And as expected, our highly
esteemed and sensitive Indian masses, especially men won standing position in
their all rounded compassionate comment and behavior towards her story. One man
wrote at that way a women can earn sympathy in the public eye is by making up
false allegations of being a sexual abuse survivor while others told her to
shut it and stop fabricating stories to get attention. Or even one very
detailed comment about how the abuser must've been abused by Barkha and not
the other way around as even his street dog won't look at her. I mean let’s not
drag animals, who have more class, sympathy and brains than this crass young
man, into the picture.
Can everyone please... just take a
moment of silence and look at these internet trolls and absolute insensitive
masses who live in our country?
Here is a woman journalist,
who personally speaking, I too am not a fan of her but sympathy is what makes
us humans, and a little sympathy can go a long way. She's got her fair share of
mistakes and black clouds that have marred her for some, but does
that give the right to anyone, and I mean anyone, to laugh and joke about
a weighty issue as her being sexually abused as a little girl? THIS.
This is exactly why we as an India society are still backwards when
it comes to talking about issues of mental health and child
abuse as we have been taught from the start to respect elders and how
elder can never do wrong, be wrong and are our superheroes.
Imagine an uncle or an aunt, who you
know is immediate family and see her/him on a regular bases when it comes
to a family event, as you are almost forced to greet them with a
smile and touch their feet, worshipping them, and always giving them their
due respect as expected from societal norms.
Even though, the last time you met, you
hated the way they touched your tender body but you kept quiet as you
being a child thought it was your cousin Riya or Rahul also went
through. This is normal. Maybe I am a little abnormal as
he's/she's family. We're bounded by blood, and this person cannot and will
not hurt me. I mean, blood is thicker than water, right?
But maybe, over a game of
hide-n-seek you chat and realize that your cousins don't go
through what you went through. You think to yourself, maybe I'm
his/her favorite and should feel special. You try and you try, but you
just can't let go that vile feeling and you hide the disgust of being
touched. You will try to tell your mother or father, who will shun you for even
thinking that your uncle-ji/ aunty-ji would even do such a thing. I mean
which human is ready to accept that they are related to
a monster?
Years and years pass by, your
brain must've crammed this to the back and you move on in life but
suddenly you read something, see something or let a boy/ girl touch you
and you feel like you're chest is a coil which suddenly breaks
and all you're left with is anxiety and flashbacks of the past you never
truly escaped.
When you finally have the courage to
share it as an adult, people hate on you and ask questions as to why you never
spoke up before. Just like we're taught, we can't speak when not asked. But
when we finally are asked, it's too late? There must be some loophole
you could use to voice your opinions without getting hate, but
there never is.
Here's some statistics for you:
Of the children interviewed by a 2007 survey
conducted by Humans Rights Watch, more than half (53 percent) said that they
had been subjected to one or more forms of sexual abuse. Over 20 percent of
those interviewed said they were subjected to severe forms of abuse, defined in
the report as “sexual assault, making the child fondle private parts, making
the child exhibit private body parts and being photographed in the nude.” Of
those who said they were sexually abused, 57 percent were boys.
The survey also found that
very few cases are ever reported. The vast majority of victims (72 percent) said that
they did not report the matter to anyone and only 3 percent of them or their
families told the police. In most cases the perpetrator was known to the child.
The 2007 government survey found that
among abused children, only 25 percent had told anyone, and only in 3 percent of
the cases had the police been informed. As in many other countries, deep-rooted
cultural norms discouraged open discussion of sex and make it hard for a child
to complain about older relative or a person in authority.
Now, do you understand how vital this topic is? By making jokes
and trolls on the internet on a woman who finally got the courage to speak out,
you are actively propagating in shaming victims of child abuse and bullying
them to keep their silence. It's time we talked about the big suffocating and
disturbing elephant in the room. It's time we broke the silence.
No comments:
Post a Comment