Do we leave our money purse, filled with cash on the dining table, and expect the domestic helps not to take any of it? No, we take care to keep it safe and locked in our wardrobes/lockers, so that there’s no temptation for them to pick it up.
Do we keep our expensive jewelry in the open and expect the maids, helpers, service providers to have immense solidarity and not pick up the jewelry kept in the open? No, we take care to keep our valuables safe in bank lockers.
We take good care of our financial and other valuable assets to keep it away from the prying eyes of probable thieves.
But what about our physical assets? I hear a lot of girls crying fowl, when asked to dress sensibly and as per the occasion. Isn’t it our responsibility to take care of our personal physical property. Why not dress decently with maturity and grace? Why give a chance to those mentally sick monsters out there a temptation to satisfy their lust? Agreed, girls do want to dress stylishly, but that could also be achieved by dressing decently. I have seen girls of all sizes, wearing clothes which do not fit/suit their figure and look obscenely vulgar. Is it just about the current trend, just to ape the west or is it mere peer pressure? Dressing sensibly could be just one of the steps taken to protect our dignity.
I am in NO way saying or trying to restrict our little girls. I expect the boys to be mentally and emotionally well educated by parents, teachers and well wishers to respect girls/ladies, their self respect and modesty and make the society a better and safe place for our little girls. All I am trying to bring out here is that, just like we take care of our valuables, we need to protect and take care of our girls and not leave them vulnerable to the prying hawks and eagles flying around.
A question to the ladies, more so the Indian ladies out here. Haven’t we have all grown up dressing decently in a culturally safe and secure environment, with not too many distractions, unnecessary exposures (we didn’t have a choice back then, as the maximum we got was a television with some local programs), limited access to information. We probably didn’t have a phone at home, neither was there a mobile phone. We girls, went to classes, schools, colleges, traveled cities, without carrying a cell phone; and grew up to be sensible, confident women of today. Don’t we have ladies from our country today who can represent our country, stand tall and compete with their western counterparts?
Why is it then, today we hear innumerable cases of molestation, rapes and other atrocities on women and young girls? Where are we failing?
These questions keep bothering me and I have just put down the thoughts that visited me. Please feel free to express your opinions and thoughts.
DeepikasRamblings 
The failure is in taming male instincts. Sons are brought up with a sense of entitlement. Taking No from a girl seems like failure. They believe that the sole purpose of female existence is to be owned by a man.
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Yes, I agree. The boys from a young age should be taught to care and respect girls.
The good thing is girls are standing up for themselves and to some extent have been successful in NOT being a doormat or a punching bag for men.
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Unfortunate Deepika . I hope some severe punishments will be a deterrent
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I feel dressing right could be a deterrent to such unwanted acts. Yes, definitely, for henious crimes, the punishment should be severe.
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Make examples with punishment and make it a deterrent
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Thought provoking post ! No doubt that it is we, who are responsible for our every act.
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Yes Megala, I feel so too. We need to be responsible for the way we portray ourselves.
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I loved the way you began this, Deepika. On a questioning note. W did not have a choice. Did we? Exposure was less and so we were the LESSER complaining generation. I have had my share of dressing blunders too during my teens just to keep up with the crowd, but even then our blunders had a threshold, a limit! Today, the statistics of rape is disturbing. Even little children are not spared.
We need to take care. We need to educate both the girls and the boys. For that, we ourselves need to be an example. We can show our daughters to dress comfortably in what suits our body rather than what is haute. We can show our sons to respect us as much as the women outside of their home. Change always begins with us.
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Very true Pranitha.
Thanks for your valuable comment. Much appreciated !!
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