Thank the Lord, Karma, destiny, whatever! That word ‘groping’ alone may cost that maverick businessman his bid for the Presidency of the United States of America. “Grab them by the pussy,” said the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump bragging to celebrity show host Holly Bush in 2005, “You can do anything. When you are a star, they let you do it.”
It was the Washington Post that let the cat out of the bag – no relative of mine this writer hastens to add. What this cat meant by ‘cat out of the bag’ was the publicized boast of Trump about women which was vulgar and so demeaning of women.
This was just prior to the second debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton which stumped him well and truly. He had invited a couple of Bill Clinton’s alleged paramours to the debate, given them front seats and was going to gloat over Bill’s weakness. He did just that and accused Hillary of the crime of enabling her husband to do the worst by women but it held no water.
His rating sank low. What perplexes this cat and many others is how the United States of America could end up with one of the two contenders for the presidency being Donald Trump.
Canadian Kelly Oxford tweeted inviting women to respond with how/when/where they were first ‘groped’. She did not have to ask why, because the answer is obvious: the bestial nature of man. She said she didn’t expect the huge response when she set things in motion with her call: “Women, tweet me your first assault. They aren’t just stats.” The tweets received, she wrote, were from women about misadventures suffered from age 4, 9, 12 and of course older.
The same
Well, most Sri Lankan women who have faced the necessity of travelling by bus have suffered the utterly deplorable indignity of being groped, not too boldly since buses are crowded, but groped alright on arms, thighs, even breasts brushed by passing fingers. And these had to be borne silently, more often than not gropers being older men.
They would lean on you if you were a standing passenger, needing both arms to cling to the top railing of the moving bus or a back rest of a seat. No man offered a seat. If you were seated, the man next to you would slide onto you.
You could not protest or shout out loud since no one would help you. Everyone minded their own business assiduously, so that you ended up more shamed. Answer was -always be prepared with a sharp alpeneththiya.
Go to a crowded market like the Pettah and men would bang into you though there was plenty space to avoid you. This cat remembers walking about with a very beautiful Indian woman in the markets of Manila. She had been a participant at a seminar and would rush to the markets where goods were plentiful and cheap. Not once did she get banged into; not once did a man come in passing physical contact with them.
This cat, having been a frequent shopper in the Pettah in the good ole days was surprised. Ruminating, she surmised it was due to sex being freely available to men, either paid for or free in Manila. Life was simple with girls given freedom to do as they wanted, while in the Sri Lanka of two decades ago, men were probably frustrated: no money, no easy women.
Exhibitionists
A gruesome hazard that was ever present on roads and on open verandahs was the man who exhibited himself. This was such a shocking experience to young girls.
It looks as if the ubiquitous presence of the police – and, till a few years ago soldiers - has put paid to this terribly degrading practice. These men frequented the entrances to girls’ schools. Lit crackers have been thrown at them since they were rabbits when it came to sighting a policeman.
Yours truly once got furious when she saw a three wheeler Johnny trying his tricks one early morning near the gate of a small school in her neighbourhood. Normally timid and brought up to be not heard, not seen, not at all belligerent, she rushed at him shouting some expletives she was surprised she knew when she saw a tiny girl all tidy and innocent walking to the gate and having to pass the three wheeler.
The man scrambled into his vehicle and rushed off. It was only then that this cat considered she could have been knocked down by the man in his thwarted anger.
Girl child
Since 2012, the UN has declared October 11 as ‘International Day of the Girl Child’. And why the need for such a move? Because even in this day and age of the Declaration of Universal Human Rights and Rights of the Women, girls remain discriminated against, marginalized and receive raw deals, not only in larger issues like education but even in the basic right to leisure.
Time was when the best food was served to the man of the house, sons and then girls while the mother ate whatever was left in the pots and pans. Hence the need to right wrongs.
A well known fact is that in India abortion of the female foetus is common. This in addition to dowry deaths and in Pakistan honour deaths.
This year’s theme for the Day is Girls’ Progress = Goals’ progress: what counts for girls. The choice of theme is with a view to achieving the UN’s ambitious Sustainable Development Goals.
A meeting was held at the BMICH to commemorate International Day of the Girl Child with large contingents of school girls present.
The President spelled out his government’s concern for the girl child and the Chairperson of the Child Protection Authority, Ms Natasha Balendra, addressed parents and teachers direct and advised them on the greater care needed by girls of the country.
A film - documentary in genre - chronicles the travails of two women and their husbands caught in the web of discrimination where a magistrate, on the pretext of being concerned about the men he has ordered incarcerated, apparently summons the wives to meet him. He then allegedly rapes them.
The film was premiered at the Regal Cinema on 4th October but its screening delayed because the magistrate named in the film has instituted an injunction against screening the film. The public will respectfully await the court’s final ruling to know whether justice will be done to all concerned.
- Menika