India's Daughter

On the 16th of December, 2012, a young woman, on her way home after watching a movie with a friend, was brutally gang-raped and beaten and died after fighting a brave battle. In lieu of 8th of March, which is International Women's Day, a documentary was made talking about the incident. I watched it today. BBC released it on YouTube for the world to see as it isn't going to be aired in India.
Rape. Its such an ugly word, isn't it? It sends shivers down your spine; you close your eyes trying to un-see; you cover your ears hoping to un-hear. You want to block it all out. Because its such a taboo subject. Once you've been raped, you've met a fate far worse than death. That's what we've been made to believe. But when the Nirbhaya incident occurred, it sent the country into a rage. It was like we'd finally had enough. How much longer could we stand by and let rapes go unreported? How much longer can we be made to endure the chauvinistic, masochistic mindset of the majority of the country? In the documentary, one of the rapists was interviewed. He said that the girl had absolutely no right to be out that late. They also interviewed the lawyers of the rapists. Their words shocked me to the very core of my being.
Saying that women were not a part of Indian culture, that it was women who led men astray; that she deserved what she got. These are educated men. No different from most of us on paper. And this is what they believe? Isn't the thought absolutely frightening? It makes you wonder what your next door neighbour thinks of you.
The thing that saddened me most about the documentary is when they interviewed one of the rapists' wife. She was in complete denial. And while talking about their death sentence, she kept saying that, "I now have nobody to look after me. I can't look after myself. And my son? He's so little. He doesn't even know anything. Its better if I just strangle him to death." How? How can she even think that?
That's exactly what we need to change. The way we are trained to think. Women aren't weak. We aren't in constant need of protection. We aren't the damsels in distress. We CAN take care of ourselves and we SHOULD! Why should we have to rely on our boyfriends or our friends or our brothers to protect us from all that is evil? First, we need to learn to protect ourselves. Whether its through learning self defence or carrying a pepper spray. But the first thing we need to do is stop turning our eyes away when we hear obscene comments about our bodies, about our clothes, as we walk on the road, as we wait at a bus stop. We need to look them straight in the eyes and tell them exactly what we think. Create a scene. Call a cop. Let them endure the humiliation all of us have suffered through through no fault of our own.
We, as a country, need to stop blaming women. Its not because of our clothes, its not because of the way we look, its not because we're out alone, its not because we're out after dark, its because the bastards think they can get away with it. Its because they believe that its their right to teach women a lesson. Its because they're frustrated and want to assert their male dominance somehow. Well, I've had enough. Haven't you?