Can't live with them, can't live without them. However, at the moment I am inclined to wanting to live without them. A couple of events on campus at L have forced me to revisit my feminist days at college.
Fresh out of school, quivering and secretly excited at the thought of all the freedom college life brought to you, 500 girls walked into the red building that would be a second home to us for the following 3 years. The famous "cafe", the lush green lawns, the "ruins", the comfortable common room, and sitting in the "gazebos" in the rain are memories that cannot be erased. On the first day of college, we collected in the "audi" for the orientation speech by our principal. Her long speech was the standardized sermon that all orientations demanded, but one of the sentences she spoke made everyone forget their fears and applaud. She said something to the tune of, "We're not feminists here, we can't be, because we can't deny that we love men!!!" I was home...
5 years later, I doubt I can ever look at a man with respect anymore (barring my father, grandfathers, et al). I cannot comment about men in other countries, but Indian men I can definitely talk about. Brought up in a society where female infanticide and female foeticide are terms used nonchalantly in conversations, it isn’t surprising that men consider themselves to be the superior gender. Nothing in this country points towards putting men and women on the same platform.
Whenever a woman is raped, the first reaction of men is that “she asked for it”. How on earth can a man even think that way? How low can one go to disrespect a woman?
Look at L itself. With the women constituting barely 10% of the population here, it is pretty obvious who wears the pants in this community. While men walk around in shorts and singlets, looking their worst, women are looked down upon for wearing a sleeveless top. I talk from personal experience when I say that I was pulled up for wearing a top that was considered offensive by some. A plain white top which fell off my shoulder showed as much skin as a regular top would. But some men were offended and chose to complain to student authorities and I was told to “dress more tastefully”. Funny though, my opinion was not asked, nor was I asked to explain my situation. The men were considered right. And if you think that was justified, I leave your opinion to yourself. But what baffles me is how that incident warranted a topic of discussion on the social community Orkut portraying me as the most “dirty” woman on campus. Only when it was brought to the notice of a “special someone” the posts were removed.
Rumours galore fly around campus, always about the women here. The new batch has been here all of 2 weeks and there are horrible, false stories about the girls everywhere. Harassment is an understatement here.
“Sour grapes” is the only explanation most of us have for these deprived, low, shallow men. And I hand it to all women, who manage to live through leers, whistles, eve teasing and harassment every single day. With people like this around me, it only goes to prove who the weaker sex is.
