Stop Normalisation Of Violence Against Women In The Name Of Customs And Traditions
People tag "PhD Research Scholar, JNU" with my incident. But I'm just a woman. And I want to be considered that way.
Text Size:
As a research scholar myself, I felt like a complete failure on the day of the incident. I kept questioning myself, amidst all the chaos, how did I come to this point? What was more appalling to me was the fact that I, myself am working on gender issues, someone who is attempting to de-construct and unlearn the everyday norms and practices, which many of us think are normal, and which are not. I looked up to many of my predecessors in my field of research, especially from our own community, who achieved degrees from reputed universities, joined reputed universities, published so many excellent scholarly works on social issues, particularly on women's issues. Yet, somewhere all those arguments, theories, epistemology, and ontology seems to be confined within academia and too detached from the ground realities.
On this note, I am asking myself and all my predecessors (whom I looked up to): are we doing enough? Or are we just so comfortable in our own privileged world? What is the actual purpose of all those arguments, theories, and debates if we are unable to convey our ideas to our own people? We need to move out of our classrooms, offices, campuses and interact with people.
I know there are real fighters, individually as well as collectively, who fearlessly and selflessly dedicate their lives to improve the society. But many of us don't. I myself work on women's issues and I feel guilty for not speaking up enough, for not standing up often. I feel like a failure listening to our mothers, sisters talking happily how they had the same fate or even worse. Yet, they accept the life given to them for they have no choice. More than the violence that I had to go through, I am concerned of the normalisation of such violence, in the name of customs and traditions. I am concerned that they laugh and joke about how they heard my screams! I am concerned that many more should feel the same.
How ironic it happened on Nupi Lan, 12th December! We were openly celebrated for our strength, resilience and courage. Yet many such women are locked up, abused, threatened, forced, assaulted and even murdered behind closed doors! What are these glorifications for when we aren't listened to? Stop putting us up on the pedestal when you can't even let us enjoy our basic rights! Stop celebrating "Meitei Nupi gi thouna lingjel"!
And people tag "PhD Research Scholar, JNU" with my incident. But I'm just a woman. And I want to be considered that way. I saw people commenting "you messed with the wrong girl", "How foolish of them to think a JNU scholar will be silent". But they didn't mess with the wrong "educated" girl. The system messed with us all! The system will go on unless we decide that enough is enough. And that we shall no more endure the structural violence of any kind, in any forms!
The incident: HY News - Top Stories Details
Subscribe to our mailing list to get the new updates!
Subscribe our newsletter to stay updated
Leave Comments