I almost did not make this post. It seemed futile. But then raising your voice against what seems wrong almost always appears to be futile. But you still do it, not because it will work, but because it has got to be done.
This is a post to pose a counter-point to the one recently posted by the fellow member KoolShadu2000.
http://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1475833
This is a separate post because it is intended to balance the opinion being projected on this forum and not only for argument's sake.
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Pratigya is a show that advocates and prescribes a methodology for the empowerment of women who face neglect, abuse, subjugation and torture in many sections of our society. The methodology prescribed by them is roughly-
- Educate the woman
- Acquaint her of her rights
- Tell her that she has options not to tolerate/live with repression
- Establish beyond the scope of doubt that to speak up against violence and subjugation, is not only A RIGHT, A DUTY, but ALSO THE ONLY SOLUTION. The show intends to iterate the point that suffering in silence is the classic case of enabling the abuser!
This technique has not been devised by the Creatives of the show, but it is the most widely accepted strategy in all thinking circles to combat crimes against woman. Any social strategist worth her salt will tell you that your greatest chance of surviving abuse is to say NO!
Here on this forum I see people who are out to convince themselves and others that a woman's best chance is to lie so low as to be invisible. I am not talking about Arushi or Pratigya or Kesar, but of any woman in their place. That a slap to an abuser will ensure rape! That a woman speaking in a situation like Pratigya did yesterday was 'Bhashan' that she was doing "putter putter"! I think I read someone even say that Aarushi was responsible for her own situation!
For a brief moment while watching the serial yesterday, I too thought that the CVs were pulping the pulpit a little excessively, after all I presumed, they are preaching to the converted. Surely we all educated women believe in our rights and duties in raising our voice against injustice?
APPARENTLY NOT!!
Within its own educated audience the show has a percentage that not only aligns itself against it in spirit, but is working hard to undermine and subvert the very vital message it is trying to convey. That there are people who want to align themselves with the Ammas and Sajjan Singhs of this world in the belief that a woman's only chance of survival is to seek the protection of a superior male! They almost will the female protagonist's defeat because it will prove there long-held belief that a woman alone who dares to raise her voice will be shown her place and abject helplessness by being trodden on mercilessly by any available male. That no woman has an equal chance or should ever aspire to a life of equality and dignity in male-dominated societies. This is exactly the psychology exhibited via the character's of Amma and Piyasia. One does not know if this is a form of deep-rooted male chauvinism or a fear psychosis or a combination of the two.
There is so much wrong with that sort of mentality that one does not know where to begin speaking against it! Perhaps ten other serials like Pratigya will be required to make a dent in this psyche that ails not only the extremely repressed societies but apparently even certain percentage of the educated masses.
But I'd just like to say this. There are many types of rapes and murders. Rape is not only forced sexual intercourse; every time you tell a girl that she is powerless, every time you strip her of her pride, her dignity, her self-worth, every time you undermine her confidence in herself as an individual without the support of a man, every time you subject her to humiliation by objectification, every time you scald her soul and shrivel it – every time you rape her. And this is rape committed by both men and women.
A lot of women are raped long before they are physically touched because they are those women that have given up the mental fight a very long time ago. They submit because they don't believe they have the power of an option. This show is honestly making an effort to negate this mind set and tell a woman that she has a voice and to encourage her to exercise it. I found that I could not repress my own voice when I found such strenuous attempts to undermine its core message and its spirit.
P.S I am sorry this is not a Kriya post! I wish I could just write Kriya posts all day! But we can never truly appreciate Kriya till we understand that theirs is a story of the engagement of diametrically opposing people as it is of opposing value-systems, cultures and mind-sets! That they have to work through these to arrive at each other. 😊
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