Slut Walk...

What a name? The image that it conjures up is of skimpily/half dressed/ undressed females with suggestive and provocative body language, walking.

But no such visual presented itself on the walk organised on Sunday the 31st of July 2011, at Janpath, Delhi. There were more males than females and media turnout outnumbered the rallyists.

The Slut walk first originated in Canada over a Police Officer's remark on women not being appropriately dressed and hence being targets of molestation. The Slut walk has since been held in various cities around the world to protest against the "sexual biases" and to promote the "rights" of women. The moot point to consider here is whether the walk has served its purpose or is making any difference to the society at large?

The effort on part of female advocacy groups is laudable so far as it goes to highlight the harassment and atrocities against women. But when it comes to these groups demanding and saying that they are free to be dressed as they think is appropriate then it is a different matter altogether. We are all social animals and have to behave as per societal norms. If we are going against these norms we are risking ourselves.

I am not advocating that all societal norms are good and that no change is required but at the same time not all societal norms are bad. We all have to learn to respect the traditions of the society. When these women objected to the police officers remarks they were ignoring the fact that he was merely mentioning the fact that probably a majority of people across the globe believe in.

I am not for a moment justifying harassment, molestation and other atrocities on women, in fact I am firmly against it whatever the temptation or provocation may be. But yes if you dress inappropriately you are providing provocation.

I will give you a small example: imagine an office where the women employees come dressed in skimpy dresses with plunging necklines that leave nothing to imagination. Would that be considered appropriate? On the other hand a similar dress or a skimpier dress would not probably get a second glance if you were on a beach, where a majority will be dressed similarly.

If you are providing temptation then you have to bear in mind the risks. Not all can withstand temptation and a few amongst thousands will be tempted to taste the temptation.

But let us come to India where the latest walk was organised. I want to ask the organisers and the media which covered it whether they have they bothered to go and ask the mothers if they are willing to see there daughters dressed skimpily? And when I say dressed skimpily, I mean not only outside the home but at home as well. I am sure that the overwhelming response is going to be NO. Then why are we turning a serious issue of women's rights and atrocities against women, into a frivolous one - not giving a damn about the societal norms.

The law keepers including the police can only help us if we help ourselves. Is it fair to cry when a person is injured crossing the road through heavy fast moving traffic without waiting for the traffic to halt? How fair is it to cry when you domestic help robs you and they have not been verified by the police? There are hundreds of such examples when self help/caution could have avoided problems.

I will take another example here, around a month back I was returning at 1.00 a.m. in the night and just a little before our house I saw a Police Gypsy and some police men standing, I slowed and saw that there were two young girls roaming around with one boy in the middle of the night on streets and the Police was telling them to go back to their homes. Now tell me how safe is it for anybody globally roaming around in the middle of the night when nobody else can be seen? If something were to happen then everybody including the media would cry foul. And these so called proponents of women freedom would go hoarse shouting.

I am simply saying that while it is the duty of the law enforcement agencies to maintain law and order, we owe it to ourselves also to be cautious. I see no offence when the police officer in Canada made the statement about avoiding being dressed as sluts to remain safe. He was only advising that we should be concerned about our own safety and not leave everything to the police. Using the word slut might be offensive but doubting the intentions is really stretching things too far.

I also want to ask the so called celebrities like Nafisa Ali, who come to endorse such causes, by lending the glam or celebrity quotient, that have they really bothered to think the cause through. By supporting the Slut Walk called "Besharmi Morcha", what is she trying to achieve? Is she telling our ladies to shed their clothes or what? Is she trying to promote promiscuity in the society in the name of Besharmi Morcha or what? How many times has Nafisa Ali herself been dressed this way?

The argument that the organisers were giving is that it is not the dressing alone which leads to sexual harassment, so why pinpoint dressing. What the police officer was saying that dressing is one of the ingredients that can lead to such acts and we should try and remove this. True, dressing conservatively alone will not put an end to such acts, but it has the potential to reduce the incidence of such acts.

Most men would love girls to be skimpily clad, who wouldn't mind seeing young good looking girls in all their glory :)))). But on a serious note let not these newsmaking walks, deflect us from the real agenda of prevention of all kind of atrocities against women.