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A PIL is being heard by the Supreme Court of India to ban the horrifying practice of Female Genital Mutilation, and the next date given is 16th July 2018.
The Supreme Court recently heard a PIL seeking a ban on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) practiced within the Dawoodi Bohra Community in India. The Court while listening to the petition stated that it was a violation of a woman’s bodily integrity if it was without her consent and hence a crime.
Though the petition states that this practise is an offence under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) 2012 and the Indian Penal Code, the Bohra community defended their stand by saying “there is a distinction between FGM and female circumcision. The latter is a minute process which is practised by 2 Islamic communities. It is being supported by 95% of the women.”
This is another example of how traditions are blindly followed in our country without giving a thought to the reason behind its origin. The theory behind this particular exercise is patriarchal and medieval. The clitoris part of the vagina is supposed to be only for the pleasure of the women. Since this pleasure could supposedly lead her on to ‘the path of sin’, it is cut off at a young age.
What is scary and dangerous is that untrained people carry out this procedure without any hygiene or necessary equipment. Due to this many girls get infections and face gynaecological issues later in their life, including infertility and complications in child birth. Needless to say intercourse is never a pleasurable experience for these women. Having undergone through such a physical torture so young in life also leaves many psychological scars on their impressionable minds.
There is now a network of survivors who have decided to come out with the trauma they underwent called ‘ WeSpeakOut’. They talk about how this practice negatively impacted their lives and try to educate others about it’s ill effects.
United Nations has declared this practice as a Human Rights Violation, and there are legislations or decrees against this practice in almost 33 countries. Due to this reason as well, India has become the hub for this practice. It is imperative that this practice be banned at the earliest to save many innocent lives from being maligned by this exercise in the name of religion and tradition.
This matter will be heard by Supreme Court on July 16th, 2018.
Image source: shutterstock
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The plight of Indian women's mental health often goes unnoticed. Co-founders Vivek Satya Mitram and Pooja Priyamvada conceived the idea of the Bharat Dialogues Women & Mental Health Summit to address this.
Trigger Warning: This contains descriptions of mental health trauma and suicide, and may be triggering for survivors.
Author’s note: The language and phraseology used are not the author’s words but the terms and narrative popularly used for people living with mental illnesses, and may feel non-inclusive. It is merely for putting our point across better.
I have seen how horrifying was the treatment given to those with mental illness.
14 years after her last feature film Dhobi Ghat, storyteller extraordinaire comes up with her new film, Laapataa Ladies, a must watch.
*Some spoilers alert*
Every religion around the world dictates terms to women. The onus is always on women to be ‘modest’ and cover their faces and bodies so men can’t be “tempted”, rather than on men to keep their eyes where they belong and behave like civilized beings. So much so that even rape has been excused on the grounds of women eating chowmein or ‘men will be men’. I think the best Hindi movie retort to this unwanted advice on ‘akeli ladki khuli tijori ki tarah hoti hai’ (an alone woman is like an open jewellery box) came from Geet in Jab We Met – Kya aap gyan dene ke paise lete hain kyonki chillar nahin hain mere paas.
The premise of Laapataa Ladies is beautifully simple – two brides clad in the ghunghat that covers their identity get mixed up on a train. Within this Russian Doll, you get a comedy of errors, a story of getting lost, a commentary on patriarchy’s attitude towards women, a mystery, and a tale of finding oneself, all in one. Done with a mostly light touch that has you laughing and nodding along.
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