Comments on: Indian Feminism 101

By: rameshraju

rameshraju — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:54:24 +0000

Culture apparently appears to to have loop holes. But picking up such holes is certainly harmful to the human family system and society. Ancient females used to do wars, write books, did researches, but they never stepped out of traditions. By nature, women are easily influenced by the evils of the society, and so ancient men have forced few customs to protect the society from getting spoiled. Science has proved that Men have more IQ than their Memory power, Women have more memory power than their IQ. So women should be guarded well to protect her from the evils.

Feminism has meaning if it fights for equal opportunities, but not against culture, which include traditions and cultoms. Most feminists believe that our own traditions are shackles of woman’s freedom. Section IPC 498a has been enforced to protect women from domestic violence and dowry harrasment. But most Indian women are misusing this section by putting their husbands and parents-in-law behind the bars and demanding large amount of money. I think it is better to speak about duties rather than rights. Hindus called Earth by name Bhoo Devi, India by name Bharat mata which are female names. Most of the rivers in India have female names. Where is the patriachy?. Men and Women have not same, but unique duties. God’s plan is ‘If male is bread winner and, female is the nurturer’. This law is followed by all of the living beings in the nature. When this order is disturbed, the family system and society gets ruined.

By: Srinivas Devidas

Srinivas Devidas — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 16:20:36 +0000

IN SUPPORT OF THE WOMEN IN INDIA AND EVERYWHERE ELSE ___________ WOMEN POWER WOMEN LIBERATION ——————– CREATING A BETTER FUTURE ….. NOW ! NAMASTE , biologically , i’m a ” male foreigner ” , if this matters at all ….. i’m fully supporting feminism , Female SUPERIORITY and Matriarchal / matrifocal types of societies . i’m a devotee of Mother Goddess — MAHA DEVI —– ADI PARASHAKTI —- THE SUPREME FEMALE POWER , i don’t understand how males who abuse , mistreat , ignore , discriminate women can ever dream to stay sometime before the Divine Mother ——– DIVINE MOTHER WILL PAY THEM BACK FOR ALL ABUSES ……. THEY —– the violent , bruttish , stupid bunch of brainwashed cretins , degenerated males , without shame , how can they go to Devi temples …… when they treat women in India like garbage and possesios , like in the feudal time …….. i fully want to help the feminist women of India . unite , stand up , be strong …. ALL THE POWER ——- MAHA SHAKTI —- IS WITHIN YOU …… REMEMBER THAT ….. IN SUPPORT OF FEMINIST INDIA ……….. i seriously believe we need again some type of modern matriarchy , as in some parts of the world , some tribes still have it , otherwise there won’t be any positive future for anyone …….. all the best . a ”male ”

By: s

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:18:19 +0000

Mr. ramesh raju, if only u could be broad minded enough to think that a father is equally responsible in taking care of his offspring and not dump the responsibilty on the mother’s shoulders alone… and if u r smart enough to open your eyes and see, u’ll probably notice that most women multitask and manage most jobs quite well…both at home and in the workplace… i pity you mr. ramesh raju, u are patriarchy, chauvinism and insensitivity personified

By: somegal

somegal — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:45:43 +0000

hi harshad joshi

are acid attacks a FAD?

you would think so, no?

By: Harshad Joshi

Harshad Joshi — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 08:02:51 +0000

Is this a FAD?

I think it is.

By: Feminist Fatale

Feminist Fatale — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 11:27:57 +0000

Limits are what women are taught perhaps as soon as we begin to crawl. Knowing one’s limits. Staying within ones limits. Recognising ones limits.
All of us negotiate these limits and decide which battles we want to fight. Perhaps you don’t give yourself and your friends enough credit.

By: Indianwoman

Indianwoman — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 22:18:57 +0000

Its funny…just today we were discussing this same very column over lunch

I agree that the article is OTT..but at the same time i dont think that some of the issues (not how it has been written) that he has raised are that off the mark ,,

Is our feminism one of compromise: This statement rang true for me and from my observation, for a lot of the women in my social circle..while we may have argued, tried to reason, fight against quite a few prejudices/issues at the same time I always knew what were my limits (and unfortunately never tested those!).
To my mind this is true of quite a few of todays urban women trying to manage the house and jobs and other social commitments (I am not saying all and i am not saying majority-i am saying atleast the ones i know). What makes these smart & educated women not stand up and ask that the husband make an equally meaningful contribution to the house, or put up with abuse dished out by in-laws. For every woman that has spoken up, there are 10 who will silently take all that is heaped onto them.
Is it not our social conditioning that asks for the girl to adjust?? And everytime you or I make a compromise like this is it not eroding some of the sheen off the very feminism that we hold oh so dear!

By: anindianabroad

anindianabroad — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:39:00 +0000

Hear hear. Feminism is about the freedom to choose, something which pontificating commentators seem to miss. I particularly enjoy your rebuttal because of its measured force, rather than an obvious and shrill denouncement of “evil men”.

By: Shilpa

Shilpa — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 04:37:00 +0000

My own sense of feminism is that among other things it is about a culture of dissent and debate. And it was in many ways in quest of this engagement with others who share my politics as well as those who don’t that the piece was written. And this I don’t think could have been achieved by a letter to the editor, which I don’t think they published in any case. But that is not the point.

‘You Are Here’ may not be a work of literary value but that does not discount its interest as an anthropological text which is very relevant our understanding of the contemporary politics of sexuality. The protagonist may represent only a minority or women or even merely the fantasies of a minority of women, and nobody, not even the author is claiming Arshi is a feminist.

A large part of the problem with the IHT piece is not just its ignorance and dislike of feminism but also its premise which is anti-pleasure. This fits in which a larger context where women’s sexual desires are seen as illegitimate and certainly not to be expressed publicly. In a world where pleasure is much harder to demand (precisely because of the kind of prejudice the writer of the IHT displays) than say freedom from domestic violence it is imperative that we contest these puritanical positions.

By: Alter Violet?

Alter Violet? — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 21:14:27 +0000

Why does this site, purpotedly for, of and by young feminists ponder over such “deep social insights” as found in Meenakshi Madhavan Reddy’s book ‘You are Here’ and a clueless review of the book by a hairbrained columnist here? What is Indian Feminism 101, is it the knowledge of a faithfully accurate history of the Indian Feminist movement? Is it a criticism of a review of the latest trendy books that splash a sex scene here, a dash of expletive ridden prose there? Does it want everyone to read the book or read the review or both? How does this site contribute the cause of Feminism by either analysing Trashy Arshi or its author or attempting to educate the columnist?

Why would the simple Letter to Editor not have sufficed to relieve your angst at both wasting your time reading the review and wasting your money buying the book?