CRITIQUE OF INDIAN IDEOLOGY: SECOND GRADE CITIZENS AKA WOMEN

The famous Nirbhaya's rape case and the animalistic assault against her is a time where most people, however naive they are, thought about the sad condition of women in the Indian sub-continent. A country which debates on whether Hindus are seventh grade citizens or Muslims who are genuinely behind economically or not, I believe we suffer from focusing on wrong questions, on wrong sub-divisions of the population. Also, the targeted beneficiaries of welfare schemes have been women but not a major upheaval has been achieved by these schemes. Okay, maybe we jumped the gun from the Nirbhaya case to this one, really quick. 

Let us tackle crime against women in sometime. But, before that, why welfare schemes were mostly ineffective in uplifting women from their sad situation in this country, I have some reasons, viz. 

1. Indian Women have been denied individuality 

    

    And we know it. People who upheld family institution, even if they might criticize marriage institution know it. The Family institution in India is responsible for this. Women might disagree, because they are now conditioned to be the flagbearers of the Indian Family system. Men might disagree, because they are conditioned to be privileged like that. It is almost clear that men in a family have an individuality, but women don't. What do I mean by this?

 

Women are not allowed to take their life decisions by themselves. Either they are told they do not know enough, or they are told that men know better. And let us make one thing clear here. Even if it is correct that unfortunately, due to less freedom, they do not know about the world better than their male counterparts like brothers or fathers, it is still wrong not to let them decide. 

Women, even in progressive circles, are denied individuality. These progressives are essentialists. That means, they think a woman should essentially be like this, submissive, obeying etc. The most evident of this can be seen in the reactions of men when a woman commits a wrong. Man's response is not just an ordinary fault response. It is not anger but angst. It is as if women are not allowed to commit mistakes. And from here, derives the ultimate definition of Individuality and freedom. 

I believe, Freedom is the freedom to even commit a mistake, do something wrong for your own life. Individuality means, taking whole charge of one's own life. If you are not allowed to make a mistake, or a certain degree of perfection is assumed of you just because you are a woman, it is not individuality. Even as human, Woman should be allowed the same leverage to commit a crime that men get. Most men get furious on this saying, "You want to give them a right to commit a crime?", to which my response is, "Yes, I want to do that and why precisely? because you are not barred by social constraints to commit a crime, you are barred by legal and penal constraints, but not social constraints." I want to assert the only rules barring women should be written rules, just like it is for men. Written rules as in the laws and the constitutional provisions. No unwritten underground hidden expectations. And yes, this will harm the privilege of the prevalent gender of the country, that is cis-Masculine. 

2. Women have a sub-human category in this country.

    You can see it in the attitudes of the liberal men. You are allowed a freedom if only you do not use it. This is Classical Zizekian characteristics of modern-day ideology. Liberal men claim to provide freedom to their partners only on the condition that they do not use it. You are allowed to go out at night. Of course you can wear a short dress. Of course, you are allowed to have male friends, but haa! here is the catch, as long as it does not provide insecurity to my sexuality. That means, if you love me, you should not use these freedoms for you. 

I claim, love, today, and not love but this coward naive sentimentality, is the reason for women to succumb to not use their freedoms well. If you love her, or claim to do so, why not she can use these freedoms? Why your love is her bondage? Why cannot she be a reckless person? Why she needs to be more sincere than you? Even if, say, you are sincere, as an individual, she can be a messy person and may be a person maximum insincere. Why not, she is allowed to be not sincere? 

3. Men think women owe them love and care! and fuck you! they don't!

    Same old, the patriarchal structure of family, marriage and even the essentialist dogma has made men psychologically ill. Most men and confessing it for a long time for me too, think women owe them love and care. It is because, the patriarchal society makes men incapable of recognizing and receiving emotions and love in day-to-day life. So, they think if they are doing their traditional patriarchal role, they deserve love, which, as harsh it may sound, they don't. To quote Galib in another context here, "Aadmi ko bhi mayassar nahi Insaan hona!" or men are also denied humanly status in the patriarchal society. 

All these ills should not be cured by interdependence. I claim, it is individuality that can cure these ills, These desires for love and care. To all my male comrades, my message would be to grow out of the binary of seeing people as needy and non-needy, that will be step one. Anyone showing affection openly, if he is masculine, he is not needy, he is mature, and most of all, nobody is non-needy and there is no greatness in being non-needy, there is just a stupid childishness. Second, honesty, however harsh it is and derogatory it is, should be your game. Do not play sexual games like wooing women and not saying directly what you want. It may be possible that women, who have not yet understood the importance of honesty, might take it as distasteful, but it is the only satisfaction, which rises out of intent and not impact. 

4. Coming to crime against women, Rape, murders, heinous crimes like rods inside reproductive parts, cutting nipples etc. 

    Ok, some of you, already would have got disgusted by the subtitle, why so vividly, it is written. Ok I reconcile it is a mistake and it might be very disturbing to women who have heard this happening with other women. But I believe in the famous Newton's saying, "If you cannot say it, you do not know it". 

We as society, need to announce these crimes, that these happen. Mostly to men, and confessing it again, it is disturbing for me since I am a man and knowing that someone of my own gender has done it and I share traits like anger and sexual insecurity with that criminal, makes me very depressed, am I capable of all this and so on, and I have been harsh to women myself, am I also capable of these things? Interestingly enough, the more you announce this in your head and not hide this fact from you, you become less and less dangerous, a person who knows what he is capable of during anger, can and will control anger. 

Talking about collective consciousness, men think women owe them sex, just because, she is already having a consensual relationship with another person. In the Nirbhaya rape case, the convicts reportedly said, "This made him angry that she was giving her boyfriend a chance to touch but would have denied him if asked." What is implicit here is that he does not understand consent. Actually Consent, is the bottom-line of all individuality. Some external agency wants to do something with your body, and it is just your permission, is what can or cannot stop it. The biggest proof that women are denied individuality is that lack of respect for feminine consent. And interestingly enough, if you do not respect one consent, you cannot respect anyone else's and even yours. The reason the ability to say "NO", so much lacks in men as well. 

All of these boils down to two things, viz.

1. We, today, in neo-liberal economy, rely on economic relations to determine what will happen to marriage and family institution. I think, the great leap forward would be a cultural revolution where we, if we consider ourselves a civilization, decide the fates of these institutions. It will decide our fates and it will be the final revolt of human society against the last mysterious entity, the market. Isn't market in the role of the mysterious entity of whom we do not know enough. Adam smith describes it as an invisible hand. The reason why, I claim, capitalism is incompatible with modernity is this nature of markets. As modern people, we should not let markets determine, what lives we will hold, what family structure will our children grow in, what partner and in what capacity we will live our lives on. We need not adhere to the traditional family roles of fathers, mothers, husbands and wives. 

2. For women, the road is two ways problematic. On one hand, there is the road of tradition which is obviously shackles for them. But, on the other road, there is market, and liberalism, which wants to grant you their version of freedom. I believe women today need to develop a manifesto of what is freedom for them, participate in the decision-making process, become part of the state machinery not as token women, but as a feminist party, solely maintained by women, and led by women. I would like to vote for FPI (Feminist party of India) and that too, women for the elections, not men.