Safety. It's a word that has been rendered meaningless these days. In fact, 'safety of women' is now close to becoming an oxymoron! With rape cases being flung around as if they are a usual occurrence, one tends to question herself what this world is coming up to.
One day, a girl is raped in a bus at Delhi. People protest. The police promise to be more vigilant. But a few months later, a photographer journalist is raped in Mumbai. Wasn't Mumbai the city that never slept?
You can't change the minds of those men, even in a millennium. It's way easier to bring about a few minor changes in ourselves! One thing I feel all girls and women simply MUST do is dress appropriately. One cannot roam around in a pair of shorts and a tank top in the dead of the night on a deserted street and expect nothing to happen, just like you can't go all dressed up on a street where vegetable vendors and 'bhangar walas' govern the area and not expect heads to turn. Not in India at least. Many teenagers go for late night parties, looking all 'hot and sexy'. There ain't any problem with that! But as a cautionary measure, one could wear jeans while going back home! (I had seen one of my friend doing this and thought is was quite a brilliant and sensible thing to do!)
Another thing is curfew. It's quite a harsh word to use when your own parents set it, I know, but this practice has been going on since ages. Our ancestors weren't fools either. They knew what they were doing. Really early morning and late night's are the most dangerous parts of the day. Most of us say nothing's going to happen - but it doesn't even happen to everyone either! This curfew is just a small restriction you have for your safety - it is always better to be safe than sorry. No one can predict the future!
Lastly but not the least - self defense. It hurts me to say it but it is an established fact that men are stronger than women. So what women can't make up in strength, they must make up in technique and speed. I highly doubt skilled assassins are assigned for rape cases. Most of the attackers (I think) are a group of really strong, violent and inhuman people. Trying to fight four people at a time is ludicrous. That's why you must hit and sprint. Hit the person and run away to a crowded place, to a place where humans exist. But again, to overcome those four people somehow, you must be able to hit, and that is where self defense comes into the picture. Instead of teaching the whole art, as most of us don't even have that kind of time, I feel all these classes should set up special classes for women and children where they teach them how to defend themselves in an attack.
All my speeches and articles in school about something preposterous going on, like corruption for example, would end on the note that the government must take suitable measures. Here, I'm asking you to take them so the odds of this 'dreadful massacre' happening to you become (next to) null!
Kanksha :)
PS: If you are man/boy reading this, I guess you could forward the message or ask the female population in your house to take a look! ;)
One day, a girl is raped in a bus at Delhi. People protest. The police promise to be more vigilant. But a few months later, a photographer journalist is raped in Mumbai. Wasn't Mumbai the city that never slept?
You can't change the minds of those men, even in a millennium. It's way easier to bring about a few minor changes in ourselves! One thing I feel all girls and women simply MUST do is dress appropriately. One cannot roam around in a pair of shorts and a tank top in the dead of the night on a deserted street and expect nothing to happen, just like you can't go all dressed up on a street where vegetable vendors and 'bhangar walas' govern the area and not expect heads to turn. Not in India at least. Many teenagers go for late night parties, looking all 'hot and sexy'. There ain't any problem with that! But as a cautionary measure, one could wear jeans while going back home! (I had seen one of my friend doing this and thought is was quite a brilliant and sensible thing to do!)
Another thing is curfew. It's quite a harsh word to use when your own parents set it, I know, but this practice has been going on since ages. Our ancestors weren't fools either. They knew what they were doing. Really early morning and late night's are the most dangerous parts of the day. Most of us say nothing's going to happen - but it doesn't even happen to everyone either! This curfew is just a small restriction you have for your safety - it is always better to be safe than sorry. No one can predict the future!
Lastly but not the least - self defense. It hurts me to say it but it is an established fact that men are stronger than women. So what women can't make up in strength, they must make up in technique and speed. I highly doubt skilled assassins are assigned for rape cases. Most of the attackers (I think) are a group of really strong, violent and inhuman people. Trying to fight four people at a time is ludicrous. That's why you must hit and sprint. Hit the person and run away to a crowded place, to a place where humans exist. But again, to overcome those four people somehow, you must be able to hit, and that is where self defense comes into the picture. Instead of teaching the whole art, as most of us don't even have that kind of time, I feel all these classes should set up special classes for women and children where they teach them how to defend themselves in an attack.
All my speeches and articles in school about something preposterous going on, like corruption for example, would end on the note that the government must take suitable measures. Here, I'm asking you to take them so the odds of this 'dreadful massacre' happening to you become (next to) null!
Kanksha :)
PS: If you are man/boy reading this, I guess you could forward the message or ask the female population in your house to take a look! ;)
