Very often
women are blamed about not writing matters of great importance. In fact quite often their work is referred to as ‘menstruation works’. It is when the men who
deal with greater works and who become the cause of ‘small problems’ of women, that
the bleeding sex begin to share their vulnerabilities.
Shame for
women has always been a devious silencing strategy. The ‘small things’ that
they write about are because big things are done to small parts of their lives
and which in pain pour out tears in small themes.
Charles Darwin
in ‘The Descent of Man’ talks about how no body part which can be unnaturally
modified has ever escaped the mind of savages. The motives of such mutilations
he says, could be varied; such as connection with some religious rite or a
distinguishing mark of a tribe. He continues to explain that if such savage
behaviour were not to be put an end to, it would persist for long periods; such
as the inhuman mutilations which would then gradually become a distinctive mark
of the savage tribe even though its beginning may have set about for whatever
reason.
It’s sad
that even today some educated societies shelter such savage tribes and continue
to live in ignorance, not flinching from torturing little girls and women, so that they can rest their doubting minds in peace and enjoy the wounded bodies.
Of late, one
could say that the women from the Muslim community are undergoing an awakening;
the Triple Talak issue, the entry for women into the mosques and now the Female Genital Mutilation or Female Circumcision which has been
broadcasted to the world after being an open secret for years.
The
spiritual leader of the community, who is considered to be the voice of God on earth,
has caused a lot of inconvenience, pain, humiliation and damage to the lives of
many women of the community. The man-god’s confusing and ambiguous statement
has no clarity whatsoever and shows the fear of public ridicule when spoken in
strange concealment. The community today needs to ask very obvious questions
for comprehensibility of words spoken. “The
act must be done. It needs to be done discreetly when it is a woman, but it
needs to be done.” Why such discreetness and why the need?
The Apostle
Paul reminds us when he speaks to the Romans about the outwardly act, “....circumcision is that of the heart, in
the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.”
Medical
science has no answer for this chauvinistic need feeding the male ignorance and
ego, which is inconsiderate to the suffering caused to little girls. A
traumatic experience they would never forget!
Such a voice
of God, which is inattentive and thoughtless towards His creation, needs to be
checked for its originality and authenticity.
There are
certain questions which one needs to ask oneself before accepting to bow down
to such position supreme:
Can a
man-god on earth who turns blind to the physical and psychological problems of
the women be God?
Can a
man-god on earth who believes that the removal of the part of the clitoris
(made by God) to be a religious duty, be a God?
Can a
man-god who favours and encourages pervert sexual pleasures of men be a God?
(Since it is believed that FGM helps men experience better sexual pleasure)
A gory act
carried out in dark hideouts with hot knives and blades and the ghastly screams
of trauma of little girls, is no more a secret in this city of light, Mumbai.
Scarred young girls from the Bohra community, a Shia sub-sect have come out to
talk about the act of betrayal of a tradition which the community has failed to
cut off from and prefer to instead cut its women and little girls. The belief
that the cutting of the ‘immoral lump of flesh’ would stop a woman from
deriving pleasure and which would in
turn halt any of them from straying from loyalty, is a mindless tradition, an
evil passed on from mother to daughter where the fathers have always turned a
blind eye. It is unbelievable to see an educated, progressive and modern
community still continuing a savage practice of tormenting its women.
What can one say of a community that betrays
its daughters and secretly indulges in female abuse and child abuse behind
closed doors in the name of tradition? A community that wears blinkers to
prevent noticing the physical, psychological and sexual damage due to its
gender violence is the same community that encourages its girls to study but robs
their human rights to feel any pleasure in future, at an age when they in all
their innocence cannot even protect themselves.
A voice can
be heard in the wilderness of tradition screaming to be paid attention to; a
voice crying out for help to be saved from a deceitful, betraying and uncaring
community. Today the same voice has become loud and clear. Once upon a time may
be the feminine vocal cords were unable to change because they were not aware but now
that awareness has covered their minds, they cannot help but change. It’s time
that the women of the community and the men who honour them stop listening to
the voice of men-gods and instead hear a voice whispering from somewhere deep
within their insides. If one is observant enough, one will not miss noticing
that men, who do evil completely and cheerfully, do it out of religious
convictions only.
When
blockheads make gods out of fatheads, they surely suffer the fate of fools.
There cannot be anything that is unholy about the human body since it was made
in an image of the creator unless the human gods prefer to chisel out the image
as per their convictions and beliefs of sanctity. In fact, if one were to hear
Walt Whitman they would begin to see the holiness of the image in itself. “If
anything is sacred, the human body is sacred.”
It’s time
the men of the community stood up to the secret sufferings of their women and
stopped their abuse. They may not be holding the knives or the blades but the
blood is yet on their hands in their silence.
Good article you should post it on fb
ReplyDeleteWhat a article Ruby mam ..Mr. Rahul khot said is correct you should post it on FB ... maximum people should read this article.. i will also forward this article on my group..
ReplyDeleteWhat a article Ruby mam ..Mr. Rahul khot said is correct you should post it on FB ... maximum people should read this article.. i will also forward this article on my group..
ReplyDeleteThis is very sensitive article.. actually when i came to know about this .. i was just shocked.. but could not say anything as this is religious matter.. and all that bullshit.. but now i feel relieved when i saw your article on it.. Ruby mam your doing excellent job for society by writing on such topics where very few people have courage to talk..
ReplyDeleteAwesome article Ruby... Too good. GOD knows when people will have brains and stop believing their mangod...
ReplyDeleteCannot imagine such rituals actually prevail and nobody opposes it!!!!!! This is cruelty to womenhood!
ReplyDelete