Source: http://www.claremontportside.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Roofie-Photo.jpg
Rapes, Sexual Harassment, Molestation & much more – Women in India face all of this each and every day of their lives. Whether its in offices, buses, stadiums or also sometimes at home from family members, women have to face the brunt of disgusting actions by men everywhere. Even after this, parents don’t control their sons but instead put up all kinds of restrictions on their daughters. Whether its about wearing the right clothes to avoid being stared at or not going out beyond 9pm at night, women are made to follow the rules because men can be beasts whenever they feel like, right?
So when you encounter a woman in distress, what do you do?
A. Ignore & walk / drive away
B. Stare at the woman but still walk / drive away
C. Stand and watch the woman being harassed but not go forward to help
D. Come forward and help the woman
Despite all of us proclaiming that D is the way to go, there are so many of us who would actually do either A, B or C. Whenever a woman is harassed, raped or troubled by any individual, we are quick to voice our opinions on Twitter, Facebook, blogs and also organize candle light marches. But ironically, if we actually see someone on the road in trouble, we are really scared to help the individual in need. What makes us close our eyes to distress around us?
The biggest reason for this is the fact that we want to avoid regular visits to the police station. Since we all have an image of the police that we ourselves may be caught as being involved in some crime, we tend to avoid helping the needy in the first place itself. Why help when you can yourself get into trouble, right? It’s not that if we don’t help someone else won’t. And so the victim is left to fend for herself.
Secondly, too many of us have started to believe that voicing opinions on social networks is more than enough to change the world we live in. While, it’s a good tool to mobilize opinion on any topic, one must actually follow what they preach on social networks. Just sitting & voicing opinions may not be enough to see the change we want to see.
Helping women in need wherein you know that with your help, you can make things better just shows that you have a humane side who cares. Raising your voice against what is wrong and ensuring that a woman in distress safely reaches home is what makes you a real braveheart.
Be the change you want to see!
pythoroshan
http://www.godyears.net/2012/07/the-damini-conundrum.html
Wanted to share this.. I had posted it two years ago asking the exact same question.. hopefully it will give you an insight into the minds of some of the present day people 🙂
aseemrastogi2
Nice post doc :). I guess so many of us are just so used to seeing all these kinds of news articles day in and day out that we have slowly started to turn a blind eye to a lot of stuff happening around us.
Datta Ghosh (@IamDattaGhosh)
Sadly it is A, B or C even when we are the victims
aseemrastogi2
True that. Empathy seems to be disappearing from our societies as quickly as possible.
Proactive Indian
“Despite all of us proclaiming that D is the way to go, there are so many of us who would actually do either A, B or C.” I disagree. Most, maybe almost all of us would actually do either A, B or C.
I’ve expressed similar thoughts in my post http://proactiveindian.com/2014/09/02/brave-in-thought-and-word-but-not-in-deed/
The heartening thing is that many of us now admit that we would not do D. Hopefully, this will help us begin the process of change in ourselves.