Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Caution on Fashion!

A DGP in hyderabad saying that 95% of the rape cases are due to the woman who are skimpy dressed.

The article is stated below.Andhra Pradesh DGP's remarks of attributing the increase in rape cases to the skimpy outfits worn by the women has sparked a controversy. "The increase in rape cases can't be attributed to failure of the police department. The fashionable clothing women are wearing is one of the reasons for rise in the rape cases. And the police will not have control, if they wear provoking dresses in public. As the police can't be everywhere all the time," he said. This irked many women who challenged him on deciding what they should wear and insisted that it is men who should change their mentality towards women.



Firstly, is it the responsibility of men to change their mentality towards women? Yes, it’s true. But to expect this is too utopian in the present times. During the Vedic times the children from the age of 5 years were trained to practice brahmacharya or celibacy under the guidance of an able spiritual master. They were taught to see and address every woman, except one’s own wife, as mother. This training has disappeared long back from our educational institutions and in turn now people are getting trained in sex education. The society in general has degraded in terms of culture and ethical values of life. Moreover, the natural tendency of a living entity in the conditioned state is to enjoy the senses and the present society isn’t so mindful of the means adopted. The highest kind of enjoyment in material world is considered to be sex pleasure and the entire so called civilization is heading towards it, irrespective of the honesty or purity of the means. This indeed doesn’t permit men to harass women but at least it opens our eyes towards the degraded moral stature of the society in which women are moving around with fashionable dresses.


Srila Prabhupada explains, “The woman is considered to be the fire, and the man is considered to be the butter. The butter must melt in association with fire, and therefore they may be brought together only when it is necessary.” By wearing the provocative dress the women present themselves as an object of enjoyment before lascivious men and thus fan their animalistic urges.


Now comes the question, “Why can’t women be free to wear and flaunt whatever they want?”


The directive for dressing is meant for the human society. The ideal human society demands that both men and women dress in a suggested ‘decent’ manner. It is in the animal society where there is no necessity of dressing. The scriptures prohibit humans from exposing the body in an unauthorized way, whereas the animals accrue no sin or disgrace by violating this principle. Women should cover their bodies in a prescribed way and that is the standard of the human civilization. Deviating from this standard means entering into the animalistic sphere. A civilized human society doesn’t prohibit women from dressing gorgeously but it definitely prohibits the women from dressing provocatively. When we ourselves cross the limits of a cultured human society then how wise is it to demand a cultured humane response from the society?


If the purpose of clothing is to cover the body then why isn’t a simple, decent dress enough? Can the women who protested against the DGP’s remarks answer this question? What’s their pain in wearing a sober dress? Isn’t their dressing intended towards attracting the opposite sex? The people from the opposite sex include untrained, loose ended men. If they attract such men then they should also be ready to face the havoc. It is like showing a piece of meat to the lion and expecting that it won’t attack. If they want respect then shouldn’t they dress respectably? Srila Prabhupada says, “The shyness is a gift of nature to the fair sex, and it enhances their beauty and prestige, even if they are of a less important family or even if they are less attractive. We have practical experience of this fact. A sweeper woman commanded the respect of many respectable gentlemen simply by manifesting a lady's shyness. Half-naked ladies in the street do not command any respect, but a shy sweeper's wife commands respect from all. And shyness is a check to the unrestricted mixing. It is nature's gift, and it must be utilized.” The criterion for women to gain respect in the society is maintenance of their feminine dignity. Their education, affluent background, opulence, beauty may earn them popularity and fame but it won’t get them the due respect that they claim to deserve unless it’s backed up by modesty and feminine shyness. By natural inclination an ordinary man sees a woman as ‘an object of enjoyment’ and desires to enjoy her either in mind or in action. A preventive step to curb that approach is shyness or modesty of the woman.


In the recent times there had been a great revolution to raise women out of the curtain of feminine shyness in the name of women’s liberation, equality for women, etc. But have women become really liberated or equal to men? With a little common sense one can understand that the nature itself hasn’t created men and women equally, then how it can be artificially imposed in the society or in law.


An ideal society doesn’t degrade a woman but on the contrary it gives full protection to her. Therefore, to maintain the dignity of women there is a prescription on dressing in every civilized society. The system of veiling oneself from the lusty vision of men had been prevalent in every culture under various names like parada, pallu, hijab, ghunghat, etc. Srila Prabhupada elaborates on the matter, “So-called equal rights for women means that the men cheat the women. Suppose a woman and a man meet, they become lovers, they have sex, the woman becomes pregnant, and the man goes away. The woman has to take charge of the child and beg alms from the government, or else she kills the child by having an abortion. This is the woman's independence. In India, although a woman may be poverty-stricken, she stays under the care of her husband, and he takes responsibility for her. When she becomes pregnant, she is not forced to kill the child or maintain him by begging. So, which is real independence—to remain under the care of the husband or to be enjoyed by everyone?”


Further slashing the illusion of equal rights, Srila Prabhupada says, “Equal rights? Make agreement with your husband that "Once you beget child; once I shall." Make this contract. Then it is equal right. If the woman has to give birth to a child and she has to suffer all the pains thereof, then where is the equal right? You are already not equal with the man because in so many respects, your functions are different and man's functions are different. Why do you say artificially you are equal?”


If there hadn’t been an inequality then why don’t we come across any news that says, “Man molested by women.” The widely proclaimed equality of women is another great eyewash as exposed by Srila Prabhupada, “Demons arrange many kinds of performances to see the glaring beauty of a beautiful woman. Sometimes the demoniac arrange for so-called sports, like tennis, with the opposite sex. The purpose of such sporting is to see the bodily construction of the beautiful girl and enjoy a subtle sex mentality.” Thus, whether in the name of equality or inequality, it is the women who get exploited.


Although this material nature has designed men and women unequal due to their bodily differences, still that’s not the end. On the spiritual level they both are the same. The spirit soul in the men and women is the same and equal. Srila Prabhupada elucidates, “Only in the eyes of the Supreme Lord there is no difference between men and women. Striya means woman. So there is no restriction for going back to home, back to Godhead, for anyone, and what to speak of man, woman, anyone. If he wants to go back, there is no restriction. For God there is no discrimination. Women, men have equal rights to become godly and go back to home, back to Godhead. Spiritually, Krishna says that "Although there is distinction in the material field, low and high, but one who takes shelter of Me, though they be of lower birth—women, vaishyas, merchants, as well as shudras, workers—can approach the supreme destination.


Thus, if women expect equality with men then they should search for it in the spiritual direction. This is the real and ultimate goal of human life, irrespective of whether one is a man or a woman. Instead of wasting the valuable human life in dressing flimsily, and then inviting trouble in the form of molestation and then further spending energy in fighting for a solution to it; it is far better to follow the scriptural guidelines, dress decently, naturally command respect from men, and utilize energy in God realization. A decent dressing keeps a person very humble and simple, which is an essential qualification for traversing the path of self realization.


As the wise say… prevention is better than cure. A decent dressing may not be all in all but it surely is one of the powerful preventive measures against women’s molestation. Instead of charging back at the DGP’s remarks, one must understand that it is better to be respectable; than to invite trouble and fight for a solution.

My take on the topic!

First of all, its all the blame game by the criminal/ pervert, which gives a meak chance to the guy who did the crime.

There are all kinds of Man out there.

Perverts – any day! any where! any place! These guys are trouble , to be more precise either these guys are gangster(s) who have high links or the Youngsters who are really rich and powerful family or friends of these guys.

Men who comment on Dresses , even if opposite is wearing a saree.
People who will comment on the dress, will always comment  irrespective of the dress that a girl wears, their main target is the girl not the dress.


What is skimpy dressing? Who said wearing a sari cannot be more attractive and get attention from all others. Even a neatly dressed Female gets attention from right guys as well as the wrong guys.


To be frank ask any guy/girl, saree will be most sexiest wear you can find in India.


I saw a shocking video in youtube . On new year’s eve a group bloody drunkards tried to rape a woman  in the road in front of the public in a fast moving traffic. That female was wearing a jean and full hand sleeves and a jacket. I guess that's skimpy dressing for the guys who are drunk! sigh!


If You take any case of eve teasing.


Sarika a female student who died in Eve teasing in chennai,was wearing Chudidhar.

The Guy who was cause of the incident got only 5 yrs of imprisonment and some fine.

For murdering a girl.


A recently happened eve teasing in Mumbai which resulted in a Murder. Did we see any girls wearing any skimpy dresses??

Nope !


There was one article from deccan where a 13 yr old kid has written a reply to DGP. Thats an awesome reply. From that few undeniable facts can be taken out.


In India alone there are cases where

i) a 10 months old baby has been raped and killed.

ii) a 6 standard studying girl was molested by a Teacher.


There are lot more instances which she had jotted down.
Child Abuse is happening in India and We cant deny it.

These guys should be shot dead right in front of the public.
At the end of the day , its just a way to get out of the crime what they did blaming it on the dress.

There are still eve teasers in the bus who still do mischievous things in the public transport with girls irrespective of the dress they was wearing. Are most women who are getting teased by these scoundrels are wearing skimpy dresses.

The basic reason behind all this is our Law is not a strong one which punishes the criminals. Its just an old System. For molesting a Girl you get a 7 yrs imprisonment and fined by some amount. If he acts good inside the prison as a kind of mercy he is left out within the 7 yrs of imprisonment.

Even a tight jean and a Full kurta will be skimpy dress for one guy or the other.
Change the Law, Create fear in the mind of the criminal. That is the only way things can be done.
What's Your take on this ? You on the DGP side?

P.S :- Just my point of view. You find it offendable , then Offence seriously meant.