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The Stanford rape incident is proof of all that is wrong with our society today. Here is an anguished poem inspired by it, which speaks for all women everywhere.
There is this news doing the rounds now that has broken my heart. In January 2015, a former Stanford swimmer was found sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster at the Stanford campus. He has been recently punished with just ‘six months of jail’ because according to the judge, a longer sentence would impact him severely!
The letter that the victim wrote to her attacker will move you to the core. Please do read it.
According to the assaulter’s father however, his son has suffered enough for a mere ‘20 minutes of action‘.
After reading all these accounts I was just filled with despair as to how rape culture and victim blaming is still so pervasive in our world today.
Below is a poem I wrote this morning, while feeling extremely restless and despondent about the entire incident, the aftermath, and the plight of women even in this age and time.
My body is not my own It belongs to society You can use it as you deem fit And then crumple it and throw it in a pit
With thorns in my hair And my dress hitched up My bare bottom, an open invitation for your ‘20 minutes of action‘.
“Why did you drink so much?” They asked. “What were you doing outside so late?” “Are you committed to your boyfriend?” “Are you getting enough sex?”
“Maybe it was your outfit” “Or the fact that being drunk equals to consent.” “The poor rapist has suffered enough! He cannot even have his favorite snack!”
Six months of prison is more than enough To mend a man with a bright future ahead “Why should he suffer any further? It was just a momentary lapse of reason,” they said.
Never mind if the crime shocked the eye witnesses Never mind that a girl’s life was forever changed What’s more important is that he has learnt his lesson Now leave him alone, he has to go ahead.
I can cry all I want and I can stop being brave. For all the other girls, my story can act as a cautionary tale.
Your body doesn’t belong to you, girls So make sure you ‘behave‘ Better curl up in your cocoon of fear And know that being a woman is always unsafe.
Because even justice favors the powerful assaulters And all we can do is ‘try and stay safe’ However, despite all our efforts if we still get raped? Well, we have none but ourselves to blame.
Published here earlier.
Image source: woman crying by Shutterstock.
Kasturi’s debut novel, forthcoming in early 2021, had won the novel pitch competition by Half Baked Beans Publishers. She won the Runner Up Position in the Orange Flower Awards 2021 for Short Fiction. Her read more...
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Neena was the sole caregiver of Amma and though one would think that Amma was dependent on her, Neena felt otherwise.
Neena inhaled the aroma that emanated from the pan and took a deep breath. The aroma of cumin interspersed with butter transported her back to the modest kitchen in her native village. She could picture her father standing in the kitchen wearing his white crisp kurta as he made delectable concoctions for his only daughter.
Neena grew up in a home where both her parents worked together in tandem to keep the house up and running. She had a blissful childhood in her modest two-room house. The house was small but every nook and cranny gave her memories of a lifetime. Neena’s young heart imagined that her life would follow the same cheerful course. But how wrong she was!
When she was sixteen, the catastrophic clutches of destiny snatched away her parents. They passed away in a road accident and Neena was devastated. Relatives thronged her now gloomy house and soon it was decided that she should be married off.
Women today don’t want to be in a partnership that complicates their lives further. They need an equal partner with whom they can figure out life as a team, playing by each other’s strengths.
We all are familiar with that one annoying aunty who is more interested in our marital status than in the dessert counter at a wedding. But these aunties have somehow become obsolete now. Now they are replaced by men we have in our lives. Friends, family, and even work colleagues. It’s the men who are worried about why we are not saying yes to one among their clans. What is wrong with us? Aren’t we scared of dying alone? Like them?
A recent interaction with a guy friend of mine turned sour when he lectured me about how I would regret not getting married at the right time. He lectured that every event in our lives needs to be completed within a certain timeframe set by society else we are doomed. I wasn’t angry. I was just disappointed to realize that annoying aunties are rapidly doubling in our society. And they don’t just appear at weddings or family functions anymore. They are everywhere. They are the real pandemic.
Let’s examine this a little closer.
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