Every time country's conscience wakes up on rape, we hear the same cry ... hang the rapist, govt is not doing enough etc etc. Yes, executive, judiciary and legislature can do a lot in here. We can have better fool proof laws, better Police system where victims do not need to run pillar to post to lodge a FIR and a judicial system where cases get decided sooner.
But this narrative leaves out a big part. Role of the society. Now in here, I do not mean only parents, school, neighbours but also things like advertising, cinema etc. With rapid urbanization in last 70 years, a huge population moved from villages to cities. The social fabric which was there in village and which used to take care of sexual aspects of folks is no longer there in city. So, you have got rootless lot of people residing in cities whose sexual aspect is no one's concern.
We have a new society in cities where boys & girls, men & women have to learn to interact & live with each other. So, where do we turn to for guidance. The village system is not there. Parents seldom teach their kids how to approach and make friends with opposite sex. Whereas in western world, kids learn interactions thru dating, no such ways are there in India. This is a big gap which unfortunately gets filled by friends and entertainment industry. Thus "sat-sangati" plays a big role. But there enters the elephant in the room ie entertainment industry. TV/Cinema can play a big role in molding the society. Their social message reaches more people than any sermons of any god-man. And similarly their destructive aspect is also worrisome.
Here I will pick Telegu cinema as the latest incident happened in Hyderabad. If you watch a Telegu movie, you will get to understand that its okay to tease & stalk a girl and sometimes even get physical. By doing so, you can woo the girl. So, what does boys learn from that. The social interaction aspect of opposite sex gets completely twisted. To top it, is the item song where the women is commoditised. The things which should have been left to Las Vegas or some corner of a city are out in the open for everyone. So, to a gullible mind, these are affirmations that everything is fine if you stalk/tease a girl. And to a twisted mind, its path to crime against women.
Now one may say that if Cinema/TV has to be blamed, why are we not seeing more of these incidents. My answer to that will be the goodness of the upbringing which India parents impart which tends to nullify these bad influences.
So, what's my prescription here.... Come down hard on Bollywood, Kollywood, Tollywood or whatever wood they call themselves. They cannot show Hero misbehaving with girls. If at all, they have to show, they need to put a disclaimer at the bottom of the screen saying that none of the actors in this movie promote stalking or bad behaviour with women. Similar thing on item songs which objectifies women. They need to carry a 18+ tag. And at the same time, society has to start thinking how they can teach boys/girls to interact with their opposite sex.
And top it all, we need to see a person as for what he or she is .... a mother, a father, a gentleman, a lady, a doctor, a workman ... whatever... instead of some body part. Lets all grow up and insist on our entertainment industry to grow up as well.
But this narrative leaves out a big part. Role of the society. Now in here, I do not mean only parents, school, neighbours but also things like advertising, cinema etc. With rapid urbanization in last 70 years, a huge population moved from villages to cities. The social fabric which was there in village and which used to take care of sexual aspects of folks is no longer there in city. So, you have got rootless lot of people residing in cities whose sexual aspect is no one's concern.
We have a new society in cities where boys & girls, men & women have to learn to interact & live with each other. So, where do we turn to for guidance. The village system is not there. Parents seldom teach their kids how to approach and make friends with opposite sex. Whereas in western world, kids learn interactions thru dating, no such ways are there in India. This is a big gap which unfortunately gets filled by friends and entertainment industry. Thus "sat-sangati" plays a big role. But there enters the elephant in the room ie entertainment industry. TV/Cinema can play a big role in molding the society. Their social message reaches more people than any sermons of any god-man. And similarly their destructive aspect is also worrisome.
Here I will pick Telegu cinema as the latest incident happened in Hyderabad. If you watch a Telegu movie, you will get to understand that its okay to tease & stalk a girl and sometimes even get physical. By doing so, you can woo the girl. So, what does boys learn from that. The social interaction aspect of opposite sex gets completely twisted. To top it, is the item song where the women is commoditised. The things which should have been left to Las Vegas or some corner of a city are out in the open for everyone. So, to a gullible mind, these are affirmations that everything is fine if you stalk/tease a girl. And to a twisted mind, its path to crime against women.
Now one may say that if Cinema/TV has to be blamed, why are we not seeing more of these incidents. My answer to that will be the goodness of the upbringing which India parents impart which tends to nullify these bad influences.
So, what's my prescription here.... Come down hard on Bollywood, Kollywood, Tollywood or whatever wood they call themselves. They cannot show Hero misbehaving with girls. If at all, they have to show, they need to put a disclaimer at the bottom of the screen saying that none of the actors in this movie promote stalking or bad behaviour with women. Similar thing on item songs which objectifies women. They need to carry a 18+ tag. And at the same time, society has to start thinking how they can teach boys/girls to interact with their opposite sex.
And top it all, we need to see a person as for what he or she is .... a mother, a father, a gentleman, a lady, a doctor, a workman ... whatever... instead of some body part. Lets all grow up and insist on our entertainment industry to grow up as well.
