
In India, Cows Are Sacred, Women Are Dispensable - cmaher
https://medium.com/the-state-of-india-1/b50ee55ba5ff
======
amartya916
Gandhi said "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by
the way in which its animals are treated."

I guess Gandhi forgot that cows in India really do have it pretty good.
Unfortunately, we, the people of india, haven't been able to pass a vital
measure of moral progress: how do we treat our women. The woman taking a walk,
travelling on public transit or the countless other examples that the author
cites, should serve as a reminder of how spectacularly we have failed as a
society. I wouldn't be surprised if we have actually regressed significantly
[2].

It's hard to be optimistic about India, but hopefully these shocking incidents
would stir up enough Indians to take notice and try to do something about it.
For example, education(including sex ed. by the way) is a start. I am not sure
how literacy rates have been affected by the RTE [1] act that came into effect
in 2010, but I am hopeful that in the longer run, it'll improve our society.

[1] Right to Education Act: <http://mhrd.gov.in/rte>

[2] An interview from the former king of Travancore (read the last question,
the one about matriarchs): [http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/Chunk-HT-
UI-ViewsSec...](http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/Chunk-HT-UI-
ViewsSectionPage-Interviews/The-riches-belong-to-nobody-certainly-not-to-our-
family/Article1-719270.aspx)

~~~
kumarski
Gandhi was also a known pedophile.

[http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/12/29...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/12/29/india-
rape-victim-dies-sexual-violence-proble/)

~~~
rraval
Nothing in the article you linked supports your claim. It doesn't even mention
the words "Gandhi" or "pedophile".

Intrigued by your claim, I turned to Google to find more. The only credible
link was an article by the Huffington Post [1], and the claim had been
redacted.

[1] [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/irene-monroe/the-gandhi-
none-o...](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/irene-monroe/the-gandhi-none-of-us-
kne_b_842941.html‬)

~~~
kumarski
[http://current.com/shows/upstream/93968385_gandhi-was-a-
pedo...](http://current.com/shows/upstream/93968385_gandhi-was-a-pedophile-
racist-why-does-he-get-a-free-pass.htm) He knowingly slept with young girls as
'experiments.'

The article I posted had nothing to do with Gandhi's Pedophilia. It was an
article that simply suggested the potential causes of a symptomatic rape in
Indian Society.

------
kunai
I am male, but I'm a strong feminist. I refuse to use GoDaddy for hosting
because of their degrading and objectifying advertising campaign. But there's
a problem stemming from two different views on feminism.

It seems like there are two distinct sides, and no neutral ground, for women's
rights, and how one goes about fighting for them.

On one hand, you have sexually repressed apes perpetually abusing women and
nobody bats an eye.

And on the other hand, you have clinically insane extremists who freak out
over jokes about Github.

It's sad that we can't fight for what matters, which is women's rights. It's
either go completely mad about it or do nothing at all.

~~~
smoyer
I am male and not a feminist, because I disagree with their man-hating
propaganda ("A women needs a man like a bicycle needs a fish"). But I am all
for equivalence and my wife is my equal as well as my partner (well ... if I
admit it, she's my better half in almost every way). I think I'll go hug her -
bye.

~~~
EliRivers
"I am male and not a feminist,... But I am all for equivalence"

That's feminism. You're a feminist.

~~~
arbus
> "I am male and not a feminist,... But I am all for equivalence"

Actually thats Egalitarianism, not necessarily Feminism.

~~~
EliRivers
I'm using the common dictionary definitions I find, which granted is by no
means a guarantee of what the word "means".

dictionary.com gives me "the doctrine advocating social, political, and all
other rights of women equal to those of men", which to my mind suggests that
if someone is "all for equivalence" then equivalence for women is a subset of
that, so includes feminism.

So yes, I stand corrected. Being "all for equivalence" includes feminism, but
is more than feminism; the OP is a feminist, and more.

~~~
smoyer
Except I didn't actually state that I was only for the equality of men and
women ... There are a lot more inequalities that can be overcome (starting
with stereotypes and prejudices).

~~~
EliRivers
"Except I didn't actually state that I was only for the equality of men and
women"

You stated you were _not_ for equality of men and women ("I am not a
feminist") but then you immediately changed your mind and said "I am all for
equivalence".

You are, as I said, a feminist and more. A feminist because you are for
equivalence of men and women, and more because you are for equivalence of
others as well.

~~~
arbus
Words have different meaning to different people. The Feminism label carries a
political context that Egalitarianism label does not and not every Egalitarian
is automatically a feminist as you claim.

~~~
EliRivers
"not every Egalitarian is automatically a feminist as you claim."

Using the definition I gave (which is quite literally the dictionary
definition), they are. I acknowledge that many people (in the US) seem to use
the word "feminist" to mean "filthy godless pinko commie liberal baby-killing
anti-American" (where "liberal" has already been redefined) or some other such
politically charged interpretation. That's a fantastic trick pulled by the
anti-women (amongst other things) crowd who do wonders with redefining
language on a daily basis.

------
cwbrandsma
I'm looking at her list of things she has to do at the bottom of the article.

My wife and daughters do most of those (including a modesty scarf)...and we
live in the USA.

~~~
mikestew
Do your wife and daughters do those things for the same _reasons_ as the
author? If so, I'm curious about where you live. Because just a walk through
the local mall (granted, affluent suburban Seattle) indicates to me that the
fears of the author are not shared by the women in my area of the USA.

------
test001only
One more article which goes on about how bad it is for women in India without
suggesting any method of setting the wrong right. Women are also considered
sacred but as goes for any religion, people take and interpret what they find
suitable for themselves. The laws are there for namesake and enforced only
when the perpetrator is from the lower rung of the society while powerful
criminals go free. Also women from the economically and socially backward are
not even aware of the protection the law guarantees them. We do not need one
more article which goes on and on about how bad it is in India. We get that
from the media everyday. We need practical solutions and discussions around
it.

------
gallinaponedora
written by... a woman. surprise surprise. Well, she just need to move to a
country where men are dispensable. She´s in luck because that's just about any
other country in the world except for evil India of course.

Disclaimer: I didn´t read the "article"

