There couldn’t have been a better time to talk about feminism. The entire country is angry towards the brutal gang rape incident, and for a change, women issues are being looked at without the prism of patriarchy. There has been a conscious effort on the part of the youth to change the misogynist setup that we have been living in since ages.
Today, Miranda House was host to one such event that was organized under the banner of ‘One Billion rising-South Asia’. The One billion rising movement aims to empower women across the nation to stand up against the world’s complete indifference towards the other half of the population of the world. This event attracted eminent panelists like Eve Ensler (The creator of “The Vagina monologue”), Kamala Bhasin (From the NGO Jago ri) , Mallika Sarabhai (The noted bharatnatyam and kuchipudi dancer and social activist) and Abhijit Das (noted actor). Eve Ensler performed two of her monologues that she had recently written, one titled “Rising” and the other titled “I am an emotional creature”. Kamala Bhasin highlighted issues pertaining to woman by the medium of slogans. Mallika Sarabhai gave a dance recital revolving around Vishnu and Indra that left everyone mesmerized. The venue was reverberating with the positive energy that the guests had brought along with them.
Amidst the huge crowd that had gathered, only 5-6 odd men could be spotted, one of whom spoke up in a discussion, claiming that alcoholism is the main cause of rape. Needless to say, the crowd booed him out. At the end of the event, everyone agreed that it was high time we stop tolerating violence and discrimination against women and give a serious thought to the power relations in the society.