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Mandeep Caur
Chandigarh
India

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I wish to contribute to the recent awakening and movement which is trggered by heinous rape and death incident in India...

Once again a daughter is sacrificed
Tormented n wounded was she to the core
So barbarically, that she lost her life
Questioning humanity that how many more!

Once again someone has dared
Acted sinful and immoral
Beleaguered and coerced the innocent
To prove his satanic power

Once again I heard
This dark sinister laughter
My ears deafen with splitting
and piercing screams of torture

Once again I tossed n turned
Sleepless through the night
I called upon ‘O God’,
Who claims to be almight

You’re known to be Supreme,
So where is your clout
I learnt you stood for the weak,
Protected with your shroud

We learnt from the scriptures
One pays for one’s misdeeds
I haven’t seen many brought to justice
Virtuous victims only recede

All that while we cry hoarse
Against the malevolent society
Why shouldn’t we then question
Your chauvinistic deity

Dowry deaths, honor killings
and daily physical assaults
Or shouldn’t we support the womb killings
to save the pain afterwards

Once again I have no answer
to our daughters we raise
No protection can I guarantee,
No promise I can make

My heart is torn for the sufferers,
Who fall to devils’ prey
How can we be their guardians,
When You are not au'fait

How many more sacrifices
And assaults will it take
To stir You up to chasten
The sordid and depraved!

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carolyn mcauley 20+
- 0
Jan 20 2013: If you wait for men to disband their island of contempt for women...it may tke longer then you want...You ,women are mothers...when you son is young tell him the history of good deeds,great feats done by women..that they build families,they are a foundation essential,primal,nessessary as are men.I will challenge you,that you are unable to instruct him...sadly..you yourself know nothing of the greatness of contributions of women..DO you beleive this is someone elses job? Are you unable to research the inventions women developed? Can you not instruct your own children ,that outside the house they will be told,tempted away from respect which clearly you deserve. You have earned the right to respect and safety and support of society..and yet if all the women fail collectively to speak clearly,factually of this truth,your subservience is the sentence for failing to speak of your own collective greatness...Respect is not a wish you beg for...it is (could be) a diatribe of truths listed in order endlessly that backs your oppressors into a corner quaking with guilt,hammering them with obvious truth till you break their philosophical prison..which if you are passive..you perpetrate in yourself...I challenge you..list womens accomplishments..tell me why you deserve respect..what did you contribute to India?
Mandeep Caur
- +1
Jan 13 2013: Thanks Theodore, for bringing up this point of view. It does't surprise me at all when I see our men folk living with this attitude n pass on to generations down. Today I happened to discover that even our religions n holy books promote this. Crime and disrespect against women is certainly condemned through the centuries. But solutions recommended and criticism extended only say our Women need to watch out and makeshift to resolve this social menace. So I read-

"Those who do not have respect for the women
Do not deserve to be born out of their mother.
Let their mother be always sterile."

I like the idea of those who should not be born, but again we are blaming women for bearing them and should rather be sterile!
My Question is - When our men will start taking responsibility for themselves , their conduct and the approach towards women....... Hope we will have some answers... And those answers will be my only Hope!
carolyn mcauley 20+
- +1
Jan 11 2013: the first time one hears that a woman is an object,or is a lesser being..it is not brought about by evidence..but simply a STORY. If you observe first hand you can in fact see everywhere work and contributions by woman..and yet the STORIES are told infinitely about womans evil,weakness,cunning,stealth,greed,trickery,betrayl,sexual witchery...its every where...it creates male solidarity,these are the conspiring soldiers of the company(GOVERNMENT) they collect wealth primarily...Loyalty to women erases this hijacked army...And yet it is firstly STORIES told by teachers,religious officials that generate the betrayl to the mother..Stories enter into the subconscious well before rational thought..they are unremovable as they reside outside of the logical mind and rational thinking is unable to compete....STORIES ,look so small,so simple..but generate this division that requires men to abandon a love based economy in order to join an illusion...that real men are a collective of identity that is superior and deserve by sex alone to receive the largest portions. Who wrote the stories..?.
Theodore A. Hoppe 200+
- +1
Jan 9 2013: No one here has pointed out that this is really an issue for men to address, not women.
Men rape other men's mothers, wives, and sisters and daughters.

in India, a rape is reported on average every 20 minutes.

A global poll of experts last year by TrustLaw, a legal news service run by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, showed India to be the worst place among G20 countries to be a woman.
Activists say most sex crimes in India go unreported, and official data show that almost all go unpunished. Reported rape cases rose nearly 17 percent between 2007 and 2011.

"Guilt is not one-sided," the guru, Asaram Bapu, told followers this week, adding that if the student had pleaded with her six attackers in God's name, and told them she was of the "weaker sex", they would have relented.
Such views have caused outrage among India's growing urban middle class.
Protesters burned effigies of the yoga guru near his headquarters in western India, media reported, and Twitter exploded with posts calling him "medieval" and a "misogynist".
But he is not alone.
Before last month's gang rape caused shockwaves, it was common for police to point the finger of blame in sex crime cases at women's clothing, or the fact that they worked alongside men.

Blaming women is something men do to excuse their behaviors.

I might recommend this TEDTalk http://www.ted.com/talks/tony_porter_a_call_to_men.html
"The Centers for Disease Control says that men’s violence against women is at epidemic proportions. — Tony Porter (at 09:55)"
"At TEDWomen, Tony Porter makes a call to men everywhere: Don't "act like a man." Telling powerful stories from his own life, he shows how this mentality, drummed into so many men and boys, can lead men to disrespect, mistreat and abuse women and each other. His solution: Break free of the "man box."
Mandeep Caur
- +3
Jan 8 2013: Thanks everyone for being ampathetic and feeling for what Asian women are going through. Am thoroughly impressed with Lee-Ann who is working with rape victims. However, I want some solutions which can put this gender biased crime to an end. After huge deliberations and listening to other leaders I have thought of 3 things which should be implemented- a. All politicians and government officials who have been ever charged with sexual crimes should be charge sheeted so that we have lawmakers in country who themselves have a clean record.
b. Very scrict laws against sex crimes and once convicted no appeal to higher courts should be allowed.
c. Fast track courts set for these type of crimes should have fixed TATs for processing and proceedings and justice.

Since most of you belong to developed countries and face almost negligible crimes of this kind, pls suggest what more should be done to prevent this menace in our society.
Chetan Somani
- +2
Jan 7 2013: well said Mandeep.
Every Indian wants to contribute to this.
Lee-Anna Johnston
- +3
Jan 7 2013: I have also felt appalled at what is happening in India, and many Middle Eastern countries where honour killing, rapes and the horrific treatment of women leave many dead or scarred for life. It was not long ago that a young girl from Afganistan was killed with the use of acid being thrown over her, for no other reason that she looked at a boy for a few seconds. The parents felt justified because they beleived that the 'look' could have led to the daughter sinning. Or cases in Saudi Arabia where a women was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment after she was gang raped, because she was deamed to have "had sexual relations prior to marriage', and her 5 rapists walked free. I work with rape victims and victims of violence so am aware that this kind of thing has been happening forever. It surprised me and made me feel a sense of hope that this has reached the world media audience and women and many men in India are standing up and agreeing that we can no longer turn a blind eye. Women's rights in Asia, the middle East and Africa are appaling. Women are treated like things, like nothing, like it is ok to keep women imprisoned in tradition and antequated attitudes that should have died centuries ago. Women are valuable, they are not to be treated like worthless animals. For God sake, we don't treat animals like this!!!!! No rapest should ever go free from punishment.
george lockwood 20+
- +2
Jan 5 2013: All the best to our Indian friends in dealing with this.
Kate Blake 50+
- +1
Jan 5 2013: Well said! Every living being should contribute to this one as it is extremely RARE for such brutal rapes to get any publicity inside India let alone internationally!

My heart goes out to all those foreign women who meet similar fates in the Himalayan foothills where I lived for years. They usually meet with gas 'accidents' that way there is no evidence left! No reports are made and nothing goes into the media, our governments and families have no real idea of the causes of death. The few that are left alive to live with their nightmares and injuries have their visa cancelled and they have to leave India immediately. The perpetrators are protected all the way .....

The honour killings and death of girl babies has lessened only slightly, people overseas really have NO idea of women's lot in these countries.
Feyisayo Anjorin 50+
- +3
Jan 4 2013: We should not underestimate the consequences of the objectification of women.
Salim Solaiman 50+
- +1
Jan 4 2013: Good...just do it...whatever way you want to contribute...

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