It affects me a lot when I read about rape in the newspaper. I don’t think society reacts to this as it should but I think we must emphasise on this topic. Recently, again, I saw the news and had tears in my eyes. All we do is we read the newspaper and forget about whatever we read immediately after. Do we give enough thought to the pain the girl must be in? No, we don’t.
In fact, our way of dealing with this is putting more restrictions on the girl; “Ab ghar 8 baje ke pehle aa jaana” (Now, you better come home before 8 pm), “Dhang ke kapde pehenna” (Wear decent clothes) etc.
Rape doesn’t happen because of our clothes; it doesn’t matter whether they are short or long. It happens because, in our society, we don’t teach a boy to respect a girl. We don’t teach him how abuse has many forms and it ought not to be committed.
Somewhere, even our society is responsible for rape because of its bias. Had we been giving our boys the right education since the beginning, maybe this wouldn’t be happening.
We fought the British in 1947 but, till today, our girls are fighting for their rights and dignity. I cannot even think of walking on the road at midnight, the fear is that ingrained. This is not something I should be asking for; freedom is, indeed, my birthright, which this society hasn’t ever given us.
So, please, dear society, don’t teach a girl what to wear. Instead, teach your son to keep his eyes down. Our parents must support this endeavour, introspect and change the way they bring up a boy.
Nothing is impossible, it’s just about awareness and effort, by boys, not girls.