Women Are Not Objects by Khushi Ghai

[Rathore, Vinod. “Himachal Pradesh Shocker: Nine-Year-Old Girl Raped near Polling Booth.” News Track, News Track, 20 May 2019, english.newstracklive.com/news/himachal-pradesh-shocker-nineyearold-girl-raped-near-polling-booth-mc16-nu-1010932-1.html.]

Even after the law - Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, are women still safe in places like Delhi? For a fact, we all know that violence and harassment against women has been increasing day by day. A lot of movements were started, various laws were made, but the condition of women and how they are treated is still the SAME. 

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In 2012, the Nirbhaya case took place in which a 23-year-old female physiotherapy intern, Jyoti Singh Pandey, was beaten, gang-raped, and tortured in a private bus in which she was traveling with her friend. This happened in South Delhi. It was an outrageous and horrifying case that shook the entire nation. Various other cases happened in Delhi which shows that its not just the capital of India but even the "Rape Capital" of India. 

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It's very interesting how people think that they can suppress or overpower the voice of girls and just do whatever they want to do with them, but now it's ENOUGH. People need to understand that WOMEN ARE NOT OBJECTS and therefore, they shouldn’t be treated like one. Its not the fault of what they wear but definitely the kind of MENTALITY which people have. Wearing short clothes does not mean that girls give you consent to do whatever you want to do with them. Instead of telling girls/women to change their clothing style and outfits, we should tell the boys/men to change their mentality, because rape and harassment doesn’t stop in winters or its not that it doesn't happen with girls who wear burqa or hijab, so undoubtedly clothing style is not a thing to be blamed.  

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When a girl or women is harassed or assaulted, she undergoes a lot of things. It mentally DESTROYS her self esteem and self-confidence. It can also lead her to suicidal attempts and depression. She is not able to trust anyone because not just strangers but their own family members and friends make it impossible for them to believe in anyone again. For instance, there was a case in which a girl was harassed and raped by her own father and three of his friends. It is one of the most terrifying and appalling cases. It shattered her into pieces and resulted in suicide. 

[Created by Khushi Ghai on Google docs]

There have been often cases of girls getting raped by her own male friends or their relatives in mostly rural areas where they are then asked that why didn't she do something to stop it. Its a very despairing thing when girls are asked that why didn't she take some action for it back then, but I want to tell each one of you today that when a girl says "NO", it means that the person needs to "STOP". "NO" is not just a word, its a complete sentence in itself with a period that explains the disagreement of the victim. Its high time to understand the "true" meaning of this word because saying "NO" is a RESPONSE and its a powerful one.

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Even in this 21st century, there are a myriad of people who think that its their "right" or "power" to harass a girl in public or in private places. A lot of men think that women who drink, who wear short clothes, who are too friendly or who are outspoken are just simply "asking" to be raped. Well I'm sorry if you feel that way because like men, women have all the RIGHTS to drink, to wear their choice of clothes, to be friendly with the people whom they want to be with or to express themselves without being afraid. Its so upsetting to see how all these things are blamed on the education instead of the morals and values because from the beginning, only the girls were taught to take care of what they wear or how late they can stay outside at night whereas if we would have taught our boys to not look at the girls with their nasty eyes or telling them how to respect each and every girl, then I feel that things would have been much better by now.

In the end, I just want to say that our mindsets needs to CHANGE and people need to learn how to respect women, how to make them feel safe even at midnight and how to treat them equally because now the time is up for being silent and tolerating harassment, and abuse. Now is the time for women and girls to speak up and fight until they get JUSTICE. Being silent has never made any difference for us but I'm sure that "speaking up" and "standing against it" would DEFINITELY change something. 

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- Khushi Ghai