It is almost the one-year anniversary of the case involving “Nirbhaya”, a 23-year-old female physiotherapy student who was savagely assaulted on a Delhi bus last December. The news story brought a cavalcade of thousands on to the streets, demanding greater security and protection for Indian women after learning about the horrific details of the assault she and her friend had to endure. On September 10, 2013, the four adult defendants were subsequently found guilty of murder, rape, unnatural offenses and destruction of evidence. They now have the death penalty by hanging looming over their heads which was an outcome that many passionate demonstrators present outside the courthouse cried for. The Indian government sought to reform current legislation dealing with such crimes after much deliberation and public pressure. As a result, far more stringent laws with harsher penalties now exist with the intention of discouraging future attacks on unsuspecting women like Nirbhaya.
    
I was one person who did espouse more stringent laws and appropriately meting out punishment that fits the crime. However, I soon began to question myself regarding whether this was the only solution and whether this would this truly work. The Delhi rape case of Nirbhaya was not the first case of its ilk, nor would it be the last. Since that time, there have been many such stories plastered across the front pages of various Indian newspapers such as “The Hindu” and “The Times of India.” In a way, it has raised the public awareness of such issues but also has informed us that nothing has truly changed. I find it quite ironic that for a country that prides itself, on the reverence of “MATA” (mother) and has prominent feminine divinities such as Durga, Kali, Lakshmi and Saraswati that many worship, the perception and treatment of women in Indian society has been absolutely disgraceful.

One major reason among many important others has always been how women are portrayed in the media, most notably in Indian cinema. To be terse: women are objectified on a much larger scale than men, plain and simple. Objectification is known to be those portrayals of women in contexts which they are objects to be looked at, ogled, even touched, or used without any regard to their personality or dignity.  Scenes of a scantily clad woman parading around an interested group of men vying for her affection, a beautiful woman standing alongside a muscular man who showcases her like a piece of “eye candy” or a woman being half naked before a scene in bed are some examples which can be routinely found in numerous Indian films. The Indian film industry is known for its glitz, glamour and ‘item songs,’ where the more indecent and vulgar the song is, the more it will stand out and give far greater accolades and recognition to the actress than her acting alone. The greater popularity leads to greater marketability of the film and the cycle continues.

For those impressionable ones who observe such scenes, the idea that it is okay to behave in a certain manner or consider a woman an object of sensual pleasure or fantasy is difficult to extinguish if one is constantly bombarded with these scenes. As the saying goes, “you are the company you keep.” This must be some really bad company. There is a sense of entitlement that men may have from women, that might spawn such thoughts as “they aim to please us” or “we have dominance over them” or “it is all about being with a beautiful woman even just for one night.” It is a perverted attitude that can subconsciously seep in and can manifest itself as “innocent” or playful humor amongst men speaking about women, cat calls directed towards abashed females passing by on the streets in a bustling city such as Mumbai or even within the 4 walls of a dilapidated edifice in some rural village. These ideas are extremely powerful and inspiring to act with malice, to commit evil.
    
Various filmmakers in the aftermath of the Delhi rape case such as Anurag Kashyap was quoted as saying “We need to stop objectifying our women in what we call our second religion… our films.” Another actress Aditi Rao Hydari said: “I wish our movies wouldn’t objectify women. There’s so much more to being a woman.” As mentioned earlier, since December 2012, sexual assaults have persisted and mass protests have been commonplace all across the country, In Delhi alone, 1,121 rape cases were registered in the first 8 months of 2013, the highest in the past 13 years. Even more alarming, is the number of reported cases this year being two-times greater than last year's figure of 468 in the same period.  Many have pointed the proverbial finger at inefficiencies in truly preventing such crimes along with the country’s patriarchal tendencies. As an example, India is a country with one of the largest number of female infanticide deaths per year with nearly 3 million female infants killed in 2012. Sadly, girls are wanted less than boys.

However, in spite of all this, it is encouraging for me to read comments from examples of people are who are exasperated with the situation: some of them belong to the men of India.  Highly respected Bollywood actor, Aamir Khan stated in the aftermath of the Delhi rape case: “In the 2-3 years journey of my show 'Satyamev Jayate', I have learnt two things...one is that until we empower women and girls, our country will not progress.” Khan had utilized his TV program to underscore instances of female exploitation and abuse throughout India. Another renowned Indian actor and director Farhan Akhtar on the website of his social movement called “MARD” which stands for Men Against Rape and Discrimination said, "Every time I look into the mirror, I want to see a man whose mother, sister, wife and daughter are proud to call their own.” He conceived the idea after a sexual assault and death of Pallavi Purkayastha, a female Mumbai lawyer.

Earlier this past spring in Kolkata, Farhan helped to distribute mustaches to men in a public garden, speaking and encouraging them to become "real MARDs" which translates to "men" in Hindi.  Additionally, he works enthusiastically with an NGO called “Magic Bus” that utilizes sports to engage children from poorer communities, teaching values such as the importance of education, health and, especially, gender equality.  The program seeks to develop confidence in girls to reveal inner springs of courage that they can play and live intrepidly without fear. "Young people in India don't have good role models aside from Bollywood and sports people….Farhan is a great voice addressing young people," said Magic Bus founder, Matthew Spacie.

This is a robust example of what is needed: prominent men and women along with galvanized everyday folks who work relentlessly in promoting gender equality and to “humanize” females to live side by side, shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts. People who will proudly declare that women are equal with men in all regards, that women are not subservient to men and are under no circumstances to be viewed as “pieces of flesh” or as a means of satisfying some secret carnal desire one particular evening must act. The message needs to be strongly delivered to young boys, teenagers, young adults and adult men alike. A change of mindset and proper education are absolutely critical to make it happen, and it should begin at home and continuing throughout one’s education of life. It must be continuous in order to demolish concrete, antiquated ideas of women, to change lustful looks to compassionate stares, to change unwarranted sensual dialogues to amicable, productive conversations, to eliminate a condescending, shameful sense of superiority.
 
How many instances when we open the newspapers would it take to say enough is enough? As a people, we must understand a woman is someone’s mother, sister, or daughter. It is frightening to consider just how deeply entrenched objectification of women really goes and the ramifications of it. Women are objectified in more profound ways than we realize, and we must strip away every intricate shred of the patriarchy, in order to achieve a modest goal of being recognized and treated as human beings. To look at them as anything less would be inhuman.   
 

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