feminist
6.   If you together with your friend, acquaintance or stranger agree to a statement complimenting women and encouraging their rights – you are a feminist
7. If you spread awareness about women issues – you are a feminist
8. And sadly, if you are a man who agrees, comments, RT’s a woman (labelled feminist) – You sir are a feminist too

Now don’t get me wrong, I am all for women’s rights and am all for bashing women who are bimbo’s or who put other women/men down. The fact still remains that somewhere in these conversations I have realized the magnitude of change that is required to reorient the mind-set of the people. It is going to take eons of century’s it seems at the rate its going.

There are people (men and women..) on twitter, who constantly make fun of women/men…stereotype them, embarrass them, objectify them, abuse them and are after all intimidated by so many of them. Somewhere in there, I really feel that they have forgotten what the issue actually is. Agreed experiences often form perceptions, then why are they so scared of change. Agreed there are all sorts of men and women, and if one proves you wrong, be hopeful that the other might just change the way you think.

We come from a country which is formed on the very strong foundation of casteism, hypocrisy and Gender Bias. We come from a land which has the highest number of men who are archaic in their thinking.  I will not elaborate on that now, though some day I might, but it’s about RESPECT, its about UNDERSTANDING and ACCEPTANCE, that yes , the other Gender is equal. The other is also a Human Being. 

People often say that feminists are violent. Have they ever asked why? Have they ever debated or given it a thought? Maybe it’s because they too have struggled with many to refashion the perspective of people who mistreat or demean them, maybe they  devoted their life to making the lives of other women better, and maybe they know someone who went through this struggle. Maybe they want to provide them with equal rights, protect them from violence, abuse and humility to live a decent life of dignity.

The struggles of women are many, it does not matter which socio- economic strata they belong to, the power struggle always begin. From a laborer who might get beaten up every day, be the punching bag of many, to be sold, to be slaved, made to live her life in a shadow of doubt that she is capable of being something and have an identity of her own. There may be others who goes through mental harassment every day, children who have broken homes because of ego issues and what not.

It amazes me that even educated men and many women, still have not been able to get the concept of equality, which should have been instilled by our so called “education”. Yes I do respect the male gender very much, and I acknowledge their struggles and I definitely acknowledge the fact that the notion that they are better than women has been instilled by their mothers first and then by the society. 

It’s a sad state of affairs, one that I fear my voice cannot change. As I may have already been tagged “The Angry Feminist” .But I hope that someday, whenever or if ever I have a Girl Child, I would be mollified to have brought her into a world that I can trust and let her grow in.