Women Should Be Hit For Wearing Sexy Clothing In Public

Who do you think believes in this statement?If you think it is the Sri Rama Sene, you are wrong...According to the findings of a recent survey conducted in England & Wales (for the Home Office), one in seven people believe it is acceptable in some circumstances for a man to hit his wife or girlfriend if she is dressed in "sexy or revealing clothes in public"...A similar number believe that it is okay for a man to slap his wife or girlfriend for "nagging or constantly moaning at him"...


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The findings also disclosed that about twenty percent of the people polled believe that wearing sexy or revealing clothing should lead to a woman being held partly responsible for being raped or sexually assaulted...Another sad finding of the survey is that only 52 percent of the respondants believe that prostitutes have basic human rights...

What does this survey tell us?It tells us that it doesn't matter if we live in the West or the East, in a developed country or an underdeveloped one, we all still live in largely patriarchal and misogynistic societies...But there is hope...I'm sure if this survey had been conducted 25 years ago, the number of people who believed that women were not to blame no matter what the circumstances were, would have been lower...
Edited to add:
I'm a bit concerned about the teenagers of today...I'm worried that they will start to slide back into the arms of Rape Culture via the proliferation of pornography and the celebration of violent entertainment...It takes generations to change regressive attitudes but the media can change positive attitudes to regressive ones in a matter of months...I hope the younger generation is intelligent enough to differentiate between make believe and reality...

A Message From The Vatican On International Women's Day

“In the 20th century, what contributed most to the emancipation of Western women?” questioned an article in the Vatican Daily, Osservatore Romano...Hmmm...Let me see...Well, I think the pill and the choice of working outside the home are two of the most important contributors...But wait, the Vatcian doesn't think so...It had a novel message for the women of the world: give thanks for the washing machine...This humble domestic appliance has apparently done more for the women’s liberation movement than anything else...And guess what the headline of the above mentioned article was? The washing machine and the emancipation of women: put in the powder, close the lid and relax...I would have laughed if it weren't so offensive...

I have this question for you: do you feel liberated now that you don't have to handwash your husband's soiled clothes?
My answer: No, because I still have to load the machine, hang out the clothes and iron, fold and put them away...What would really liberate me is a machine that would do all the above for me in one go...Really, the Bishops at the Vatican are totally clueless...

Edited to add: I'm on a roll now so here is another nugget from Osservatore Romano, the Vatican's daily newspaper...

"after so many years it sounds merely like the boasting of an English working-class lad struggling to cope with unexpected success". 

And what was this in response to?John Lennon's infamous claim (March 1966) 

"Christianity will go...It will vanish and shrink.We're more popular than Jesus now - I don't know which will go first, rock and roll or Christianity. Jesus was alright, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me." I think he was spot on - Jesus was alright, his disciples are not...

Why are women treated the way they are?

Recent nauseating and blood curdling incidents like the Mangalore attack on young girls to protect the ‘honour’ of Hindu women by Sri Ram Sena hooligans and the ‘honour’ killing of a newly wed couple in Punjab made me wonder what the term ‘honour’ actually meant…

According to the Oxford Dictionary honour (noun) implies:

1. High respect
2. Pride and pleasure from being shown respect
3. A clear sense of what is morally right
4. A person or thing that brings credit

Neither of the above-mentioned acts was morally right (even though the goonadas of Sri Ram Sena claimed their intentions were in line with Hindu morality) or respectful (thrashing, molesting or murder of another human being indicates high disregard for feelings and rights of others)…These acts were plain criminal and were about power and control…

From where did the concept of women as vessels of religious, cultural, societal and familial reputations arise? It arose from men…Why are these crimes excusable and understandable? Because men say so…Across religions and cultures, women have always been looked upon as the property of men and not as human beings… If men (as they contend) are so concerned about their (own) honour, why aren’t they responsible for protecting it? Why should only women embody the honour of the men to whom they "belong"? Why can’t men embody the honour of the women in their family and community? Why aren’t rape, honour killings, alcoholism, adultery and domestic violence considered dishonourable and immoral? Again, because men say so…

Everything is ultimately about control…The need to curb and control the rights of women arose from the need for men to ensure that their children were biologically theirs…For some reason, (most) men consider name and bloodline to be the most important thing in the world…

This attitude of women as property of men is even enshrined in the Indian Penal Code (IPC):

Section 497: Adultery
Whoever has sexual intercourse with a person who is and whom he knows or has reason to believe to be the wife of another man, without the consent or connivance of that man, such sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rap, is guilty of the offence of adultery, and shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years, or with fine, or with both. In such case the wife shall be punishable as an abettor.

Section 498: Enticing or taking away or detaining with criminal intent a married woman
Whoever takes or entices away any woman who is and whom he knows or has reason to believe to be the wife of any other man, from that man, or from any person having the care of her on behalf of that man, with intent that she may have illicit intercourse with any person, or conceals or detains with that intent any such woman, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

So, how does one resolve this situation? Will education do the job? Well, all this time I thought so (and still do) until I read this story:…

Two politicians accused of brutal attitudes towards women have been made cabinet ministers in Pakistan, causing outrage among human rights activists.
Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, charged with presiding over a "jirga" that gave away five young girls as a form of compensation, and Israr Ullah Zehri, who recently made international headlines after defending the burying alive of women in "honour-killing" cases, have been elevated to ministry positions.

Last year the Supreme Court ordered the arrest of the Oxford-educated Mr Bijarani over the allegations, though he remained at liberty. He has been made minister for education…

…Mr Zehri, a member of a minor party in the coalition, has been made minister for postal services. Earlier this year, in response to news that three teenage girls had been buried alive for trying to choose husbands, he told the parliament it was a "tribal tradition".

I still think education is important (and by this I don’t mean just learning how to read and write) but it has to be ‘backed-up’ by legal protection….Unless the current laws are changed, things will not improve…

The rule “You never hit a girl/woman ever” may seem antiquated but it still holds true…When will men realize that?