Guest post: Sexism by Tarusha Mittal

Today, I present to you a dear blogger friend, Tarusha Mittal, who is kind enough to grace my space as a guest blogger. Tarusha is no stranger to the world of writing for heading a youth magazine at the young age of 18 which is, indeed, a big achievement. I met her on the blogosphere and we soon became friends on Facebook but hit off quite recently for the sheer love of writing. A feisty lady, she has lots of dreams and aspirations. Hold your breath! This is not her first guest post on my blog and she will come again on Monday. She speaks on a thorny subjects, ‘Sexism’ and the hypocrisy of our society. Hence, I call upon all of you to actively participate in the hard-hitting debate. Way to go, Tarusha!

Kindly drop in a Hi on http://tarusham.blogspot.in/

Who is Tarusha Mittal?

Hailing from the city of Nawabs in Lucknow, Tarusha is Chief Operation Officer at Koonk Technologies Private Limited. She is an alumni of La Martiniere Girls School and was active in writing, dramatics and debates during college days. She started a Lifestyle magazine Mish Mash, holds an LLB and wrote for renowned publications such as Youth Ki Awaaz, Armaan Foundation and Green Peace. In her own words, “I am a writer before anything else and am moving forth with panache in the IT world. My strengths and passion are nearly the same thing-Words and Technology. I was always a good student in school and was an office bearer,the typical nerd-love reading,writing,editing and just managing things in general. I was the school magazine Editor for 2 years-this love translated into my fascination for Publishing. I can work behind the scenes as well as on stage,but I believe in working smart and not hard. There is no point in slogging out if there is no pragmatism attached to the entire exercise.

Sexism by Tarusha Mittal

This is going to be a short piece about sexism.

How ingrained it is in us.How we are brought up along side it but we rarely reflect unless we are forced look in that direction.

This is not going to be a bra burning piece,just for the record,I am all for it,for the fun of pyrotechnics but I respect those who choose to do that as a form of protest.

The problem is that patriarchy and sexism are so inherent in our “great” country that people have forgotten that being ogled at -or the attitude of boys will be boys, that is how the society is, behave this way because you are a girl- is beyond abysmal.

Women do not understand that we are not objects to be ogled at,we are not meant to be toys or a piece of property, we are as much an individual as the next dude with different and “super” set of genitals.

There is something known as equality and we have completely lost sense of it. Boys flashing their dirty underwear label is a “dude” but a girl’s accidental or even if it is deliberate  like the former is tagged as slutty.

Boys can step outside at odd hours and if they misbehave,they are being boys but heaven forbid if a girl steps out late at night-she is asking for it.

We need a change,this is not about being a rebel sans a cause. It is just about bringing children up better with better ideals-they need to learn to recognise sexism when it happens.

People just do not understand. We are crass and uneducated by any and all standards-for we do not understand simple concepts like patriarchy, sexism and inequality between genders.

It is is not always in your face,sons are better than daughters but it is sinister and insidious it is an attitude that is drilled into girls while they are being raised. It might not necessarily say that you are lesser than the boys but learning the feeling of being ashamed. Shamed for being a girl,shamed for
having certain boy parts, shamed for doing certain things, just plain shame.

People need to be taught-men and women-that there is something known as equality of genders and most importantly, there is a need to make people learn that their “culture” or “norms” are not to be imposed on everyone. Their yardstick of judgement should stick to themselves and no one else.
Also girls are individuals,they have nothing to do with family’s honour,the honour belongs to the girl and no one else. Women are individuals and not properties.