A very nice article in the Hindu by C.S. Lakshmi. [via Uma]
It is not a debate that has been given up as yet. The cultural guardians would sleep unconcerned if people perished in tsunami, if floods hit the State, even if news of rape and torture occupied the front page every day. They would watch Tamil films with songs full of double entendre, they would gush if a top is rolled on the heroine's stomach or an omelette fried on it. But the moment a woman mentions the body, all hell would break loose and the sleeping Kumbakarnas would wake up with a roar to save culture from getting corrupted by women. And that is what women are seen as — as those, who, if not guided properly, would ruin the great Tamil culture. Tamil men have to constantly pull women back from going astray and whatever women do is seen as a gesture of going astray, whether it is writing poetry or giving interviews. Constant threats have to be issued. Poets have to be told that they would be slapped or even doused with kerosene and burnt alive on Anna Salai. Once they have made enough noise, the watchdogs of culture go back to sleep and let the culture business go on.
---Where were they when in the 1980s women went on the streets to paint obscene posters black? Where were they when women regularly held dialogues with custodians of religion on the status and treatment of women? Where were they when Dalit women were exploited throughout these times? Where were they when women suffered police atrocities? Where were they when women died of dowry demands? Was Tamil culture safe then? These are difficult questions to ask oneself. But avoiding these questions will not help.
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The defenders of Tamil culture have to look within and ask some basic questions on what makes a culture and if culture is definable in specific terms. They must go back in history and read the speeches and writings of Periyar and then they will know what a historical absurdity this debate on karpu and culture is at this point of time in our history.
9 comments:
Itz a pretty tricky issue and one has to very careful in what they say..lest they be branded as chavunists..
So letz see..how I put it..:-)
I am assuming this article was based on Kushbu's utterances recently..
It did kick up a lot of furore..
The main point, which you would have noticed, is that they were done by ppl with political aspirations...and not ppl who had a abiding interest in culture and moral values..
So what they did, doesnt count and they are not moral police in any way...
In any case, though Kushbu voicing her opinion isnt wrong....and there sure are ppl that may or maynot agree with her...irrespective of the possibility that what she speaks maybe the truth and that ppl have no right to enforce their belief and opinions on others..
If it was me, my only grouse in that statement would have been that, ppl whose voices are heard, should be a bit more cautious when making public pronouncements mindful of the fact that it attracts a major audience...
very interesting article. It is an issue where often emotions and sweeping-statements are the only ones that prevail. The article appears very reasonable, though I would not agree with all of the "portrayal" of the issue. This is a very important issue, one that I think we will continue to discuss in our generation. It will, I think, greatly change the outlook of our culture in trying to find a common ground between orthodoxy and scientific outlook.
As I see it: scientific outlook is not one of certainty but of skepticism and hence stands at ods with religious beliefs. As I see it, any democratic society must have its women on a equal footing with its men. Else, it will be in grave danger.
Sowmya: what were your thoughts on the article. :) :)
Cmn Gi.. !
Though I agree that celebs should (in general) be careful about their public proclamations.. I find nothing wrong in Kushboo's statement. She was talking in the context of preventing the spread of AIDS and it makes absolute sense to point out that if u want to have pre-marital sex.. go ahead.. but for heavens sake, do it safe!. If you didnt know, TN is amongst the states with the largest HIV positive patients. U think all these people got it thro their legal-partners ??
see..this is exactly what I said in the beginning of my comment..:-)
I dont have a problem with what she said, and Im not even saying if I contradict her or not..
just that..therz more possibility for a celebrity to get into a controversy than normal folks and that is what she shd watch out for..and avoid doing..
In any case, the statement of hers that I was referring to was..."guys to be married cannot expect the opp sex to be virgins any more.."
Gi, I agree. Celebs have to be careful what they utter. They reach a wider audience and sometimes have an enormous influence on people.
Aswin, Parents don't want their kids to think that, just because Kushboo approves of it, pre-marital sex is fine. Did she think about that at all? No wonder people were enraged with her statement.
My thoughts
Kushboo unmindfully uttered something and got caught. You want to talk about AIDS awareness talk about safe sex, whether it is pre-marital, marital, or extra marital, doesn't matter. You have unprotected sex with multiple partners, you are at risk, man or woman. So practice safe sex thats all. Why talk about women, virginity and about 'educated men should not expect their wives to be virgins'? AIDS is not partial to women and has got nothing to with virginity(which itself is a crap concept). The same people that built her a temple pelted her with eggs and tomatoes. I am not surprised.
Freedom of speech - I think it is just limited to be being able to say what you want to say, it does not gaurantee that consequences will not be there. You utter something you have to face the consequences.
I should probably clarify what I meant....
The way the Tamil newspapers carried the news is different from the the way India Today reported it. This supposed statement on "Tamil Culture"/ Tam Women is something that Kushboo has denied. So, let us not ascribe all that has been reported in the media as 'quotes', to her. Tam papers were just quoting bits and pieces of the whole thing. Before she was asked to keep quiet by the HC, kushboo issued a few clarifications to the media(as to what exactly she had said). I found nothing wrong in any of those. This is what I meant.
The other aspect of the issue is.. even if some celeb says something that is unacceptable, why get so perturbed?? (I mean the DPI/PMK etc who went on rather violent protests) To quote N.Ravi,
"[..]On the other hand, it is a recognition that only if varying viewpoints are aired freely, with the society itself not afraid of any idea, can democratic debate be promoted[..]"
It is in this spirit that I am against those agitators. And why should parents be afraid of children hearing such remarks?? ( I mean even the reported "Educated guys.." one )
If you didnt know, it is pretty common these days for magazines/newspapers in India to carry "30% school children have sex" etc. Now, do we ask the them not to publish such stats??.. Isnt it better if the whole thing is debated and then the children form views for themselves? I, for one, certainly dont think that these things are "beyond" debate.
Aswin, I didn't read the print media, just caught bits and peices on the web. I am sure she didn't say anything about Tam culture, Tam women, that bit was exaggerated. I am against those agitators too. I am also against part of what Kushboo said. I also think people in general are not ready for 'your' debate and I am not sure if its alright for 'children to form views for themselves' since they 'are' children and not adults as far as this topic goes.
I live in the land of pre-marital sex. Children don't get to be children for long. By 10, 11 they have boy friends. They are rushing into adulthood sooner than necessary. Childhood in its true sense is very essential for well rounded adults. You are going to be an adult for most of your life,so why rush?
Hi ! I have written elaborately on this topic. Please take a look if interested.
Sowmya, through some misleading links, bumped into this site. My views are also the same. It is more of a personal choice and she shouldn’t have said pre-marital sex is right or wrong. Instead, she could have said it differently and avoided this controversy. At the same time the agitations were also too much. It was purely political because Kushboo went too much in Thangarbatchan's case. The political parties were looking for opportunities and they used this to take revenge. C.S.Lakshmi's article is also nice, but I don’t agree on few things. Just wanted to post my thoughts as I saw your thoughts are as same as mine.
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