Encouraging people
to have more pre-marital sex will solve the sexual harassment problem in India?
You've got to be kidding me, right? But this is exactly the argument Shikha
Dalmia makes in her article, "India Needs a Sexual Revolution,"
published on Friday, May 24 by the Wall Street Journal. That Indian women are frequently harassed by
men when they go out in public is no secret, in spite of the premium their
culture places on chastity. Dalmia points out that in India it is generally
expected that men and women will not engage in sexual activity before
marriage. In fact, two and a half weeks each year are dedicated to honoring
female virtue and purity in the festival of Navrati:
"Navrati culminates
in "kanya puja," or a day of maiden worshiping: Every household
invites over the young girls of the neighborhood and, led by the father or
patriarch, bows before them, washes their feet, prays to them, offers them a
specially prepared feast of vegetarian delicacies and showers them with gifts
and money...But this ancient practice wasn't meant to pamper the girls. It
served to remind men of the qualities—mental courage, spiritual wisdom, purity
of mind and strength of character—embodied in the feminine spirit, without
which, according to Hindu scriptures, the cosmos would collapse into decadence
and chaos."
Well and good.
Without inculcating such virtue in young women, and young men, societies will
indeed fall into chaos. The lack of these virtues in men is what enables the
plague of harassment to occur in the
first place. Certainly the men of India must learn to treat women with greater
respect, but here Dalmia and I will have to part ways. She argues that men and
women simply need an outlet for their sexual urges, and the cultural taboos on
pre-marital sex deny them that outlet.
Maybe this would be
true if men and women were cattle with no rational powers and no self-control.
But as it is, we are rational creatures
and we do have the ability to foster virtues such as self-control and respect
for others. The inculcating of these virtues in young people, and the
creation of a less segregated society where men and women can develop
healthy friendships and relationships before marriage would do much to reduce
harassment. Lowering sexual mores will hardly have the same effect.
Encouraging
pre-marital sex can only increase the degradation of men and women. It will
encourage young people to use each other as purely physical outlets for their urges.
The door will be opened for women to be used for sexual relief, without men
being required to step up and take responsibility for caring for women in other
ways, or even providing for their children. Pre-marital intercourse is a
fantastic lie. With their bodies men and women say, "I hold nothing back,
I give you everything, every part of me." But by saying this outside of
marriage there is always the reservation, "I reserve the right to take it
all back and leave you in the lurch at any time if it doesn't work out."
Sounds like respect to me.
Sources: Wall Street Journal <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324787004578497420867545326.html?mod=e2fb>
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