Base Instinct

Letters

"The new leisure zones show how liberalisation has changed the face of urban India for the better. Don't project them as elitist." T.S. Pattabhi Raman, Coimbatore

As soon as they step out from their homes, women are assaulted in the crudest of forms-overt sexual gestures, lewd remarks and crude invitations ("Rape!", September 9). Isn't this the rape of women's self-esteem? Men are not aware of women's issues and this must be reversed by introducing sensitisation programmes in schools. Moreover, the legal definition of rape should not be limited to an incidence of forced sexual intercourse.

Ekta Thakur, Mumbai

While women have undergone a great liberalising process, the male attitude remains basically unchanged. Add to that society's obsession with male children. Indian men are brought up on the belief that they are superior to their female counterparts, a belief they seek to vindicate throughout their lives. The portrayal of women as sexual objects by the media enforces the perception that women exist to slake male lust. Is it any wonder then that a woman is raped every 35 minutes in this country?

Radhika Oltikar, Mumbai

Retribution through capital punishment for rapists is the only way our country can annihilate this horrifying offence against women. The fear that such a law can generate will subdue the animal instinct in men whose minds are socially perverted.

K. Chidanand Kumar, on e-mail

The growing frequency of rapes is a cruel mockery of the law and order situation in the largest democracy in the world. It shows how unsafe women are in a country where she is worshipped as goddess.

Satish Satija, on e-mail

A Majority of rape victims belongs to the poor and vulnerable sections of society or are minors. They are not skimpily clad women but those who have been forced by circumstances to work or live in unsafe conditions. If sari or burqa can reduce crime against women then let's make the burqa the national dress for women. The statement that the clothes worn by women are often the cause of rapes is an orthodox one. It's not dress but the attitude of a person that is responsible for heinous crimes. If today's women "cross their limits" the irony is that men never realise theirs.

Bharati Singh, Delhi

Young women in the metros believe that modernity means showing off your skin. Most of the rape cases, molestation and eve-teasing occur because of the skin shows. It seems that our good, old dupatta has lost its purpose. The solution to sexual crimes is to go back to the basics by wearing the traditional salwar-kurta.

Abhishek Chandra, Delhi

As long as the Indian male treats women as objects and the police have few women officers, there is very little hope of women escaping sexual crimes. The girls should be taught some form of self-defence in school. The last resort would be to empower women.

Uma Maheswari, Delhi

The observations of Delhi Police Commissioner R. S. Gupta are practical. Sexual crimes have to be curbed but mere words are not going to change the deep-rooted male psyche. The wolf, no doubt, has to be tamed but till then the prey has to be careful.

Girish Bhojnagarwala, on e-mail

The post-rape trauma suffered by victims is compounded by insensitive and patriarchal comments of people like the Delhi Police commissioner who blame the victims for the crime since "they do not know their limits" and are not "careful with what they wear". Aren't we living in a democracy where each one has the right to wear what he/she wants? Who gives men the right to treat women as the second sex?

Karishma Bery, Delhi

How many of the recent crimes against women have been because of indecent dressing or provocative behaviour? How many of the victims wore backless or spaghetti tops? The victim is a woman in a salwar-kameez at a bus stop. It is a woman in a sari at home. It is a normally dressed college student. The only crime they seem to have committed is that of having been born a woman. I am a "normally" dressed college student who travels to Delhi University by bus. I carry a knife.

Tara Kaushal, on e-mail

Rape is just a wild act by a man to satisfy his ego and show his authority. If the dress codes of women are to be blamed then was the mentally challenged girl who was raped in a Mumbai train at fault?

Gareem Garg, on e-mail

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