Anyway, today, having accidentally attended a class on Ethics, I found my answer. The professor who handles this subject for me actually, is good, but is not the right thing. One needs a really really good prof to handle theoretical subjects… specially ones this based on psychology and society… You know what I mean? Anyway, today s class was taking by a different teacher. And while he spoke, I realized that such stuff IS vague. You only make it more definite when a group of people agree on the basic facts.
The reason why I was thinking about morality and stuff, on this occasion, was because I came across an interesting discussion called ‘The veil debate’. Interesting, because while we talk about a free world and individualism and human rights, we still bind ourselves to rules and conventions and society. I’m not saying its wrong, in fact it’s natural.
We call conventions and vague rules, tradition, in this country. We follow one set of rules for the male sex and another for the female sex. Hell we go even further to divide ourselves based on caste. Regions, even.
I haven’t read the Kuran, so I can’t really comment on whether muslims should adopt the veil or not. What shocked me were some comments made on the sets of the show by a group of well educated people. Girls who wear the burkha (veil) are less prone to getting raped than those who don’t; it’s about removing temptation; it’s about being dresses modestly and so on and so forth.
Do people really think this way these days? I face some amount of problem while I travel by bus, so does that mean I’m in some way inviting this attention by being a girl? Recently, when I said ‘men can be such dogs at times’ a friend very succinctly replied ‘hmmm… it’s because females make us act like that’, I was dumb founded. Was I dressed indecently? Is that why this was happening?
It’s exactly questions and reactions like these that make this society sick. Why don’t you make men roam around blind folded to remove temptation? Who are you to decide whether I’m modestly dressed or not? If I’m covered from head to toe, aren’t I actually increasing the temptation to find out what’s under? Wasn’t it… ‘more is less’?
What is ‘modest’? Who is going to define it for me with the guarantee that I won’t get raped if I live by it?
I’ve come to realize that this whole ‘choice’ thing is nonsense. It doesn’t even really exist. Because of the world we live in today, even things like what you wear, are decided the minute your born, depending on which sex you belong to and which part of the world you’ve been (un)fortunate enough to be born in.
dressing does make a diff..why dont u wear a bikini an go to college if u think it doesnt dope
The world is pretty crazy.. If men say that a woman dressing "indecently" causes men to want to rape her, then who's going to explain the fact that Saudi Arabia is one of the countries having the highest incidecence of rape? I'm not too sure about the stats..a woman is raped every 7 minutes or something, and that's inspite of them being covered from head to toe, with just the eyes visible... That contradicts the fact that woman are raped because they tempt men..
There was this one case I read sometime back.. A guy raped a woman, and got away with it saying she "asked for it". Who in the right minds would ask to be raped?
People should learn to walk away from so-called 'temptation'.. One should dress decently, you can't walk on the roads without a stitch on, but, heck..if I can't go out wearing what I want to wear, why call it a "free world"??
aaah...vintage sthupit girl stuff...i like it
about the post...well there is nothing much to say, to twist your point a bit...all said and done there are certain basic things which will always be "right" and others "wrong"...and this happens to fall in the latter category.
@anon: thanks. will let you know how it turns out.
@saranya: good point. and there are no available statics of rape based on 'veiled/unveiled'.
@nav: what falls in the latter category?
@all: yes, dressing does make a difference. also, there's a place and time for a way of dressing. people on the beach aren't called indecent and said to be 'asking for it' cuz they roam around in swim wear. I'm just asking you how a veil is going to stop it from happening... if someone wants to taste temptation, he's going to do it anyway.
yours forever sthupitly.
prev comment: the whole "looking for rape" thing.
stinger might have actually made me a bit philosophical early in the day, so here i'll bore you with something:
Some of you say, "It is the north wind who has woven the clothes to wear."
But shame was his loom, and the softening of the sinews was his thread.
And when his work was done he laughed in the forest.
Forget not that modesty is for a shield against the eye of the unclean.
And when the unclean shall be no more, what were modesty but a fetter and a fouling of the mind?
oh and question for the mighty stinger: who decides on what makes the basic facts?
Hmm.
Rape is wrong even if the woman in question is totally nude.
Women do want to wear clothes that attract attention, but they want to attract attention only from certain people. Sometimes they wear things that attract attention from people they don't want attention from. It's the price you pay for trying to be attractive.
While that doesn't change the fact that rape is wrong, one has to realise that there are sickos on the planet, and there will always be. You have to keep that in mind and decide whether you want to stay safe and and be unattractive, or stay attractive and run the risk of being assaulted.
It's sad that that's the way it works. While society does all it can to try and change it, women should look out for themselves.
As for the veil, or any clothes, for that matter, I think the woman should decide what to wear and no one else should have any say in the matter.
Kaushik
u've gotta tell me one thing....is a person who's dressed in a skimpy way going to attract more attention from the oppposite sex or the one who's decently dressed up?????????????any sane person wud say the former
nd ur fellow blogger (saranya) has said women in saudi get raped every 7 mins despite the fact tht they r covered head to toe....but does she know tht women in U.S get raped every 45 seconds!
i dont understand this whole argument abt a "viel". if a girl dresses up with hardly anythin on her body nd dances in front of a 100 men...ppl dont seem to have nething to question...thts become "modesty" nowadays but at the same time a women does'nt have the freedom to cover herself up...now thts "oppresion".!!!
i blv u shud start lookin at the other side of the coin be4 making such comments.
@anon : all valid points. but you seem to have misunderstood what i was trying to say.
Firstly, there are no such statistics.
Secondly, if a woman wants to dress in a complete hijab or roam around naked, she should be given the choice to. The justification of MAKING someone dress "modestly" based on the "roving eye" is what I am against.
Thirdly, like Koze puts it, rape is wrong. No matter what the woman is wearing or not wearing.
Fourthly, I could be "modestly" dressed wearing salwar kammez, or even a skirt, according to me. Who are you to tell me i'm wrong? And just in case you haven't noticed, a woman, even if wearing a whole bed cover can be "asking for it", if she really wants "it".
Lastly, I wish to stress again : The point of this post was not to condemn the wearing of the veil or the hijab or a bikini or nothing at all. All I'm asking of you is shouldn't it be left to the person in concern to choose how he/she wishes to dress. Having said that, I stand by Koze when he says that rape is just plain wrong. no matter what your wearing or not wearing.
@all: I will reply to each of your comments seperately later.. have an exam tomorrow. anon here seemed to be shooting fire, so i thought i'd make things clear here at the earliest.
Thankus for bisitng, lotsaluv,
Yours forever sthupitly.
"Girls who wear the burkha (veil) are less prone to getting raped than those who don’t; it’s about removing temptation; it’s about being dresses modestly and so on and so forth." - yowwwwch. this provokes a lot of reactions inside me... but i won't bore you, for i shall suffice to say "pile of rubbish".
i was thinking about this A LOT recently... thanks to this... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6110798.stm
nice blog you've got here... i agree with what you've said... i really do...
The justification of MAKING someone dress "modestly" based on the "roving eye" is what I am against.
@bs: long time. you seem to await for some reallly good stuff before you take up on the oppurtunity to kick my butt.
To the first part of your comment, I've already replied (refer to @anon) and for the later, here's my next post.
@nav: awesome lines. couldn't have put it in a better way if i my life depended on it.
@sunrise: the lines you've picked up weren't MY opinion. That's what people were/ are using to justify this stuff.
As you can figure out from the second line you've picked up.
I will look up the article, and thanks for the "nice blog bit". Hope to see you here sometime again!
thankus for bisiting guys, lotsalu,
Yours forever sthupitly.
erratum: those lines weren't mine...they were courtesy of mr. kahlil gibran
glad that you enjoyed them