These streets are her own
Why object to the Slut Walk?
The uproar against the Slut Walk in New Delhi fails to acknowledge the changing urban Indian woman — on the outside and within — on the streets,at homes and in offices. This walk,despite its contentious moniker,is a vital act of protest. And for that reason it must be supported despite the fiercest criticisms of it being non-serious,derivative and without agenda. Women are not new to perceptions,so let this be perceived as one big female block party and let it be the biggest street party of women this country has seen. The idea behind Slut Walk is not the adoption of the term slut — that is a facile way of looking at it. The real aim is the claiming of the streets,these lacerating Delhi streets where women are violated,brutalised and,yes,called sluts.
Feminism as an instinct calls for a woman to take charge of a situation that is not in her control,compelling her to act. It does not lie in some ironclad definition that needs to be ingested like a morning after pill,once the instinct has announced itself. For the young urban Indian woman who has a life of relative privileges — that is education,career,etc — there is a struggle to define oneself in terms that ring authentic. She is often denied the authenticity of “real” experience in the context of larger Indian womanhood,being immediately inducted into the growing mass of teeming apologists — urban,educated women,who are told in different ways to shut up because circumstances have been kinder to them. It takes a while to realise that this reductionist principle,aided by the denial and dismissal of concerns and opinions,is being applied,again,by society. Women need not be shamed and silenced for having privileges and an education and for being relatively sheltered.
The Slut Walk is organised by young,college girls. Today’s urban woman is entering the male domain like never before and is choosing different ways to express herself. The dual realities of rural and urban India — of modern living with traditional values — has led the Indian woman to lead a polyphonic existence. She is not a homogenous entity. For many,female foeticide and dowry deaths do not hold personal resonance and,if anything,we should work towards ensuring these numbers swell,not diminish their preoccupations. For these women too it is debilitating to be called a slut. It isn’t just a word,it is an articulation of her perpetual incarceration and guilt. So listen to her. Don’t dismiss it,even if it falls low on your scale of the many ills meted out to women.
If you are appalled that the Slut Walk of Canada inspires more than the anti-dowry dharna by the mahila morcha,where have you been? If there appear to be two separate Indias,the real concern should be the bridging of this gap,not highlighting the disparity. Female experience transcends geography — female genital mutilation is abhorrent even if it happens in Africa. The two-finger test for rape recently outlawed in India has no place in modern society. What took so long? There are no easy answers for what attracts protest and what we silently accept despite sympathising. But deriding one form of protest as not being the “right fit” is peevish.
As there is greater assimilation of genders,the role the urban woman plays in defining herself and making her city safer is invaluable. To dismiss a young woman who is finding her voice as frivolous,is to have done so without looking at the motivations behind her reaction. Look at the recent crimes against women in this city — one working at a bar,another driving home late from work,a third walking to college — all cases of women in places or situations that have traditionally been closed to her,some in situations that are not “advisable” for her safety. The urban woman identifies with the girl walking to college,not with the one sixty miles down the road who is murdered by her father,in a display of moral rectitude. She sympathises with it,she does not identify with it. You can judge it all you want,but it is our collective inconvenient truth. All of us are perpetrators of a systematic desensitisation,be it about urban poverty or honour killings. So let us not stand in judgment of a crime we are all complicit in — looking the other way.
Is it the name that bothers you? Change it if you wish. Women have been called worse and for every word you erase there will be another to replace it.
Advaita Kala is a novelist and screenwriter,express@expressindia.com
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