India, where women are blamed for their woes, and worshipped as gods
What you need to know:
- The more likely explanation for the ban is that the Indian government is embarrassed by the message of the film — that Indians’ attitude towards women reflects a deeply misogynistic culture.
- Udwin, in an interview with NDTV, the Indian television channel that was supposed to air the film on Sunday to coincide with International Women’s Day, said the intention of her film was not to show India in a bad light, but to examine the mindset that creates rapists everywhere.
- These attitudes are not just confined to Indian society, but every community where women have been reduced to mere service providers, sex objects, or baby-producing machines.
Despite a ban by the Indian government, BBC Four went ahead and aired India’s Daughter, a chilling documentary on the brutal rape of Jyoti Singh, a medical student who died in December 2012 from injuries inflicted by her rapists, which included penetrating her vagina with a metal rod.
The documentary by British filmmaker Leslie Udwin was apparently considered highly controversial by India’s lawmakers, who claimed that the filmmaker had not acquired the necessary permits for the film, including permission to interview the rapists in jail, even though Udwin has provided evidence to show that she has the licences.
The more likely explanation for the ban is that the Indian government is embarrassed by the message of the film — that Indians’ attitude towards women reflects a deeply misogynistic culture.
Some believe that the government’s banning of the film has to do with the fear that it would discourage foreign women from travelling to India, and thus reduce tourist numbers.
BAD LIGHT
Udwin, in an interview with NDTV, the Indian television channel that was supposed to air the film on Sunday to coincide with International Women’s Day, said the intention of her film was not to show India in a bad light, but to examine the mind-set that creates rapists everywhere.
A rape survivor herself, she said that she made the film because she was deeply moved by the mass protests that followed Jyoti’s death, when Indians from all walks of life gathered across the country to demand better laws to protect women from violence and stiffer sentences for rapists.
I have not seen the film, but those who have say that it is a disturbing reminder of how low women’s status continues to be in Indian society.
Mukesh Singh, who was driving the bus in which the medical student was viciously raped, told Udwin that the victim was responsible for her own rape as “a decent girl won’t roam around at nine o’clock at night”. (Jyoti and her boyfriend had boarded the bus late in the evening.)
He further blamed the rape victim by saying that if she had not fought back and kept quiet, he would have dropped her off after raping her and not proceeded to mutilate and injure her body parts. When Udwin read out the charges against him, he showed no remorse or regret.
REPRESENTING RAPISTS
What is even more shocking is the attitude of the defence lawyer representing the rapists. He told Udwin, without flinching, that if his own daughter was found outside the home after 7 o’clock in the evening, he would personally burn her alive.
These attitudes are not just confined to Indian society, but every community where women have been reduced to mere service providers, sex objects, or baby-producing machines.
I became acutely aware of Indian attitudes towards women when my parents sent me off to a boarding school in India in the 1970s. I discovered that, on the one hand, Indian men worship their mothers and female goddesses, such as the powerful Durga, while treating other females as dispensable objects, for example, by killing their new-born baby girls or murdering their wives when they did not bring in sufficient dowry, both of which were prevalent at that time, despite India having an all-powerful female Prime Minister, namely, Indira Gandhi.
DOUBLE STANDARDS
While I gained insight into the society where my ancestors came from and learnt to appreciate India’s rich and complex culture, the one thing that I never really understood was the mother-whore dichotomy and double standards of Indian society.
Having grown up in a family of just girls and realising the intense pressure on my mother to give birth to boys, I was determined to fight back. My very first published article was on dowry-related murders in India.
Later at university in the United States and through the writings of famous feminists, I learnt to unravel the roots of patriarchy and sexism and the sense of entitlement that comes with being male.
Sadly, we are now in the post-feminist backlash phase of Kim Kardashian and the like, including titillating and gyrating Bollywood actresses, who perpetuate their own objectification. Their self-objectification has only served to strengthen patriarchy and misogyny worldwide.
